only 500k subscribers?

[Velhart]

It will increase come expansion. This is a thing for MMO's, even WoW, where over a period of time when the initial game is released or it's expansion pack, the numbers boom and rise very high. Over time, it drops to lower numbers till the next expansion arrives. If I had to take an educated guess, I would say come expansion (if advertised well), you will see a ton of returning players and new ones, possibly hitting back into 800k to (a stretch here) a million subscribers. Over time in Heavensward, probably drop to about 600k-700k. Games like WoW did not get 10 million+ subscribers in a day. This was built up in a course of 5-6 years. ARR has been out for nearly 1.5 years now. The more interesting question is, what do you think numbers will be if SE keeps pushing hard 5 years from now?

[Gardes]

The more interesting question is, what do you think numbers will be if SE keeps pushing hard 5 years from now?

Comparing the amount of "yes we can" to the "no we can't" from devs about various things in general, I wouldn't go all in on SE ever doubling on their stabilized sub rate.

[Velhart]

Comparing the amount of "yes we can" to the "no we can't" from devs about various things in general, I wouldn't go all in on SE ever doubling on their stabilized sub rate.

How many people have truly unsubbed from "no we cannot" statements? Not that many. Most of the time, people leave because they are bored or frustrated dealing with the content/players. First expansions are always famous for getting a game booming and players get a stronger understanding on what direction the developers want to take. That was the case for Burning Crusade for WoW and Rise of the Zilart for FFXI. Heavensward looks like it is going to take FFXIV in the direction it needs, I look forward to how it all works out.

[ExKage]

In this thread, people can't read. The numbers taken from the March 2014 report are that the three MMOs were barely at 1 million subscribers.

SE themselves gave the 500k number, but they did not count China's subscribers.

"Square Enix tells MCV that the actual number of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn paying subscribers sits at 500,000, with over 2.5m registered users. These numbers do not include the game's performance in China, which charges Chinese gamers on a per-minute pay model. A Realm Reborn will launch in Korea in 2015."

[Raist]

In this thread, people can't read. The numbers taken from the March 2014 report are that the three MMOs were barely at 1 million subscribers.

SE themselves gave the 500k number, but they did not count China's subscribers.

"Square Enix tells MCV that the actual number of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn paying subscribers sits at 500,000, with over 2.5m registered users. These numbers do not include the game's performance in China, which charges Chinese gamers on a per-minute pay model. A Realm Reborn will launch in Korea in 2015."

Actually that number is from March of 2014--from the FY21014 reports themselves. It has actually been stated that there are on average around 500k active accounts daily. That's not subscriptions, but the number of accounts that are signed into the game on a daily basis.

It could be considerably more than 500k that have prepaid (ie: subscribed) to have access to the service for the next 29+ days. There are players that come and go sporadically via time card or Crysta, and then there are players that renew automatically via Credit Card--but not all of them log in every single day that they have paid for. So that 500k average activity can be 400k some days, 800k on some, then 300k on others--or any manner of high and low activity up to the touted 2.5million accounts created. In such a scenario, you could track 800k or even up to 2.5 million paid subscriptions during that time period, but there was only an average of 500k active accounts a day. So, that number is grossly misleading.

[Enkidoh]

Actually that number is from March of 2014--from the FY21014 reports themselves. It has actually been stated that there are on average around 500k active accounts daily. That's not subscriptions, but the number of accounts that are signed into the game on a daily basis.

It could be considerably more than 500k that have prepaid (ie: subscribed) to have access to the service for the next 29+ days. There are players that come and go sporadically via time card or Crysta, and then there are players that renew automatically via Credit Card--but not all of them log in every single day that they have paid for. So that 500k average activity can be 400k some days, 800k on some, then 300k on others--or any manner of high and low activity up to the touted 2.5million accounts created. In such a scenario, you could track 800k or even up to 2.5 million paid subscriptions during that time period, but there was only an average of 500k active accounts a day. So, that number is grossly misleading.

That's what I thought too - that it was very poorly written and thus easily misleads and confuses the reader, where a little common sense is needed to realize that the game does not only have around 500 000 subscribing players at the moment, when they then say '2.5 million registered users' next to it (and in fact, stated the later number as the amount of 'adventurers worldwide!' at the end of the 2.5 trailer a few weeks ago). 2.5 million accounts is actually the true number of players accordingly - of course not everyone is playing at a given time, but it's pretty obvious that there is far more than just 500, 000 players total in this game.

I think that report was just a poorly written translation that the doomsayers have now grabbed onto in desperation to 'prove' that FFXIV ARR is dying (hence the whole point of this thread). The doom and gloom for this game has been around since the Alpha and consistently been proven wrong. FFXIV is in a very strong position right now and is not in any danger of failing. If it was going to fail, that would have been obvious around launch, not a year and a half later. We're not far from matching version 1.0's length of operation, and that was clearly in trouble even before it was released. ARR is fine, and trying to twist the words of a badly-written financial report isn't proof of anything to the contrary of that.

Basically, ignore Chicken Little! Don't listen to Ondore's lies! FFXIV has far more than just 500,000 players, and is in no danger of failing or shutting down.

[Jynx]

'2.5 million registered users' next to it (and in fact, stated the later number as the amount of 'adventurers worldwide!' at the end of the 2.5 trailer a few weeks ago). 2.5 million accounts is actually the true number of players accordingly - of course not everyone is playing at a given time

You are aware you don't have to be a paying subscriber to be counted in the registered accounts right?

For all we know they are using trial accounts to inflate that as well. Not being a "Doomsayer" but around 500k active players does sound correct, even with just that the game is still making in money hand over first though.

[Thayos]

Considering the number of times during the past week I've had to wait in server queues when logging in, I'm 100 percent not at all worried about the game's population. Things are going to get crazy when the expansion hits.

[Gooner_iBluAirJGR]

500,000 subscribers and all of them are doing hunts.

[Hiruke]

I like that no one posted until PAGE THREE of this thread that the data is almost a year old, and does not represent current sub numbers. Also, this thread has been posted a million times over (linked article is itself almost a month old). Why does everyone act like it's new? Or relevant? Or accurate. It is quite literally NONE OF THESE THINGs.