If FFXIV is their most profitable product, why is the game so mistreated?

[Larirawiel]

After tons of financially catastrophic adventures like Forspoken they propably have to use the money from FF14 players to cover these losses. The other studios have serious skill issues, it seems. So yes, it is sad, but it is what it is. And the only language, a company truely understands is the financial one. So if you unlucky, how FF14 is treated then stop giving them money. SQEX will then either improve FF14 or they will shut it completely down because it could turn into another financial disaster.



Cheers

[Daralii]

After tons of financially catastrophic adventures like Forspoken they propably have to use the money from FF14 players to cover these losses. The other studios have serious skill issues, it seems. So yes, it is sad, but it is what it is. And the only language, a company truely understands is the financial one. So if you unlucky, how FF14 is treated then stop giving them money. SQEX will then either improve FF14 or they will shut it completely down because it could turn into another financial disaster.

XVI did a lot to show that CS3 isn't exempt from the skill issues that the rest of the company have.

[Jeeqbit]

is FFXIV really the most profitable game SE has?

MMORPGs typically end up the most profitable because, while a single player game is a one-off purchase that spikes with the release hype, an MMORPG is able to charge a monthly fee in addition to this or alternatively provide shop purchases to display to other players, both of which provide long-term revenue after the original purchase of the game.

If that's true, why does it have so few people working on the project?

Define few. They have hundreds of people working on it. The credits for Dawntrail took 48 minutes.

Why do we have such long content and patch cycles?

Because development takes time. More people doesn't mean quicker because diminishing returns exist. It's like asking why we don't get a new Star Wars film/series every week despite thousands of people working on it. At a certain point, more people doesn't speed it up anymore, without getting an AI to automate every single task in seconds but the FFXIV community is very resistant to that.

I must ask myself as a player why this supposed cash cow is floundering under the weight of its own struggles if it's truly as strong a contender as we, the player base, hope it is...

The issues they talk about are fair and reasonable issues that can take time to resolve. It's just that some of these issues have lingered for longer than is reasonable - such as housing. Island Sanctuary was a perfect opportunity to create instanced housing and they didn't do it, for example.

[Dirwen]

Problem is people don't mind paying for subpar content as its always about the money. I don't see the situation improving and I bet 8.0 will the same formula as they won't try anything totally new anymore.

[Kaecilius]

My assumption, if I'm being generous, is that a large part of their focus at the moment is overhauling old systems that we don't necessarily see. This is why we've been getting a ton of quality-of-life improvements, the graphical improvement, etc. They are setting the groundwork to be able to properly expand in the future.

Of course, as a player, this doesn't take away the feeling that the content cycle is extremely stale at this point.

[Larirawiel]

XVI did a lot to show that CS3 isn't exempt from the skill issues that the rest of the company have.

FF16 was not a failure. It did not meet their expectations but it was still profitable. And the reason for "not met expectations" was propably the PS exclusivity and not the game itself. Forspoken however caused them a 100 million USD loss.



Cheers

[Maeyria]

My assumption, if I'm being generous, is that a large part of their focus at the moment is overhauling old systems that we don't necessarily see. This is why we've been getting a ton of quality-of-life improvements, the graphical improvement, etc. They are setting the groundwork to be able to properly expand in the future.

Of course, as a player, this doesn't take away the feeling that the content cycle is extremely stale at this point.

Good point.
I agree.

I see many comments online about how quality of life is not content and that many do not agree with quality of life improvements and prefer more content instead.

Personally I disagree though, because quality of life improvments are necessary for long run stability.
The longer they are kept from improving, the more work they become, I feel like.


Kind regards
Maeyria

[Sated]

I'd like to see them introduce the long-term content sooner.
If we had either the relic weapon grind or something like island sanctuary in the x.1 patches then people who only play FFXIV will have more to do earlier in the patch cycle.

Otherwise I'm not sure how it's being mistreated?
This currently feels like a good work/life balance not just for the devs but for players as well.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Problem is that by their neglect and mistreatment they've made it so that it's no longer their most profitable product... Their mobile gachas likely make more money than XIV does.

[Daralii]

FF16 was not a failure. It did not meet their expectations but it was still profitable. And the reason for "not met expectations" was propably the PS exclusivity and not the game itself. Forspoken however caused them a 100 million USD loss.

I'm talking about the game itself, not sales. Quest design largely consisted of traveling across a large, pretty, empty environment to have a short fight or start a cutscene and just repeating that constantly, combat was flashy but had very little variety or depth, character progression was hollow, etc. These are things that should sound very familiar to anyone that has played XIV.