If ffxi started with a small map size and little content, then this game has hope!

[Vaer]

It was a different world when XI was released. Generally the people in Japan are way more forgiving than the ones in the U.S, especially to a company like SE. (Even now, of course.) The MMO genre was still relatively new and many games had a really big "grind." The word "grind" wasn't even used. It was the norm, shocker I know.

This comparison to the state of XI at launch vs XIV at launch was done during launch. Yeah, they were similar, and by the same producer (Which is why he probably thought it was ready, when it was not.) If this was released when XI was released, it would probably still be doing reasonably well if not great.

XIV launched in a world when F2P games are booming, there have been countless "failed" launches already, (WAR, AoC) cash shop is booming, etc. No point in paying for/playing a broken game when there are so many options out there. I think the normal MMO player is just tired of all these AAA games launching unplayable with all these bugs and glitches. RIFT took advantage of this, and released a well polished and relatively bug free game, which resulted in a pretty good launch.

Also, XIV was launched right before Cataclysm, so once the game fell flat, a lot of people left. This is the same problem WAR had, they launched a month before Wrath of the Lich King with a broken and buggy game. Everyone left in droves.

You have to give SE credit for postponing payment indefinitely. Many other companies don't have the assets to do so. They pretty much can't just shut it down, because their brand is at stake here. If this game was titled anything other than Final Fantasy, it would probably be shut down by now. SE might be the only AAA company left that doesn't have a blatant cash shop and pay to win options. Hopefully never.