Very Concerned for the Future of FFXIV and SE

[Kranel_San]

Sony is even more notorious than Square in that they refuse to even acknowledge PCs as a gaming platform.

This. People can say what they want about how good Sony is, but the fact remains they have disrespected the PC community.
I'd rather have a company that respects me playing on PC and releases games there from Day 1 than the exclusive-platform Sony is.

[Johners]

This. People can say what they want about how good Sony is, but the fact remains they have disrespected the PC community.
I'd rather have a company that respects me playing on PC and releases games there from Day 1 than the exclusive-platform Sony is.

Microsoft bring their console games to PC on day one because they're so far behind Nintendo and Sony in the hardware sales market that they've got no choice. Sony are bringing more of their first party line up to PC but they're further behind in this process as they can still sell console hardware and services. That being said, Sony's new line up of live service titles due to launch over the coming years will all be on PC and PS5 on day one. The single player story titles is where that's different. FFXIV would just be another live service title for Sony and given that it's already PC + PlayStation, nothing would change is Sony acquired Square Enix.

[Payadopa]

This. People can say what they want about how good Sony is, but the fact remains they have disrespected the PC community.
I'd rather have a company that respects me playing on PC and releases games there from Day 1 than the exclusive-platform Sony is.

How is any of that 'disrespectful'?

[Jaquan]

That's not how that works. Apart from SE triple dipping they sell you glam in a game where glam is the endgame. Where they sell whales a whale. lol Just because you can't outright buy Gil doesn't make it less exploitative since looking cool (whatever that may end up being) IS more than enough motivation in an MMO. And the cash shop is now accessible from the game and you still see retainers being advertised when you log in. Oh and retainers DO give you an advantage. Buy why solve a problem for free when you can have people pay for the solution. I don't see SE handing out free retainers either.

Actually you get two for free. If you ask me it's more than enough for regular gameplay. I do agree extra may feel like an advantage assuming you keep up with getting ventures though the extra storage space holds no value for me. I never have immediate need for old materials (so an hour for retainer to get them is not huge deal) and those rarely used I just sell away.

Other stuff though... I don't really see huge quality difference between most Cash shop Glams and those in game (considering large portion is just those from older events I guess that's to be expected) and dressing as an NPC isn't my cup of tea. They don't look any more detailed nor even that unique compared to what I can craft or find. Ultimately it really doesn't bring that much of an advantage.

Dreamfitting while step down in separation of the two is still removed as far as possible. I barely use the Inn rooms since I get access to glam dresser and Armoire via GC squad room while rest is available via furniture in my apartment.

And actually yes simple fact you can't use it to directly buy gill makes it less exploitable. Let me bring out WoW and EVE once again to make one statement. Being able to purchase in game currency for real money warps the game around it. In current WoW your gold can basically buy you everything. Level progression in game progression, Raid or mythic+ progression, specific loot. And how you get gold? With your money. It's higher impact than story and job skips in this game because unlike FFXIV everything in WoW revolves around end game. EVE has it even worse because frankly all off what I said about WoW is there by design. By the game's very design everything in the game can be bought through in game currency. Experience, ships, equipment, resources... If it's in the game it can be bought. And due to the destructible nature of what you obtain (bar EXP) the more money you have the faster you can bounce back. And again the fastest way to make money is... With your real money.

XIV lack this thankfully outside of retainer service. And even then additional Market Board Listing will do nothing if you have nothing to sell.

It's not perfect system but it's also way less harmful than I've seen those systems being.

[Payadopa]

I don't care about other companies in what I said. I don't care how [other company] does it.
What if I do a bad and others call me out only for me to turn around and say "but it's not that bad, other people do way worse stuff"?

And SE says the cash shop money is being funneled into new servers. Right. So they... wouldn't have done that otherwise? What business sense is that?

The point is that SE is continuing to push the envelope. And FOMO or always wanting to have the newest thing is *absolutely* a factor that people react to and therefore, quite literally, buy into it. Just because it doesn't affect some doesn't mean you shouldn't be criticised. I already give them enough money, yet they lower more and more barriers to entry into the cash shop. Story skips and level ups were unthinkable, yet a few years later they are totally fine? Additional storage space being monetised was not a thing in XI while I was playing. Who decided that exactly? I certainly didn't.

To think it won't get worse when SE's CEO is chasing after NFT money while releasing one failed Live Service game (Babylon's Fall anyone?) after the other is, frankly, naive.

[Jaquan]

I don't care about other companies in what I said. I don't care how [other company] does it.
What if I do a bad and others call me out only for me to turn around and say "but it's not that bad, other people do way worse stuff"?

And SE says the cash shop money is being funneled into new servers. Right. So they... wouldn't have done that otherwise? What business sense is that?

The point is that SE is continuing to push the envelope. And FOMO or always wanting to have the newest thing is *absolutely* a factor that people react to and therefore, quite literally, buy into it. Just because it doesn't affect some doesn't mean you shouldn't be criticised. I already give them enough money, yet they lower more and more barriers to entry into the cash shop. Story skips and level ups were unthinkable, yet a few years later they are totally fine? Additional storage space being monetised was not a thing in XI while I was playing. Who decided that exactly? I certainly didn't.

To think it won't get worse when SE's CEO is chasing after NFT money while releasing one failed Live Service game (Babylon's Fall anyone?) after the other is, frankly, naive.

