After Dawntrails abject Failure of a Story, there need to be serious Consequences

[Eyrilona]

Oh wow, Steam, a platform that most people absolutely hate to play FFXIV through and actively avoid is the way to go for counting the playerbase. It's not like FFXIV has its own launcher that doesn't involve Steam or anything...

...unless there is any indication though that the preference for whether or not to play through Steam has changed independently of the popularity of the title at large, we must presume that Steam numbers do reflect the overall trend.