Would you be upset if the game went offline?

[Kallera]

Ok how about the fact that it requires money (which is a resource) to keep these servers up , SE are not making money on this game in fact they are throwing it away at this point by keeping these servers up.

That extra money could be used to get more staff on the project and increased effort all across the board.

There is a good reason why closed beta's have a few days of play then a break in between.

They would be throwing CUSTOMERS away by taking the game offline. Paying 70$ for a game that goes down in less than a year hurts the trust peoplle will have in SE's games, with the ways things now. The worst is that FFXIV is a bad game, but that other SE products, especially the FF series, are good products.

Bringing down the game will generate bad publicity. A indelible mark in the franchise, and affect people buying other games in turn. This isn't some porting mishap with the numbers, this is the relationship to the people that they have provided products for many years. You can't fix that as easily.