Quote Originally Posted by Johners View Post
Final Fantasy XIV has to be one of the most monetised MMOs on the market though and I'm sick of people giving it a free pass, especially when the monetisation of other MMOs is mentioned. Let's break it down:
  • Game licenses that are Windows, macOS and PlayStation specific (need to buy multiple
  • Game subscription
  • Retainer service
  • Mobile app subscription
  • Mobile app currency
  • Optional item store with more items, both raw number and categories, than other paid or free MMOs
  • Paid in-game weddings
  • Character services such as home world transfer
Some of these monetisations are present in other games but FFXIV is the only paid MMO, at least that I'm aware of, that has a large player base and this excessive level of monetisation. The saving grace, if you can call it that, is not being able to buy optional cash store items directly from the game client... even if they do spam the launcher and social media feeds every time they add something.


Sure, I don't want a Genshin Impact in which a good game is grindy if you don't spend money but at the same time, I don't think XIV's level of monetisation is any better either.
FFXIV gets a free pass because everything on that list beyond the game and subscription is an optional luxury.

I've been playing with no extra retainers for most of the 3 years I've been on. I had about a month or two, where I was a little disorganized in getting crafting caught up. If they gave all that away for free, they'd lose money and we'd probably be losing servers from the broken game content that would be churned out because they can't afford to keep up the pace. It's also foolish not to cash in on people's desires for the nicer things. This is still a business, after all. People have their opinions about content and story direction, but the service has been stable and its expanding thanks to that monetization.