Final Fantasy XIV is a game where the accountant is in the room.

[BoJumbles]

You can look at the credits of each expansion and compare the staff lol. A lot of the senior staff are not on recent credits.

If your argument is "where is your evidence of Square Enix saying publicly that they're milking their players while funding other projects" then nothing will satisfy you but it's obvious to anyone with a brain.

Staff cycling in and out isn't exactly sign of most of what you said in the OP. It's a potential indicator -- and fodder for speculation, as I said in my initial post.
For instance: members of staff might be able to request working on a different project, it may be based upon internal politics, or they might simply get assigned to a project and have to assume responsibility in perpetuity. I could speculate very strongly in any of these directions and probably find evidence that circumstantially supports my perspective.

As for what my "argument" is, it's twofold:
* That FFXIV is not nearly as staunchly budget-focused as you've represented it, at least in comparison to its contemporaries;
* That while it's safe to speculate regarding internal turmoil, it's irresponsible to speak as if you know for a fact what the internal issues and attitudes are.

I'm just saying, it might be prudent to be a bit more reserved with your conclusion.

[Sivante]

Staff cycling in and out isn't exactly sign of most of what you said in the OP. It's a potential indicator -- and fodder for speculation, as I said in my initial post.
For instance: members of staff might be able to request working on a different project, it may be based upon internal politics, or they might simply get assigned to a project and have to assume responsibility in perpetuity. I could speculate very strongly in any of these directions and probably find evidence that circumstantially supports my perspective.

As for what my "argument" is, it's twofold:
* That FFXIV is not nearly as staunchly budget-focused as you've represented it, at least in comparison to its contemporaries;
* That while it's safe to speculate regarding internal turmoil, it's irresponsible to speak as if you know for a fact what the internal issues and attitudes are.

I'm just saying, it might be prudent to be a bit more reserved with your conclusion.

10/10. Nailed it.

Not that I'm against these conclusions, but asserting them in absence of clarifying evidence may be short-sighted. Could very well be the case that all these things are true, but we should keep the conversation open to future information and remain ready to append our understanding as new details do or do not arrive.

[Red-thunder]

Staff cycling in and out isn't exactly sign of most of what you said in the OP. It's a potential indicator -- and fodder for speculation, as I said in my initial post.
For instance: members of staff might be able to request working on a different project, it may be based upon internal politics, or they might simply get assigned to a project and have to assume responsibility in perpetuity. I could speculate very strongly in any of these directions and probably find evidence that circumstantially supports my perspective.

As for what my "argument" is, it's twofold:
* That FFXIV is not nearly as staunchly budget-focused as you've represented it, at least in comparison to its contemporaries;
* That while it's safe to speculate regarding internal turmoil, it's irresponsible to speak as if you know for a fact what the internal issues and attitudes are.

I'm just saying, it might be prudent to be a bit more reserved with your conclusion.

Yeah virtually all of the senior staff no longer working on FF14 anymore is just because of internal politics LOL