Zepla: Endwalker is the Worst FFXIV Expansion I have played

[ZephyrMenodora]

Well, FFXIV isn't their only product basis...unfortunately we don't have numbers indicating very specifics. If I had to fathom a guess...it would come from their figurines and other "byproduct" items basically the double dipping of the franchise (This holds true with a lot of other companies)

Sorry, merchandising is a separate category.

[Theodric]

Again, there is much much more stuff in the cashshop than ever before.

Yep - and they're likely still trying to compensate for recent events such as this:



I'm also led to believe that Forspoken didn't do as well as the company hoped and even led to the studio responsible for it shutting down. There's more merchandise being sold than ever before, sure, though that doesn't necessarily translate into customer satisfaction where FFXIV is concerned because a lot of us are here to play a video game with some staying power to its offerings.

Then, of course, there's the matter of financial reports often being heavily curated in order to give the most positive impression possible. Another factor I'd note is that the CEO of the company itself recently changed.

The next content patch for FFXIV isn't out until October and the second part of it isn't due until January. Then there's going to be a fair long wait until Dawntrail. It'll be interesting to see how many new items go on sale in that time period compared to the amount of actual content for players to engage with.

[Katish]

Sorry, merchandising is a separate category.

They don't incorporate the specifics so we don't know if it is...where are you getting your information...?

As for their reports...they don't tell the entire story...I'd say look at projections (Those are more informed).

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quot...advanced-chart

Edit: Yes it does...check the report the report is on all branches.

[Theodric]

In terms of their revenues, besides the fact that it's accounting for all their MMOs, there is also the consideration that SE had mentioned in its earlier accounts presentation that it's looking for ways to improve subscriber retention:



This was also commented on in an ad they put out for a marketing manager:

[Heavenchild]

Copium. But I know I’m in a thread full of people salivating over a clickbait title on a Zepla video lol.

This game has problems and it's importrant to speak about that. To say that everything is fine, while it is not, will just kill the game in longterm.
There is much more in the mogshop than ever before. They released a lot more and also the older stuff from events adds up. Thats an important thing in the financal statistics.

Maybe a lot of people haven't canceled subscription yet, but they don't log in. Most people I know don't log in anymore, because they feel like 'nothing interesting to do here', even shortly after a new major patch.
A lot of them don't even log in for the patch, after seeing the patchnotes. Those people won't pay for a game they don't play for ever.

Post EW was very weak, because most of the stuff they released feels incomplete. (VA/Criterion or IS). No field content, no relic journey, no sidestory with trials, less and less 'nice to have' in-game rewards.
We did not get 1 new looped dance for example, since the dwarvs tribal quests from ShB.

Thb I don't care anymore, about people like you, who defend this and pretend that everything would be fine.
I love this game and I say when something goes wrong, because I want the game to stay good!

And now I go touch my grass and leave this thread alone. And I am glad that Zepla had the courage to speak out, about all the problems.

[ZephyrMenodora]

This game has problems and it's importrant to speak about that. To say that everything is fine, while it is not, will just kill the game in longterm.
There is much more in the mogshop than ever before. They released a lot more and also the older stuff from events adds up. Thats an important thing in the financal statistics.

Maybe a lot of people haven't canceled subscription yet, but they don't log in. Most people I know don't log in anymore, because they feel like 'nothing interesting to do here', even shortly after a new major patch.
A lot of them don't even log in for the patch, after seeing the patchnotes. Those people won't pay for a game they don't play for ever.

Post EW was very weak, because most of the stuff they released feels incomplete. (VA/Criterion or IS). No field content, no relic journey, no sidestory with trials, less and less 'nice to have' in-game rewards. We did not get 1 new looped dance for example, since the dwarvs tribal quests from ShB.

Thb I don't care anymore, about people like you, who defend this and pretend that everything would be fine.
I love this game and I say when something goes wrong, because I want the game to stay good!

And now go I touch my grass and leave this thread alone. And I am glad that Zepla had the courage to speak out, about all the problems.

I hope you feel better getting this all off your chest while not caring about people like me.

[Jeeqbit]

In terms of their revenues, besides the fact that it's accounting for all their MMOs, there is also the consideration that SE had mentioned in its earlier accounts presentation that it's looking for ways to improve subscriber retention

For the NA Marketing Manager, they most likely mean retention in the sense of Free Login Campaigns, retailer partnerships where you get a mount for buying from that retailer, mounts for watching a twitch stream, that sort of thing. Because that's what their marketing teams would have control over. Yoshi-P has actual control over the game and its actual retention.

[ZephyrMenodora]

For the NA Marketing Manager, they most likely mean retention in the sense of Free Login Campaigns, retailer partnerships where you get a mount for buying from that retailer, mounts for watching a twitch stream, that for of thing. Because that's what their marketing teams would have control over. Yoshi-P has actual control over the game and its actual retention.

It’s a basic marketing function to attract and retain clients. I’m not sure how this is news.

[Theodric]

It’s a basic marketing function to attract and retain clients. I’m not sure how this is news.

Perhaps you could have asked that very question when they decided to put that statement in the accounts if it's not an area of concern. Ultimately, I don't think much will convince you, as you seem rather adamant on just using certain very vague aggregated metrics to brush off any criticism and will find an excuse for any downturn in the financial trends. I think the fact that you're celebrating a sub-driven game leaning more on its cash shop (because you didn't really rebut that so much as cheer it on) is telling of the mindset of certain quarters of the fandom.

Each to their own, of course - though ultimately some of us want an actual game to play and so we're leaving feedback relating to the desire for more content with staying power and rewards that don't involve opening one's wallet to automatically acquire a new, flashy item from the cash shop.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Perhaps you could have asked that very question when they decided to put that statement in the accounts if it's not an area of concern. Ultimately, I don't think much will convince you, as you seem rather adamant on just using certain very vague aggregated metrics to brush off any criticism and will find an excuse for any downturn in the financial trends. I think the fact that you're celebrating a sub-driven game leaning more on its cash shop (because you didn't really rebut that so much as cheer it on) is telling of the mindset of certain quarters of the fandom.

Retaining subs is always a concern in a sub-based business. It would be absurd if it wasn’t.