Whats the new Dev teams time limit?

[Zanfire]

@ Xatsh

"- We will not put more money into mmos titles until the current ones become profitable (Press Release)"

yet they are working on a new MMO, which they are going to announce this year.

[viion]

probably still has same conflicts it had before.

[kukurumei]

3. Because FFXIV is built off the profits of FFXI, and not backed by investors in the traditional game design sense, there is no danger of FFXIV going offline for the foreseeable future.

That's a lie simply because there is no such thing as one project funding another for a big company like SE. And more realistically SE is in so much trouble lately, there isn't such a thing as "profits" even then.

FF14 isn't being washed because it's too big of a moral blow, and there is still the hope of all hope it can be saved to make a modest profit over the long run.

Time is short for FF14 though as both east and west are gearing up for the hype destruction of the next wave of hot MMO names, if it can't get some momentum then, it's "The Last Remnant"-ed.

We'll see a cut off point in the not to distant future whether it lives or dies.

For Japan at least, Phantasy Star online 2 alpha test is beginning soon. We'll see how high the hype meter there is...That's like a very home-turf rival there.

[quantumsaint]

Think about it like this, Microsoft entered console development knowing they would most likely take a loss on the original Xbox, now they are sitting pretty this gen. Basically, their model was "throw money at it until it becomes profitable." That's exactly what S-E is doing right now. They may be losing money (we really don't know), but PS3 release will sell copies, and coupled with subscription fees, will allow them to be very profitable even with a small userbase. You're just not looking at the big picture.

[Blitz0309]

1) How long are the big guys up stairs giving you to turn this game around before they want to start charging? When would you want to if there is none?

1 speculation) Probably whenever they think they will have people stick around and be willing to pay for their product. If they started charging now i'm sure they'd loose a majority of their beta testers. Hell all of my friends that bought the game at launch have already tossed(or lost) their copies.

2) what kind of limits are holding you back (team size, budget restrictions)

2 speculation) No idea, they aren't open about anything. Its progression is far too slow regardless. Though i would imagine the budget isn't huge, or the team size. At least not as big as it should be for their flag ship title. Seeing how the original final fantasy saved Square, you'd think they would at least return the favor.

3) Would they let this game get shut down if its not doing well soon?

3 speculation) If the game never recovers its player base and the initial stigma this game has stains it indeterminately i'm sure they'll shut it down. Then again, i could see them just merging worlds down to a bare base server and leaving a skeleton crew to man it just to spite the critics as well. If anything they did sell a few copies of the game, so the hardware costs for the game are paid probably, and bandwidth/power to keep it going is pretty cheap.


To be honest i'm hoping they make this game worth a damn. That's the only reason i still read these forums, well that and boredom at work. I'm hoping their ideas pan out and its fun.. but really in my mind they need to scrap the armory system and just put in a basic class/sub class system (or even skill tree based). That is something that would make me enjoy this game, but i don't see them doing that. But after reading letters, patch notes, and everything i'm still betting that when they come to ask us to pay month fees that i kill my account.

When i log in to ffxi, i'm reminded of all the good times i had. Even when i updated ffxiv and login i'm just reminded that its a tedious boring game.. i don't know if that feeling is ever going to go away without a whipe and a new slate.

[Rydin]

Every single game in the history of video games loses money...
I will go as far as saying every single product loses money...
in the R&D phase...
We all know the game wasn't ready... ALL of these big companies take forever to release the big ones... How long has SWTOR been in development? guild wars II?

When a game is in development it is not making money... but it is costing money...
that is, in essence, what development is. SE always takes a long time to release games... they just pushed this one out too soon... but that doesn't actually cost them any extra money... Had they waited and this game still wasn't released, financially they would be in the same position... the same position they've been in on every game they've ever made

The only negative to come out of this was the stock price fell due to bad publicity causing some very angry shareholders

When they say the lost money, what they are saying is "They didn't make as much money as the were projected to make this year" because the predictions were based on a finished game.

But again... had they delayed the release, they would be in the same financial position, just with a better stock price...

What they are doing now is no different than a delayed release.. just with some extra negative buzz to go with it...
Saying there is a time frame that the game has to be finished is silly...
Every game has that deadline push...
Look at this as just another SE game release delay... because thats all it is... and lets be honest.. SE delays everything so this isn't new territory for them

tl;dr SE isn't losing any more money on this game than they have on every other game they've released

[Zanfire]

Think about it like this, Microsoft entered console development knowing they would most likely take a loss on the original Xbox, now they are sitting pretty this gen. Basically, their model was "throw money at it until it becomes profitable." That's exactly what S-E is doing right now. They may be losing money (we really don't know), but PS3 release will sell copies, and coupled with subscription fees, will allow them to be very profitable even with a small userbase. You're just not looking at the big picture.

There is a BIG difference between a company starting up a console compared to a single game. Not only that, but the orginal Xbox was not put out with everyone and their mothers pissed at it or severely disapointed.

[Zanfire]

Every single game in the history of video games loses money...
I will go as far as saying every single product loses money...
in the R&D phase...
We all know the game wasn't ready... ALL of these big companies take forever to release the big ones... How long has SWTOR been in development? guild wars II?

When a game is in development it is not making money... but it is costing money...
that is, in essence, what development is. SE always takes a long time to release games... they just pushed this one out too soon... but that doesn't actually cost them any extra money... Had they waited and this game still wasn't released, financially they would be in the same position... the same position they've been in on every game they've ever made

The only negative to come out of this was the stock price fell due to bad publicity causing some very angry shareholders

When they say the lost money, what they are saying is "They didn't make as much money as the were projected to make this year" because the predictions were based on a finished game.

But again... had they delayed the release, they would be in the same financial position, just with a better stock price...

What they are doing now is no different than a delayed release.. just with some extra negative buzz to go with it...
Saying there is a time frame that the game has to be finished is silly...
Every game has that deadline push...
Look at this as just another SE game release delay... because thats all it is... and lets be honest.. SE delays everything so this isn't new territory for them

tl;dr SE isn't losing any more money on this game than they have on every other game they've released

Its a very different situation when you are still working on it, and working on it after releasing it to reactions of massive dissapointment and then loosing huge amounts of potential players. Then dragging out the fixing of the game. It wont be in good condition for another year at this pace.

[Wolfie]

Fixed FF14 is the new Duke Nukem Forever.

[Rydin]

There is a BIG difference between a company starting up a console compared to a single game. Not only that, but the orginal Xbox was not put out with everyone and their mothers pissed at it or severely disapointed.

I've said this time and time again... people love a good train wreck...

The game will sell well on PS3... that is a foregone conclusion....
The Japanese PS3 numbers alone will be higher than the worldwide PC numbers
But the fixes and additions they are doing now will determine how many people stay with the game...
And that is something I just can't predict