The FFXIV Cash Shop is greedy

[SamRF]

I used to work for a timber company. The division I supported as an IT analyst was in charge of collecting hunting leases from various parcels of land which were otherwise just growing trees. A team of ten people usually collected $20 million of revenue for the company. Did they split that 20 mil amongst themselves? Absolutely not. They got paid well, but not 2 mil a year well. Not even the director made that much - try maybe 10% of that. The value that they brought to the company was used to fund other operations, including my department, IT, which was considered an internal cost center since we didn't make any revenue for the organization.

If you look back and consider SE's financial situation back when A Realm Reborn first launched versus how it is now, you'll see why they leech so heavily from this game. FFXIV 2.0 legitimately was their biggest source of income in the gaming department for a long time after several botched and severely financially draining choices made across the board. There was a point when the original 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was considered a financial failure after selling 3.4 million copies because of the severe financial bloat SE was encouraging in all it's gaming projects. For some comparison, 3.4 million copies back in 2013 was insane for a single player game and while I can't find any articles right now to verify the number, I do remember that when this news broke back then there were ideas being tossed around that their desired sales target was something only games like Call of Duty were reaching at the time. It took them a year to make back all the money they spent making that game, and it wasn't the only game of theirs to underperform their expectations either. It was just the one they were the most vocal about and that the gaming community latched onto the hardest.

Interesting stories and I've genuinely enjoyed reading them, but you seem to have misunderstood what I meant in that post. I never doubted the fact that SE uses FFXIV money to fund other projects (I've even defended this practice in another thread), all I'm skeptical about is the the distinction that Cash Shop money goes to the game while sub money goes to other projects. This to me sounds like a way too convenient PR message, to the point it sounds disingenuous.