Subscription should be to improve FF, not just make other games.

[Carin-Eri]

This always bothers me, when people say it in relation to taxes or subscriptions.

You are not a shareholder. You are not a stakeholder. You do not get any say, at all in how the money that you have surrendered gets spent.

At least with taxes you are comforted by the knowledge that the extraction was at threat of force, and therefore you shouldn't really pretend to be in a position to complain.

But this is a subscription to a video game. Your literal only option to influence is a binary PAY/ NOT PAY one.

Whiny scribbles on forums about "how" "your' sub money is spent are the height of silly narcissistic nonsense. It stopped being "yours" the moment you paid it, little brother.

Forced to agree. Whilst I haven't boarded the 'Intend to cancel sub' boat myself, I do agree that it doesn't matter how much you hate or complain about your dissatisfaction with the status-quo on the Internet. If you give them your money anyway, you are communicating exactly what you are willing to accept in the only language any gaming company understands - or cares about.

[Mawlzy]

It's funny in a way that Pearl Abyss recently announced that EvE is for sale.

PA has walked that back a bit, but you're right and it's actually a double irony given SE's behavior.

The primary reason CCP is currently unprofitable is that Hilmar (long-time CCP CEO) has an obsession with blockchain, EVE spin-offs, and mobile games. All of the recent projects have bombed. Eve Frontier required Web3/crypto, and Vanguard which is in pre-alpha looks like another flop.

I'm starting to think that successful games almost happen by accident (sort of survivor syndrome). Unfortunately, the people credited with their success are unaware they fluked into a big game, and assume they can repeat that success. They do so by draining funds from their actual success.

[MonsutaMan]

It begins........
https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06...of-all-time-is

[NaoSen]

This always bothers me, when people say it in relation to taxes or subscriptions.

You are not a shareholder. You are not a stakeholder. You do not get any say, at all in how the money that you have surrendered gets spent.

At least with taxes you are comforted by the knowledge that the extraction was at threat of force, and therefore you shouldn't really pretend to be in a position to complain.

But this is a subscription to a video game. Your literal only option to influence is a binary PAY/ NOT PAY one.

Whiny scribbles on forums about "how" "your' sub money is spent are the height of silly narcissistic nonsense. It stopped being "yours" the moment you paid it, little brother.

When the subscription model for final fantasy 14 got implemented. YoshiP said the following in a interview with gamespot.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fi.../1100-6418646/

Yoshida explained that subscription-based route provides a stable flow of income that allows Square Enix to keep good developers on staff, who can update the game and make it better. He added that players might not like paying for subscriptions, but that with free-to-play, developers need to design content with potential revenue sources in mind. “It brings up a question of who we're making happy in the end," Yoshida said.

I do not know if the store existed back then but a store is basically how F2P games work, FF14 has one, it has a sub too.

With cost being mentioned as a reason for content exclusion that is straight out saying that they do not have enough resources either in developers or money, developers translating to money as it's a salary to be paid.
If the FF14 team is not being provided enough funds then they are mis-using the revenue from the game and as such breaking their promise to the player.

If you believe that the +-2.5 million euro per month that is paid if the game even had 200 000 paying customers (let alone store income) is living up to their promise then good for you. If even
Anyone who says that the FF14 team is not receiving a high enough budget is in-directly complaining on what their subscription money is being used for, I just said it directly.

Edit: If you go by the average salary for a 6+ year experiance software developer (I know a team is not only developers, some would get paid less some more), and assume that SE allocates 30% of subscription to FF14 then give a rough estimate of server costs for 700 000 players you get a team size of 83. It's a rough calculation but I find it hard to believe that FF14, with what its releasing has a team that size dedicated purely to it.

[Carin-Eri]

When the subscription model for final fantasy 14 got implemented. YoshiP said the following in a interview with gamespot.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fi.../1100-6418646/


I do not know if the store existed back then but a store is basically how F2P games work, FF14 has one, it has a sub too.

With cost being mentioned as a reason for content exclusion that is straight out saying that they do not have enough resources either in developers or money, developers translating to money as it's a salary to be paid.
If the FF14 team is not being provided enough funds then they are mis-using the revenue from the game and as such breaking their promise to the player.

