FFXIV is not a failure, never was.

[Zkieve]

I didnt read the whole thin so forgive me if im repeating what others said.
FFXIV was and is a failure .The project was huge and didnt live to the expectations based on many factors .
The game went from Pay to play to free to play in the first month , so not calling that a failure wouldnt be realistic.
The situation can be fixed and that is were game shines.It has a lot of potential , but nothing is certain , so it could keep being a failure or not.Only time will tell.

[Abriael]

FFXIV was and is a failure .The project was huge and didnt live to the expectations based on many factors .

Failure and success aren't measured on your expectations.

The game went from Pay to play to free to play in the first month , so not calling that a failure wouldnt be realistic.

Actually the game didn't become free to play. They are just temporarily waiving the monthly fees, which is an entirely different situation than going free to play.

The situation can be fixed

Which contradicts the very definition of "failure".

In that very case, I am pretty certain that SE expected a better start for this title, therefore we can say that the launch of Final Fantasy XIV was a failure. Almost no income at all beside retail sales, how isn't that a failure?

You forget the little detail that this game had several branding deals in Japan in place even before release, which means that it made SE money (and not small money) even before the first box reached the shelves.
Fact is that we don't know the numbers. For what we know the whole operation can easily still be on the green. Again, branding deals aren't small money, and SE had them in place with basically every major PC manufacturer in Japan.

[Antipika]

You forget the little detail that this game had several branding deals in Japan in place even before release, which means that it made SE money (and not small money) even before the first box reached the shelves.
Fact is that we don't know the numbers. For what we know the whole operation can easily still be on the green. Again, branding deals aren't small money, and SE had them in place with basically every major PC manufacturer in Japan.

I hope you are joking right? Branding deals comes up with goals to achieve on their contract. SE gets money if... the game is a success.

If I am a manufacturer, I pay you to put your name on my product, but then the reputation of your product is one of the worst + your product doesn't sell (which doesn't boost my sales as well), then I won't pay you much and even worse, I will not sign any new contract with you ever again. If SE made money with branding, they didn't make much and one sure thing, they lost rep on the way as well.

And branding outside Japan was a failure as well. If you check the official XIV controller released in EU, MSRP is 40 euros and the controller quality is poor. (as good as any third party controller you can get off on eBay for 10 euros). No one is buying it. Are you wondering why they had no partnership with decent brand such as Logitech for hardware? SE cannot afford it.

Anyway, even if branding was successful, global income results would still be far away from SE's expectations. There is no discussion about that, it is a {fact}. When your goal is to make money of subscriptions + branding. You remove subscriptions. What remains? Less income. Not enough to reach goals that were set initially.

[Abriael]

I hope you are joking right? Branding deals comes up with goals to achieve on their contract. SE gets money if... the game is a success.

You quite obviously lack facts.
The branding operations in Japan were made by PC manufacturers for the game's launch. The numbers of sales at launch were a clear success in Japan, and moved quite a lot of high-end gaming PCs. Continuated popularity of the game has no bearing tho this, since once the PC is sold, it's sold. The manufacturer got his money.

Ergo, the branding operations made in Japan have been a success. And made Se money (and not a little, since there was a level of third party branding basically unprecedented in the market for a game's launch) that's to be counted into FFXIV's balance.

This, of course, without mentioning that success related clauses are very rare in branding operations, and are used only with weak brands. if you think something associated with a Final Fantasy brand in japan had any clause like that, I see a big delusion there.

Anyway, even if branding was successful, global income results would still be far away from SE's expectations. There is no discussion about that, it is a {fact}. When your goal is to make money of subscriptions + branding. You remove subscriptions. What remains? Less income. Not enough to reach goals that were set initially.

A commercial operation is not a "failure" if it brings a profit. And since you have no numbers to corroborate your *opinion* that FFXIV, as an operation, is in the red, you have no arguments other than your own baseless speculaution
As long as FFXIV has already made SE enough money to cover operation until subscription fees are restarted (which is entirely possible), the game isn't a failure. That's all there's to it.

[Antipika]

.

The definition of success isn't "making profit". Keep that in mind. I never said SE was in the red and we don't care about that. If I start a project, I expect to get $[goal]. In the end I get less than $[goal] then it is a failure. I got less that I expected, I didn't reach my objective.

There's one figure everyone is aware about.

Income from monthly fee : $0.00/0.00€/£0.00 (pre-purchased crysta doesn't even count toward that as Crysta can be used for other services).

[Abriael]

The definition of success isn't "making profit". Keep that in mind. I never said SE was in the red and we don't care about that. If I start a project, I expect to get $[goal]. In the end I get less than $[goal] then it is a failure. I got less that I expected, I didn't reach my objective.

There's one figure everyone is aware about.

Income from monthly fee : $0.00/0.00€/£0.00 (pre-purchased crysta doesn't even count toward that as Crysta can be used for other services).

You simply don't know what the goals SE has for FFXIV are. Ergo, you're basing your wild assumptions on your personal expectations. The MMORPG market is so fossilized that most companies "goal" in the market is exactly to "make a profit". Also, goals have nothing to do with success and failure. Success and Failure are absolute terms. Goals can be and often are reassessed periodically.

Simply enough, it's not for you to decide if FFXIV is a failure. It's SE's prerogative to determine that, and since the game is still open, running and being developed. It means that it isn't. This isn't rocket science.

[Antipika]

.

Not knowing the exact goal? Sure thing. Knowing that they were aiming higher then $0 income off fees? We all do To you a game that runs is not a failure? Could have said that in the first post and then lock this thread.

But keep on going!

[Zkieve]

Failure and success aren't measured on your expectations.
Is not my expectations, is that 90% of people who bought the game and stooped playing expectations.perhaps the one with super-mega low expectations is you.


Actually the game didn't become free to play. They are just temporarily waiving the monthly fees, which is an entirely different situation than going free to play.
The game was supposed to be P2P at launch , 6 months after is still F2P and probably wont start charging until ps3 release.Know when ps3 release is ? Probably wont even happen.Whatever you want to word it it does not change the fact the game is currently F2P, at least until the end of the year, or more.The small amount of people who would pay without major changes is not worth mentioning ( please take note i would pay , at least until i got bored again)


Which contradicts the very definition of "failure".

A failure now can be a success tomorrow , sometimes( very few).That DOES NOT change the fact the game sucks now , even the developers said it . Do you know better than them ?

Please take the pink glasses off.I love the game , but its current state is deplorable.Not admitting that is not healthy for the game.