Yoshida on "the dangers of going free-to-play"

[axemtitanium]

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/25...ing-free-play/

In other news, the sky is not falling.



/forum

[Noahlimits]

The whole issue was him saying he wasn't opposed to it if the situation called for it in previous interviews. But these quotes really irked me:

Famitsu then asks Yoshida whether, if there’s demand from players to sell them items [in Final Fantasy XIV], he would do it.

“If it won’t have an effect on the game’s balance, and the demand is there, and we can deliver such items, then sure, I believe we’d sell them,” answers Yoshida. When asked about selling items that could change a character’s appearance, Yoshida also says that he believes that would be fine to sell.

Famitsu concludes the F2P talk by asking when Yoshida made up his mind on the subject of selling purchasable items.

“The demand from players [for them] are really high…” he replies.



“Even for one of the question items for our next Letter from the Producer, there was a question that asks ‘when will we be able to start buying items?’ and it had about 400 thumbs ups on it. I felt that the times sure have changed.”


He's basing this off of 400 likes? That's really what he determines whether or not something is wanted by the community? Oughh..

[Muzy]

I'm sure it's more than that, but you do have to keep in mind, only so much of the community even bothers to give feedback that he has to work with that segment.

All in all, it's a very informative interview.

[axemtitanium]

stuff

There's a difference between microtransactions and free-to-play. Pay-to-play games like FFXIV, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty (thinking specifically of Call of Duty Elite vs DLC), etc. can have microtransactions while still charging sub fees. As long as the paid-for items are cosmetic and don't affect game balance, as Yoshi says, then there's no detriment to having them in the game. Selling Fantasia on Mogstation is a no-brainer example.

Also, 400 likes on a particular question within the Letter from the Producer LIVE question threads is a lot, compared to the vast majority of posts in those threads, which barely manage 1 or 2 likes. It's a matter of perspective.

[Noahlimits]

There's a difference between microtransactions and free-to-play.

I never said that microtransations were the same thing as f2p. It was completely unrelated so if it came off differently, my bad. I personally just don't like the idea of there being purchasable items in a game we already pay 12-15 usd a month on. All of these extras should already be included in the game, imho. But everyone has their own opinions.

It also isn't clear as to what the line is for 'not effecting gameplay'. I sure believe having extra retainers gives an unfair advantage (since you can now level and retrieve items from them), yet you can buy extras as soon as the next patch.

[Delsus]

Sorry OT, but was that a green chicken in one of those pics?

[Doo]

You can say the same thing about cash shops.

“When you go F2P, you can’t make money from the game’s content itself, but rather, you have to make profit from items and things based on time, or else the game can’t continue. However, even if you’d like to focus on updating the content, you’ll be required to work on many items and the shops used to sell them, and that’s not related to what makes the game fun, right? When you want to put 100% of your energy into making new content, but you have to split 30~40% of it into ways of making money, you might end up thinking, ‘why am I making this?’”

[Mcshiggs]

Sorry OT, but was that a green chicken in one of those pics?

The green chicken is Gilgamesh's homeboy Enkidu.

[axemtitanium]

I never said that microtransations were the same thing as f2p. It was completely unrelated so if it came off differently, my bad. I personally just don't like the idea of there being purchasable items in a game we already pay 12-15 usd a month on. All of these extras should already be included in the game, imho. But everyone has their own opinions.

It also isn't clear as to what the line is for 'not effecting gameplay'. I sure believe having extra retainers gives an unfair advantage (since you can now level and retrieve items from them), yet you can buy extras as soon as the next patch.

Ah sorry, it seemed like you were conflating the two in your post but I was mistaken. Obviously there's a fine line you have to dance across when adding stuff to a microtransaction shop. I don't believe additional retainers qualifies as "pay-to-win" but you might think differently. Cheers for intelligent discussion though!

[Swishytail]

Wow, that was a pretty refreshing read. I'm personally not against seeing things like hair colors, minions, or anything like that
for $2-$3 in a shop. It's not game breaking, and I have no reason to throw my keyboard cuz someone else has a Wind-Up Ifrit
and I don't. The day weapons/armor etc. are available that become mandatory to progress in the game, then there's a problem.

I'd rather this game not go F2P and our 3-month updates turn into 9-12 month updates, either. I would be 100% done with FF.