4gamer Interview

[Lauront]

I think it's a bit odd that he seems to believe that 'younger gamers' don't have the attention span to play FFXIV. The game demands a lot of attention and commitment to make it through the MSQ's since practically every bit of content in the game is locked behind that. I have a strong hunch that the same crowd who would prefer the instant gratification of jumping right into a match in Fortnite or Call of Duty are highly unlikely to ever pick up this game in vast numbers.

It does reveal how overly concerned Yoshi-P is with people who do not currently play the game as opposed to those who actually do, I suppose.

Especially since in prior interviews he's gone on record saying the following...

Jeux Online: What do you think about the future of the MMORPG genre as whole? The 1st gen and 2nd gen MMORPG audiences have gotten older and the newer generation doesn’t seem that interested in MMOs. So, where do you think the future of MMO lies?

Naoki Yoshida: First and foremost, with Final Fantasy XIV, we do believe that this game is at the maybe tail-end of the 2nd generation of MMORPGs. I believe that World of Warcraft was sort of the start of that 2nd generation. Having that kind of strong content-driven MMOs defined the MMORPGs of that generation. With Final Fantasy XIV, I believe this is the newest game within that generation of MMORPGs, but I also feel that we are coming to the very late part of that 2nd generation. So, I feel that there probably won’t be another MMO that is similar to what has already come out.

Even if Final Fantasy XIV were to release further expansions, maybe 3 or 4 more expansions, we don’t believe that FFXIV would evolve into the 3rd generation of MMORPGs.

We would just continue to pursue and perfect what we have so that we aim to become the ultimate MMORPG within our current generation.

In terms of the 3rd generation of MMORPGs, I believe that we would need to have something design that is fundamentally different.

I think there is a very important element, a keyword almost. The younger generation is one thing, but even with those existing gamers that have become older, there is really not a difference between those two parties. Both types of people have become very busy and there are so many different forms of entertainment, a lot of smart devices being out and available and it is more difficult to carve the time to sit down and do content. Previously, we wouldn’t have to worry about it because there weren’t so much distractions that would take us away, we had the time to sit down and do this sort of time-consuming content. But nowadays, when you start playing a game, you might get an email, you might get a text message, friends might want you to go see the latest movie or go out for a drink ; there are so many different things and so much materialistic objects that can distract you.There are all vying for your time.

You may be aware that worldwide we’ve seen games of the MOBA genre or Battle Royale games becoming very popular, games that people can jump in whenever they want, have that sort of instant gratification, and then quit whenever they want. I think that’s a very attractive set-up for the modern gamer or any gamer in this current time basically. And we feel that for MMOs of the next generation, it is important that we capitalize on that. It is something that’s a key element.

We feel that those are very important elements to incorporate if we were to bring a game that moves us into the next generation of the genre. But if we were to divulge more details, I think we would be giving hints to our competitors on our company’s ideas so I think I’m gonna stop right there.

https://ffxiv.jeuxonline.info/actual...ir-mmo#english

Games like Fortnite and Overwatch are vying for dedicated, online audiences like MMOs do - as a traditional MMO creator how does that make you feel?

Naoki Yoshida: This is happening because the video game industry continuously evolves. Just taking this example, traditional JRPGs are based on turn-based games. and especially for the youth, they feel that it's quite outdated, they don't really understand.. Talking about the younger generation, someone up to the age of 25, because prior to the time they were born, there was relatively high-spec hardware for their gaming experiences - their character is rendered very realistically and they can actually control the characters directly - by pressing one button, the character will punch the enemies or fire the gun...

That's why we don't feel those types of games are a threat because the basic game is designed completely differently. Because the audience that's playing Overwatch and Fortnite are probably in their 20s, they're a younger audience. If that younger audience becomes our main audience for FF14 or our current MMORPG, then we may need to cater to that new audience and create the excitement that they want from a game. We feel that FF14 doesn't really need to play that role. It should be the next generation of MMOs. But if we want to make an MMO which doesn't require targeting, that would be really difficult. We'd probably need to make some drastic changes to the game where there are text chats, but people are using voice chat and you can choose your play style, you can quit anything, you can come back any time... That kind of generation and time will definitely come, but personally speaking it looks very difficult so I don't want to do it!

https://www.eurogamer.net/final-fant...-proofing-mmos

Whereas their current design ethos does seem to be to reorient FF14 along the lines of catering to such players. But I doubt that doing it this way is going to even appeal to them because gamers who want such games are already spoilt for choice, so this just seems to be designed to appeal to people with the log in and collect reward mentality... and even then, there's better games for that.

I don't really know why he is thinking of younger players. Obviously he is forward-thinking and wants to grow the game, but anyone younger is obviously not like the rest of their generation anyway, or they wouldn't have got into the game.

I understand that he believes younger players don't want anything to be hard to achieve, but there have always been young people that want a goal to work towards when not learning or working. We could argue that is part of the attraction of the hugely popular mobile games industry. Something to distract you for a bit each day as you work to achieve something, such as leveling up or garden sims. Well you can do exactly that with relics. In Bozja you could do exactly 1 CE a day, or 10, as many as you like.

Yes, and at a certain point a game needs to be confident in what it is and what it offers. He's really generalising far, far too much, IMO. We were all new to MMOs and how they function at some point. Some of us just liked what they are and stuck around, and I don't see it being that different for 'younger' players. It will appeal to some more than others and should be able to sell itself on its strengths. They're not for everyone, and that is really not an issue. By watering down the identity of the product too much you risk both alienating your current playerbase and delivering on something that's too lacking in its own identity to stand out next to better specialised competitors. The problems he mentions are the sort you could easily address by having alternate relic acquisition paths, which they didn't pull off too well with Bozja but it would just take a few tweaks to achieve it, as opposed to ditching it altogether.