JP: Yoshi P should step down, FF14 is a sinking ship, in response to interview

[Rolder50]

Is the YoshiP Primal Tempering finally wearing off? Never thought I’d see the day.

[hydralus]

People talking about player count and retention like they own stocks in the company and rely on it to make a living.

[Aniise]

I have been critical of DT and the writing direction from early access on. The story was not on par with what we are used to from THE story MMO on the market. So much went wrong there, the new characters AND the old were bland and uninteresting, story was badly paced, slow, straight up boring at points...and also has some serious plotholes and logic failures. So yes, I don't understand how this mess managed to get past quality control at all.

The statement of Yoshi P he gave in the interview at Gamescom, basically saying they expected it to fail, was shocking to me. It's like telling us they knew the product was subpar, but still were keen on selling it to us and collecting our money. I still hope the devs will tell us later on that they heard the criticism, though, and take it seriously. Right now, however, as a longtime player, I don't feel seen and left alone with my worries and complaints. And that's something I never thought would happen.

However, telling Yoshi P to step down is a bit much, I think...
Looking back, without him the game we love would not exist today. And I think he did a wonderful job as a director/producer so far. I just fear that all the additional project they are giving him at SE because they want to cash in on his success might cause him to shift his focus away from the game more and more...and I don't think that's a smart move on SE's part.

A big part of the appeal of 14 has always been how much involvement the devs have with the players and the fan base. If they take this away more and more, of course people will feel like something is off and won't be happy. If the decision to put the focus elsewhere is made by Yoshi P himself, however, I feel it would be best to openly discuss it with the fans. It's always the best to be honest in such cases. Though I really don't think this is the case, at least not at that moment.

[Larirawiel]

A game not growing at all is not a good thing. Since when has that become acceptable ?

Not growing is still far away from being a "sinking ship".

A sinking ship looks like this:




Cheers

[Fawkes]

Not growing is still far away from being a "sinking ship".

A sinking ship looks like this:




Cheers

That's a submarine, it was underwater from the start.

[Somnolence]

what words they will still have left to use?

Given Gen-Z talk we will evolve in that race of Star Trek that communicates only via pop culture references. Except since people already use twitch emote names in their speech it will be far worse

[Mondschnee]

However, telling Yoshi P to step down is a bit much, I think...
Looking back, without him the game we love would not exist today. And I think he did a wonderful job as a director/producer so far. I just fear that all the additional project they are giving him at SE because they want to cash in on his success might cause him to shift his focus away from the game more and more...and I don't think that's a smart move on SE's part.

I agree, telling him to step down is overdramatic. And that's coming from someone who's been quite baffled by the dev's recent decisions, especially in regards to MSQ and the Viper changes.
And if I'm being honest, I don't know how much he's actually decided by himself and how much he's "taking for the team". I have this odd feeling that he's trying to shield them to some extent because he doesn't mind the harsh criticisms as much as others.

However, I am absolutely concerned. I feel like with all the interviews, he's been dodging the core problems of the MSQ, which is the writing and most especially the script. It's poor, spotty, inconsistent, contrived, full of convenience and illogical decision-making. And we were NOT a mentor. We were one on paper, but we effectively, we were a brainless bystander. Idk why they keep claiming otherwise.

I'm confused, and as a customer who's been subbed almost without breaks during these past 3 years, I feel betrayed.

[Tunda]

If Mr. Yoshi didn't acknowledge the issue how I as a player have faith in upcoming changes?

[Sensui]

Again, the long term growth is extremely positive and has been pretty steady. There are peaks and fall off but saying it's "sinking" is a bit dramatic. Look at the whole picture instead of isolating it to a week or month..

[Rolder50]

Again, the long term growth is extremely positive and has been pretty steady. There are peaks and fall off but saying it's "sinking" is a bit dramatic. Look at the whole picture instead of isolating it to a week or month..

Objectively untrue. Using Steam Charts (since it's the only really reliable source for this), the peak player count for Dawntrail was actually *lower* then it was for Endwalker, indicating a (small) drop-off. For the future, we'll just have to see.