FF14 player count has fallen off a cliff and is now at 2019 levels (3/16/2025)

[Supersnow845]

We really need a new genre term for a pseudo RPG that is designed to “look” like an RPG but really doesn’t have actual diversity that “role playing game” is designed to entail

“Action” game doesn’t really work because that term is way too broad

But so many of the industry giants in the last 10-15 years. Your god of war or your Witcher 3, dragon age inquisition, modern assassins creed even closer to home FFXV and FFXVI arguably fall into this category and other games in that wheelhouse aren’t really RPG’s but action can also include games really not in a similar style like an uncharted or tomb raider style game which I’d argue is a distinctly different genre

[Fatch38]

We really need a new genre term for a pseudo RPG that is designed to “look” like an RPG but really doesn’t have actual diversity that “role playing game” is designed to entail

the term already exist : it's called "lite rpg"

[xbahax92]

Nobody is thinking that far ahead yet since it's all too early and uncertain. But given the fact that we're still early in the expansion's release, I don't even want to imagine the state of the game before 8.0 launches. If we're already suffering from a content drought and a declining player population, then the months leading up to the next expansion aren't going to look great either.

We usually go through this period when the next expansion is on the horizon, but it's truly unsettling to sit here and wait anxiously for the next patch drop. I'm done doing the same expert dungeon, 99x extreme primal and reclearing savage/CoD.

[LillyWandsworth]

Is it really falling of a cliff or is it just going back to normal? I feel like Endwalker was just an outlier and we have the same levels of playership we hand in shadowbringers?

[Supersnow845]

Is it really falling of a cliff or is it just going back to normal? I feel like Endwalker was just an outlier and we have the same levels of playership we hand in shadowbringers?

The game has been on a constant upwards trend ARR->ShB. Then got a massive influx, now has fallen back to BEFORE it was before ShB

So we have basically gone 1->2->3->4->10->3

Which is not terribly healthy

[Kaurhz]

Is it really falling of a cliff or is it just going back to normal? I feel like Endwalker was just an outlier and we have the same levels of playership we hand in shadowbringers?

There are outliers in the game definitely, you can see that in 2021 Q3 and Q4 with the whole WoW migration. Since then it has obviously corrected itself a bit more, but the general trend is going down.

Obviously nobody is going to know definitely until after we see the reception of 7.25. A lot of it hinges on that.. If it's not well received then I can personally see a scenario where we dip below Shadowbringers numbers

[Misutoraru]

Is it really falling of a cliff or is it just going back to normal? I feel like Endwalker was just an outlier and we have the same levels of playership we hand in shadowbringers?

Keep seeing people mention WOW exodus, guess that where the sudden influx comes from. Then, those found out FFXIV is not JP WOW and not going toward that direction, plus the mix received of DT that might be a good chunk of those WOW refuse gone.

[LillyWandsworth]

Endwalker was the covid expansion and I think that feels like it artificially inflated numbers but the red line is equal to the numbers before endwalker

[Kazuke_Miso]

Is it really falling of a cliff or is it just going back to normal? I feel like Endwalker was just an outlier and we have the same levels of playership we hand in shadowbringers?

Trending towards SB numbers is not going back to normal lmao. COVID and WoW influx didn't start in 5.0, they started towards the end of ShB.

The only thing XIV has in common with jRPGs is linear storytelling, limited player expression and the fact the WoL in spite of how this game is marketed is a pre-stablished silent character you just happen to choose the appearance for.

It's even worse than most JRPGs. Metaphor Refantazio was much more nonlinear in its plot. Even FF10 is more nonlinear. Only thing comparable is like FF13.

[Araxes]

Ohhh, i am sure, that they will try to fix it. Because if they don't then SQEX is over. FF14 carries the whole company. If the game dies then SQEX dies too.
Cheers

That did not stop them from making absolutely horrible decisions, pumping money in Projects setup to fail. They just don't look at the Fails and hope they just go away.