You're strictly basing success off of participation rates? By that standard you are saying that Ultimate and savage are a waste of dev resources then right? That's incredibly juvenile analysis and you know it.
There's MUCH more to it than mere participation rates.
PS. - do you post on MMOchamp frequently in the FF14 section? We may know each other
Would you mind clarifying this statement? What game(s) did they "shit out" that were "devoid" of content?
Speaking personally I feel SE is just too hamstrung by finances (suits). I have no dataset to support this, it's merely my feelings based on playing their games over the years.
I see something like FF15 and I think to myself, who thought this was good? Like what team of developers were proud to put it on their resume?
I think about the combat and how it felt like it was a mobile game. I think about how abrupt the story is and how the elements they added were just cringy.
It sucks when you think about the source materia SE has access too. Some genuinely brilliant and cool stuff, yet they're the only dev who seem to struggle to utilize it well.