They've been doing it for what 8 years now? Cash shop dropped like in 2.4? SE was going down that route for a long time and yet it's just now we got any direct link to it within game and frankly it's feature that may prevent us from getting stuff we can't wear? That's freaking astounding pace. Yes it's not a good thing but also a thing that didn't warp the game to a sizeable degree. Story skips and Job progression are bad but also lack any impact on others and probably even impacts the buyer negatively more than others considering the way FFXIV treats content makes it very non end game focused. Hell I'd go as far. As to say that story skip should remain behind the paywall so that players think twice before they make decision to use it and potentially harm their reception nof the game.

Don't get me wrong pushing the shop further isn't good but keep in mind. Square Enix was going that route for much longer than just last few months and despite that the impact of Cash shop on the game itself isn't as profound as many other examples. For whatever reason SE still gives a lot of leeway to FFXIV dev team and It doesn't seem they intend to change that in the near future.

[Sqwall]

IF......IF Sony were to acquire Square Enix. Which I think is an incredibly RISKY business decision for Sony as SE has ultimately sold the NA other studios that would have been a lucrative way to acquire some great development studios here in the Western Markets.

Ok.

There is Final Fantasy, Chrono, Deus Ex, Bravely Default, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean.

The ones in bold are the ONLY IP's that have set the world on fire so to speak SALES WISE.

From a gamer stand point yeah this should be a slam dunk...but from a business stand point...this is incredibly risky.

The Activision Blizzard acquisition is way less risky when you compare the two....Call of Duty is MASSIVE. Anything Blizzard is MASSIVE. The brands they have cultivated are gargantuan.

Sony needs to be asking the questions...what's in it for us? Can we trust SE to make good decisions with Final Fantasy? Can we achieve the level of detail, movie/film standards we have been adopting for our video games over the last 10 years and adapt that to Final Fantasy? Naughty Dog can. Insomniac can. Can SE?

Given the last 20 years of the franchise only 1 game has exceeded expectations, and the only one to top that is FFXIV over 20 years later. FFVII was a smash hit globally back in 1997! And the only cash cow they have now is FFXIV literally RAKING the money in month after month and show's no signs of imploding anytime soon. Can Sony re-cultivate what it helped drive back when Square approached them with an incredibly ambitious project?

Sony needs to play this smart if they DO decide to purchase SE...because this could bring it all down around them.

They don't have Microsoft money. Small potatoes compared to $70 billion dollar accusation for Call of Duty and Blizzards IP's alone? Recognizable brands matter in the west, and Microsoft knows this as they have been gobbling up franchises left and right as I have zero faith that Microsoft proper even has the capacity to make new IP's anymore. Does Sony? Can they put Final Fantasy into the Call of Duty upper echelons of success here in the west?

I'm excited to see what Sony does....or doesn't do. Right now SE has a GREAT thing going with FFXIV and I doubt they want ANYONE screwing that up....even SE doesn't want to interrupt Yoshi P or Creative business unit III. Leave them alone has to be the motto .

Just give me a good FFXVI...that's all I ask.

[Raoabolic]

Also, I said it befor and i'll say it again:

NGL, if SE gets absorbed by Sony then I'm quitting the game cold turkey. Sony actively kneecaps games that are remotely Japanese. Sony policies combined with SE's ethics department sounds like a nightmare for XIV and the future of SE titles in general.

[Ayuhra]

IF......IF Sony were to acquire Square Enix. Which I think is an incredibly RISKY business decision for Sony as SE has ultimately sold the NA other studios that would have been a lucrative way to acquire some great development studios here in the Western Markets.

Ok.

There is Final Fantasy, Chrono, Deus Ex, Bravely Default, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean.

The ones in bold are the ONLY IP's that have set the world on fire so to speak SALES WISE.

From a gamer stand point yeah this should be a slam dunk...but from a business stand point...this is incredibly risky.

The Activision Blizzard acquisition is way less risky when you compare the two....Call of Duty is MASSIVE. Anything Blizzard is MASSIVE. The brands they have cultivated are gargantuan.

Sony needs to be asking the questions...what's in it for us? Can we trust SE to make good decisions with Final Fantasy? Can we achieve the level of detail, movie/film standards we have been adopting for our video games over the last 10 years and adapt that to Final Fantasy? Naughty Dog can. Insomniac can. Can SE?

Given the last 20 years of the franchise only 1 game has exceeded expectations, and the only one to top that is FFXIV over 20 years later. FFVII was a smash hit globally back in 1997! And the only cash cow they have now is FFXIV literally RAKING the money in month after month and show's no signs of imploding anytime soon. Can Sony re-cultivate what it helped drive back when Square approached them with an incredibly ambitious project?

Sony needs to play this smart if they DO decide to purchase SE...because this could bring it all down around them.

They don't have Microsoft money. Small potatoes compared to $70 billion dollar accusation for Call of Duty and Blizzards IP's alone? Recognizable brands matter in the west, and Microsoft knows this as they have been gobbling up franchises left and right as I have zero faith that Microsoft proper even has the capacity to make new IP's anymore. Does Sony? Can they put Final Fantasy into the Call of Duty upper echelons of success here in the west?

I'm excited to see what Sony does....or doesn't do. Right now SE has a GREAT thing going with FFXIV and I doubt they want ANYONE screwing that up....even SE doesn't want to interrupt Yoshi P or Creative business unit III. Leave them alone has to be the motto .

Just give me a good FFXVI...that's all I ask.

Also just to be clear, Microsoft buying Acti-Blizz is not a situation we should be looking at as a point of comparison here.

Activision-Blizzard was being sued by the state of California. Microsoft was able to swoop in and buy them on the cheap AND they got a free audit out of it from the state that weeded out some of the most problematic people. It was an obvious choice for Microsoft.

[Thorio]

Yeah maybe I should start paying monthly because this current ceo doesn't inspire confidence for the future of the company.