FFXIV population decline continues

[Clockworks]

The denial some of you people are in regarding this game really is concerning.

Stop blaming COVID and lockdowns, it's 2025.

[Jeeqbit]

SB 663k -> 830k
ShB 943k -> 1.2m
EW 1.3m -> 1.7m
DT 1.4m -> 1.1m

The problem with the 1.7m stat is that it was a spike that didn't hold since it was riding off the back of the game going viral. It fell down to more like 1.4m ish after that.

I agree that the long-term concurrent population of the game has grown by about 200k every expansion (more in EW), but in order to properly see that with Dawntrail we really need a longer term view, not this short term view. For example, what will it look like at 7.2? Etc.

The denial some of you people are in regarding this game really is concerning.

Stop blaming COVID and lockdowns, it's 2025.

If we're comparing stats to the past - literally a time when Covid was more relevant, then yes it's relevant, and it's being in denial of this fact to not consider it.

[BigCheez]

The problem with the 1.7m stat is that it was a spike that didn't hold since it was riding off the back of the game going viral. It fell down to more like 1.4m ish after that.

I agree that the long-term concurrent population of the game has grown by about 200k every expansion (more in EW), but in order to properly see that with Dawntrail we really need a longer term view, not this short term view. For example, what will it look like at 7.2? Etc.

If we're comparing stats to the past - literally a time when Covid was more relevant, then yes it's relevant, and it's being in denial of this fact to not consider it.

The spike didn't hold because the game didn't hold people's interest. The game "went viral" in 2021. It seems silly to try to attribute changes in player behaviour in late 2024 to that.

This was 6.0 to 6.1:



Obviously player numbers fell off after the expansion released but people came back for 6.1 and stuck around for a solid month afterwards.

This is 7.0 to 7.1:



You can barely even see where 7.1 is on the chart. Hardly anyone came back and a lot of them left after only 2 days.

Trying to suggest that there are fewer people playing games post-COVID just doesn't work when FFXIV achieved its all time peak player count in 2024. WoW is sitting pretty at 7m active players. OSRS just broke its own concurrent player record in November. Counter-Strike 2 has 1.5m concurrent players every day.

Why does FFXIV seem to be the only game in existence that is somehow still experiencing long-term effects of COVID?

[Videatur]

Why does FFXIV seem to be the only game in existence that is somehow still experiencing long-term effects of COVID?

Because when you do not accept reality you try to point the finger at something regardless. Unfortunately FF14 is a sin of so many things to really update, because it lacks QoL which has existed in other MMOs since 2004, but when you only think about updating textures and lighting but the rest of the game is stuck in 2013 in the long run people simply get fed up.

[Exmo]

Why does FFXIV seem to be the only game in existence that is somehow still experiencing long-term effects of COVID?

Nobody has said it's the only game in existence that blah blah blah. But since you asked ->

https://www.nme.com/features/final-f...-covid-2884397

[BigCheez]

Nobody has said it's the only game in existence that blah blah blah. But since you asked ->

https://www.nme.com/features/final-f...-covid-2884397

Kind of missing the point. This feels suspiciously like you just desperately Googled "ffxiv covid" and copy and pasted the first vaguely relevant article you found.

What makes you think that this applies only to FFXIV and not every other online social platform?

Why do you think that players have more readily left FFXIV post-COVID than other games?

Why would FFXIV achieve an all time peak player count in 2024 if people had moved on from FFXIV after COVID?

What does players leaving the game after that peak in 2024 have to do with COVID?

[Clockworks]

Nobody has said it's the only game in existence that blah blah blah. But since you asked ->

https://www.nme.com/features/final-f...-covid-2884397

That literally proves nothing and especially not your point.

[Jeeqbit]

The game "went viral" in 2021. It seems silly to try to attribute changes in player behaviour in late 2024 to that.

I am not attributing changes in player behaviour in "late 2024" to that.

I am saying that you can't compare 2024/2025 to 2021/2022 because the circumstances are different ie. the game hasn't been viral for ages, so obviously the number will be lower this time. This is a given.

Even if there are less people playing right now, they may return in 7.2 etc. It's nothing really to worry about because the game was fine in Heavensward/Stormblood with a quarter to half the population it's had.

[BigCheez]

I am not attributing changes in player behaviour in "late 2024" to that.

I am saying that you can't compare 2024/2025 to 2021/2022 because the circumstances are different ie. the game hasn't been viral for ages, so obviously the number will be lower this time. This is a given.

Even if there are less people playing right now, they may return in 7.2 etc. It's nothing really to worry about because the game was fine in Heavensward/Stormblood with a quarter to half the population it's had.

You absolutely can compare 2024/25 to 2021/22 because the game started with more players in 2024 than it had in 2021.

This isn't a case of the game going viral for a short time a few years ago and then things dying down. It's a case of the game achieving its peak long after going viral and then falling off immediately due to an awful expansion launch. Trying to deny this is pure cope.

[Fawkes]

I am saying that you can't compare 2024/2025 to 2021/2022 because the circumstances are different ie. the game hasn't been viral for ages, so obviously the number will be lower this time. This is a given.

You're talking about the game 'going viral' like a wizard did it. It went viral because Shadowbringers was so good everyone playing the game couldn't stop talking about how good it was. If Dawntrail had been better the population would likely be higher than it is now.

the excitement and interest of current players is part of what draws in new players. If everyone playing the game is just talking about all the problems then fewer new players are going to be drawn in, and the overall population will decline.