If you believe that the +-144 euro per year that is paid (let alone store income) is living up to their promise then good for you.
Anyone who says that the FF14 team is not receiving a high enough budget is in-directly complaining on what their subscription money is being used for, I just said it directly.

I recall reading that the Online Store, in it's current form, is a relatively recent addition. I think it was launched summer 2020.

[Ephremjlm]

Forced to agree. Whilst I haven't boarded the 'Intend to cancel sub' boat myself, I do agree that it doesn't matter how much you hate or complain about your dissatisfaction with the status-quo on the Internet. If you give them your money anyway, you are communicating exactly what you are willing to accept in the only language any gaming company understands - or cares about.

While I 100% DO agree, this isn't the full picture. Like any day now my two weeks past my sub not being resubbed will mean I can't comment on the forums, however these spikes in numbers up and down and player feedback does speak to them when it counts. So if people DO leave in high enough numbers then SE will be forced to look everywhere and do a massive player feedback investigation to determine what the issues are that have lead to their predicament. It IS important to leave your feedback. If not for SE then for the game developers and publishers that come after to learn the lessons of.

That said, I'll die on this hill that if you are someone on the forums who has been complaining for years yet you never once canceled your sub, then you are just as much to blame as those who are toxically positive about the game, if not more so because you know better. You are sending the message to SE that you don't care that they are disregarding your wants and needs. This was the case for most of Endwalker, where SE had built up a lot of trust so people gave them the benefit of the doubt. For me personally that was when I started unsubbing. Yoshi P was right. I haven't been subbed for more than 3 months at a time since Shadowbringers.

[klu]

When the subscription model for final fantasy 14 got implemented

I say this with no intention of snark.

Your comment, and the article you linked are *irrelevant*. Not just a little, all the way irrelevant.

It does not matter what anybody said when the sub model was revealed, it doesn't matter what Yoshi P said *yesterday* brother. Really, truly.

There is no such thing as a promise in a customer/provider relationship, and there never ever was.

If today the President of Video Games told you that your favorite MMO Subscription Game was using the money to build the most amazing housing system any game ever had on every single social media website, and the very next day that same person followed it up with a "LOL You thought"...

The result was entirely the same.
You either pay your sub and access the game... or you do not. That's it. That's all it will ever, ever be.

You are not a stakeholder, you are not a shareholder, promises and statements to you are unenforceable and irrelevant.

You're *barely* the customer. You are the payer. You pay. That's your role. Or you dont. But as long as you are, thats what you do.

You pass the butter.

[NaoSen]

You're *barely* the customer. You are the payer. You pay. That's your role. Or you dont. But as long as you are, thats what you do.

So from what you're saying SE never has to deliver on anything they say, its fine for them to take your money, have their live letters, update the version number of the game and not change the content.

[Arrius]

So from what you're saying SE never has to deliver on anything they say, its fine for them to take your money, have their live letters, update the version number of the game and not change the content.

Strictly said - Yes. When they say that are 'working' on improving the game quality, that doesn't mean they will be successful in it.
Many factors can influence their decision and success of the said attempts. And they might have to admit defeat at times, and redirect their resources elsewhere to meet the projected deadlines.

Of course, that's a bigger pill to swallow when it comes to content patches. And that's where a lot of their success hinges upon getting everything 'done' by then. And done, I mean, just good enough.
But it does not stop them at one day just ... throw up their hands and call it quits and putting XIV in maintenance mode, as much you would like to bring up that slider from 11 years ago and cry "BUT THEY PROMISED ... !"

[NaoSen]

Strictly said - Yes. When they say that are 'working' on improving the game quality, that doesn't mean they will be successful in it.
Many factors can influence their decision and success of the said attempts. And they might have to admit defeat at times, and redirect their resources elsewhere to meet the projected deadlines.

Of course, that's a bigger pill to swallow when it comes to content patches. And that's where a lot of their success hinges upon getting everything 'done' by then. And done, I mean, just good enough.
But it does not stop them at one day just ... throw up their hands and call it quits and putting XIV in maintenance mode, as much you would like to bring up that slider from 11 years ago and cry "BUT THEY PROMISED ... !"

Of course, they could just tomorrow post they are abandoning FFXIV to work on other products and suicide 70% of their income quite rapidly but the whole thing in my topic header I posted "Should Be", then I get replies as if I had said "Obligated To", it wasnt by accident that I used that wording.