One of the issues with FFXIV...

[Azurymber]

In todays age gamers want communication + customizability. NA game companies are MUCH better at this than Japanese companies. For some reason Japan has a very arrogant corporate/elite culture (ex. toyota, FFXIV's tanaka twitter, tepco[japans energy company], government that knew there was a melt down and hid it for months)

Whenever there is a problem most North American companies -usually- acknowledge it and fix it and if they don't, they provide tools for players to.

Most japanese companies lie and pretend there is no problem and then end up with a CEO resigning in embarrassment when some news or non-biased agency proves that there is.

NA companies also tend to market games better to an NA audience.
For example the marketing for FFXIV was a total disaster. They basically lied to people (ex. the group crafting cake thing) and made it seem like the game had these cool features, none of which were implemented. You watch people take out a marlboro in the preview for it... do you ever fight one in the game? No. I mean they are there, but completely unused. Why have a beta test and ask for feedback if you make ZERO changes?

Japan can't compete with the NA companies anymore, and while there will always be a place for their games, they will rarely top the charts in the future.

[Konachibi]

Whenever there is a problem most North American companies -usually- ignore and hope everyone getsd so fed up of it that they stop talking about it.

Fixed that bit for you

*coughblizzardcough*