Square Enix Financial Loss report – Is FFXIV really at a risk? DEVS pls comment

[avalonstormm]

I was checking FFXIV ZAM today and read the Thursday (May 12/2011) blog regarding the financial report of Square Enix dated May 12/2011. The report looked pretty grim and it would seem that Square Enix might be put in a situation where they have to pull the plug on some game projects to manage their operating costs more efficiently.
Now here is the big question…will Square Enix continue on with FFXIV and continue to have YoshiP and the current dev team improve the game and use FFXIV as their last ACE to make a huge come back and get their financials to the positive side?

I am one of the many FFXIV players that stayed loyal to FFXIV and continued to be an active player since Sept 2010. Many of you might not agree to this, but should SE decides to continue with FFXIV and decides to have the current dev team to continue improving the game and announce that they will have to start charging the monthly fee sooner than later. I will fully support SE, I have not made any major contributions to Japan when the Earthquake happened, but I believe that by supporting the FFXIV monthly payment WITH THE PROVISION that YoshiP and his team will stay and continue the amazing progress they are doing with FFXIV, is worth it and in some ways I can redeem myself.

To add to this, I believe that FFXIV is in the perfect position to still compete with other current MMOs, sure there is still a lot of work to be done, but FFXIV has made notable, yet subtle progress, even Thayos of FFXIV ZAM noticed these positive changes. The changes might not be as profound as we expected them to be but at least the game has improved and is continuing to improve. Thayos also shared my belief that there is a huge chance for YoshiP and his dev team to help FFXIV make its huge come back.
Another fact I want to address as a FF fan is that FFXIV lore is something that most current MMOs cannot imitate IMO, even the graphics is still much better compared to other MMOs IMO. I know I sound kind of bias here but I really truly believe that FFXIV has huge potential to compete in the MMO industry.

I would appreciate any comments from the FFXIV DEV team in terms of how they feel about what is happening in Square Enix’s current financial state. I would hope that SE does not give up on FFXIV, I can’t come back to FFXI at this point, I have already moved forward from FFXI and I don’t find the other current MMOs captivating enough to take me away from Final Fantasy lore.

[Teknoman]

I second this.

[Rentahamster]

This game has the potential to be the best MMORPG on the market.

But.

Time is running out.

It's gonna take a lot of hard work to bring it around. I just hope SE can stomach it.

[avalonstormm]

This game has the potential to be the best MMORPG on the market.

But.

Time is running out.

It's gonna take a lot of hard work to bring it around. I just hope SE can stomach it.

Yes I understand Time is a major factor, Thayos of FFXIV ZAM did pointed that the next major updates could very well dictate on where FFXIV will stand. I hope YoshiP gets this message "I believe YoshiP and his team can do it!"

[Illy]

The little report thing never mentioned they were losing money on FFXIV(even though I would have to bet they are) but they lost alot of money because they cancelled some games that were in development.(one was confirmed to be Gun Loco and another was confirmed to be a unannounced Highlander game and people are assuming they cancelled a few 3DS games) so that big loss was money put into games that will never come out and as such are a loss.

Despite the fact that FFXIV is losing money SE knows the potential the game has and I doubt they would kill it anytime soon.(I mean look at FFXI it's still making them alot of money and it could be the sole reason they have no outright killed XIV already) I would bet as a matter of fact they would be far more likely to switch the game over to a free to play model as a last ditch effort before finally letting it die(as Free to play games are becoming increasingly popular and profitable)

I doubt any of the SE people will comment on this as the only thing they can really say is everything is fine(as saying something bad would make people just flee the game and kill it quicker anyway)

[IveraIvalice]

i never understood why people act like this game is so bad and they cant play it. i mean sure theres a few little things wrong with balance but overall, its playable and fun. all i ever see is people talking about a huge lack of content, and i agree but that doesnt mean the whole game is bad.

[Platinumstorm]

To address the OP I do not believe that the game is in danger of shutting down right now.

This is from their financial reports.
"Our Group experienced significantly lower sales and profit during the fiscal year mainly due to weak performance of console game titles released during the year as well as the impact of a continued delay in billing for a key online title, which was newly launched during the year."

http://www.abload.de/img/capture8cdg.png

Based on the graphic, one would assume Square does want to strengthen their online titles, so I wouldn't put that as a risk to the game closing, despite the loss of profit, and I imagine not even breaking even on the cost of game development, that FF14 has cost.

In the future FFXIV will be in danger if the developers cannot convince players to #1. Return to the game and #2. Subscribe to the game.
There's so much to add, but I don't think it will be ready for "launch" until June of next year, so I do not believe it's in danger of closing until after that time period.

[MistyMew]

People will give ff14 a chance, ff fans will always give a fair share of time for se to fix the game. there is alot more wrong then right in it atm and although it can be somewhat amusing to play for a short time a huge huge percentage of ppl that originally tried it could never be happy with ff in its current state. atm it is OK.

i dont think se will give up on ff14 , i really dont, BUT if they dont make ps3 out of this world fantastic........then sadly it will never be truly profitable to them.

i want it to be, i want ff14 to be the absolute best out there, they have the talent and the right team on it now. IF ppl can wait it out and IF ps3 release is literally huge and jam packed over the top filled with goodies then i see a good future for it and for SE profit.

[Eldaena]

I would be willing to pay to keep this project alive. I think it has potential, and I think once we start seeing a few more positive results, more people would be interested in it as well.

[Vahzl]

From a financial point of view, it is redundant to axe FFXIV anyways, as it has the potential subscription base from FFXI as that game won't be around much longer. Yes people went back to it on 14's release, but these are the people that are STILL playing FFXI, which aren't that many. The population of the game is dropping noticably, as are the subs, so SE will only be able to generate new revenue by continuing support for 14.

It is the only logical step for them, otherwise they just threw millions of dollars into the fire, which again financially, isn't viable, and won't happen.