Money this game makes

[kaynide]

As with any company, profits go back into the company as a whole to be utilized for whatever endeavors the company wants to undertake. Some of it being more Final Fantasy 14.

Let's be real here: Profits from Final Fantasy 1 did not go into making more Final Fantasy 1.

If you want to specifically support 14, the devs HAVE made it clear that ALL profits made in the MogShop go back into the game directly (it has paid for additional housing wards in the past, for example). Keep in mind they didn't need to do this and indeed most DLC shops don't fund the core game.

This will sound counter intuitive, but my recommendation if you want to support FF14 as much as possible would be to get the cheapest plan (like the entry level, or the 6-month-at-a-time for the same price), then whatever money you might have spent on extra characters/retainers simply can be used on mogstation things. Or alternatively support the game via attending events.

[Fyrebrand]

No company would put all it's single profits back into that single product. The money they make on FFXIV goes to the company as a whole.

This. The truth is, we have no way of knowing how much of FFXIV's profits go directly back to funding the game, and Square Enix is never going to tell us. However, it's certainly not 100% of profits, and probably not even a majority of the profits.

I do get the sense that FFXIV is being seriously invested in and supported by the company though -- indeed, they'd be fools not to since FFXIV is an extremely profitable game and has the potential to remain that way for a long time. There are only a handful of games in the world that can still survive under the monthly subscription model, so simply having that alone is an insane amount of revenue even before cash shop purchases enter the picture. Square Enix has every reason to keep this a game that players want to remain subscribed to.

One of the strengths of FFXIV, I think, is that it has a strong and focused creative vision put into it, and devs that are personally invested and passionately committed to it. There comes a point where throwing more money at the game doesn't actually get more work done -- because, where does the money go? Either you just pay your workers more money for the same amount of labour (maybe they ought to, I dunno), or else you hire more and more staff and risk bloating the team to an unmanageable level. I guess the question is, can Yoshi-P and other senior devs manage more employees while still maintaining the creative standards they want to, or does everything become too big that it becomes the out-of-control development hell of FFXIII and FFXV?

Let's be real here: Profits from Final Fantasy 1 did not go into making more Final Fantasy 1.

Come on now, that's not a valid analogy and you know it. Every video game at the time was a physical, stand-alone product that had no way of being updated, patched, or expanded. Final Fantasy wasn't even an established series at that point, just an experimental game they didn't know would be a success or not. Making Final Fantasy II at all was as much "making more Final Fantasy 1" as anyone could have expected, so it shows the original game was profitable enough that Square saw fit to invest in more of "that," whatever they thought "that" was at the time.

[kaynide]

Come on now, that's not a valid analogy and you know it. Every video game at the time was a physical, stand-alone product that had no way of being updated, patched, or expanded. Final Fantasy wasn't even an established series at that point, just an experimental game they didn't know would be a success or not. Making Final Fantasy II at all was as much "making more Final Fantasy 1" as anyone could have expected, so it shows the original game was profitable enough that Square saw fit to invest in more of "that," whatever they thought "that" was at the time.

I don’t see how it isn’t. Even current gen MMOs don’t necessarily put all their money back into the game.

You think Hearthstone, Diablo 3 or the Warcraft movie weren’t paid for by WoW?
Even non-MMOs, like Ark Survival Evolved, pour their profits into other projects like a sequel and an animated series.

[Thaciscokidd]

I don’t see how it isn’t. Even current gen MMOs don’t necessarily money back into the game.

You think Hearthstone, Diablo 3 or the Warcraft movie weren’t paid for by WoW?

Its probably get disseminated more than people think. Even though XIV(the green bar which is basically XI + XIV + DQX) is making money(and catching up) HD games and mobile games still bring in more. Unless something has changed behind the scenes the only money that comes back to the game 100% is the Item shop profits.

[kaynide]

Its probably get disseminated more than people think. Even though XIV(the green bar which is basically XI + XIV + DQX) is making money(and catching up) HD games and mobile games still bring in more. Unless something has changed behind the scenes the only money that comes back to the game 100% is the Item shop profits.

That’s a big thing; I don’t think people understand how much of the money MMOs make gets eaten to keep the game running. It’s not like offline games where you just have to sell and recoup development/ad costs. Once a certain number of offline sales are made, every additional sale is pure profit.

MMOs however, the cost to maintain the game constantly increases as the content within the game increases, yet the monthly fee remains the same.

[Sebazy]

That’s a big thing; I don’t think people understand how much of the money MMOs make gets eaten to keep the game running. It’s not like offline games where you just have to sell and recoup development/ad costs. Once a certain number of offline sales are made, every additional sale is pure profit.

MMOs however, the cost to maintain the game constantly increases as the content within the game increases, yet the monthly fee remains the same.

Eh? No not really?

As far as development goes, there are 3 costs that can spiral if not kept in check. Class balancing, Voice acting and lore management.

Class balancing costs are arguably too well controlled, the team is small and has remained mostly the same size since ARR whilst keeping PvP it's own distinct thing also makes things much simpler to balance.

Voice acting and quality writing are more tied into the success and earnings of the game when FFXIV eventually hits the point where it starts declining, these will simply get cut back as needed.

On the other side of the coin, server costs are tied to active player counts, not the amount of content within the game.

More active players, more sub fees overall = the additional server costs are handily offset.

~~

Back on topic. Honestly, whilst I do wish that SE would invest more money back into the game, class design specifically I don't entirely begrudge what they do.

I see a lot of mentions of the likes of Babylon's Fall etc, but for every one of those, we got some unique, interesting and often great games as well. Triangle Strategy, Voice of Cards, Octopath spring straight to mind.

Sure they put out some prime chod as well, but they do deserve some credit for at least being willing to take risks. Compare that to EA some years ago or Activision more recently where they simply aren't willing to put out anything that isn't a long established IP.

[Thaciscokidd]

More active players, more sub fees overall = the additional server costs are handily offset.

This is also a gift and a curse. True enough the more players you have the easier it is to cover the charges, but the inverse is also true. The less players you have the more you are in the red to cover the server costs. Its one of the main reasons you see floundering MMO's start getting rid of/merging servers to offset some of the costs.

[VirusOnline]

That’s a big thing; I don’t think people understand how much of the money MMOs make gets eaten to keep the game running. It’s not like offline games where you just have to sell and recoup development/ad costs. Once a certain number of offline sales are made, every additional sale is pure profit.

MMOs however, the cost to maintain the game constantly increases as the content within the game increases, yet the monthly fee remains the same.

This was a nine moth income period in December 2021 that was posted on the Investor Relations in February 2022.
I mean ... were I to interpret this in the moment, the operating increases are coming from SE's other title's having a bad return whereas once again XIV is the funding source of everything.


edit: i am also just waking up, my brain may start working better soon lmao

[Yencat]

Realistically there's no way to know where your money is going but it's a safe bet to assume it's being pooled and used where they please, that includes FFXIV but not exclusively.

If you want to specifically support 14, the devs HAVE made it clear that ALL profits made in the MogShop go back into the game directly (it has paid for additional housing wards in the past, for example). Keep in mind they didn't need to do this and indeed most DLC shops don't fund the core game.

FFXIV doesn't do this either, they just said they want to use the money to improve the game (and it has in some cases, wards, data centers and such), but they never said that all profits from the Mogstation go back into the game directly.