only 500k subscribers?

[Magis]

Also take into account that doesn't include china's numbers either

From Reddit posts and other websites, it seems SE dropped the ball and the game didn't do very well. Coupled with the fact they are currently on 2.1 (or 2.2?) which was a boring patch... sub numbers were low (hearsay here so take it as you wish). Here was the thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...oing_in_china/

And they got their source from Polygon, which got their source since March of 2014...

It was an update to investors by SE at the end of the year. As shitty as Polygon is, this isn't some old news, this was given to everyone for the year end update. Anyway, the 500K number seems true even now:

Updated: These MMO figures actually come from an original financial report that was filed on March 31st, 2014. 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.

That doesn't support the statement made above other than saying "the subs is under 1 million since 1 million is the sum of three games" not that FFXIV has 500k subs.

If however someone wanted to actually support what the user above said they could use this link instead.

Reddit Brancho Estimation

It's a study that used lodestone profiles with a listed criteria for determining activity. They put the estimate at 574,440 back in december. Which isn't as bad as what the OP listed, but not as good as we'd hope. That said they still make tons of money to continue supporting this game each month so there is no reason to be worried.

This player also did their own estimation based on SE's investor reports.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ousing-and-gil

500K isn't bad if you focus on the long run, but they need to hook players in and have people invest into their characters. Otherwise they will leave onto the next great MMO. You can't count on the drops/rises of the "play only on patch/exp day" players that WoW counts on.

Well XI is still very profitable, and that is speculated to have around 150k-200k subs.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comment...ill_play_ffxi/

500k is fine.

I'm sure the development costs of FFXI is nil by this point (relatively).

[Tiggy]

And they got their source from Polygon, which got their source since March of 2014...

This guy has a point. Those numbers don't take into account most of 2014. That article isn't relevant to today's numbers. If anything it shows FFXIV has had a steady and slightly growing player base since then when compared to the other reddit threads that used lodestone to try and figure it out.

[Ahmbor]

And they got their source from Polygon, which got their source since March of 2014...

THIS!!! This guy is right!

[Delorean]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/squar...ribers/0143457

Update is 20 days old but says source is SE themselves

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.

10charszzzzzz

[Hyunckel]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/squar...ribers/0143457

Update is 20 days old but says source is SE themselves

Updated: These MMO figures actually come from an original financial report that was filed on March 31st, 2014.

ten characters

[Jasott]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/squar...ribers/0143457

Update is 20 days old but says source is SE themselves

That data is from 11 months ago.

[Tauu]

The Gold Saucer and the expansion are next. Both will attract lots of new and returning players who will also be able to enjoy all of the other enhancements that have been made to the game since 2.0 launch. ARR is still young. Even if that 500k figure is accurate at this point, that's still a great start.

[Ariyn]

Even if this is the case, 500k subs is still more than enough to fund the game and the xpacs to come. It's not wow popular but it doesn't need to be. People need to get over the whole concept that it takes millions of subs to keep something going. SoE has even less subs throughout all of it's mmos and still flourishes releasing new content constantly in all of them.

[Phe]

niche MMORPG for hipster gamers.

[Haze4dayz]

As a shareholder i'm disappointed how little marketing this game gets.