Problem with "Optional" Items in the Cash Shop

[Burningskull]

I get some of the reason people has put forth. But that begs another question. Why put the effort into making something people might not buy? If they had put the Fuga gear out and no one had bought it then they wasted that time and don't get paid for it? It's the same for the items in the game tho right? If no body does the content they spent the time developing then that time is still going to waste?

[Yallaid]

I doubt any of it would exist. Would you be willing to see your subscription go up to cover them? Someone has to pay for the work as it isn't free.

lol, don't get into how much I'd be willing to spend on my 'perfect' MMO. People go nuts with the cash shop so if some dev clearly expressed the same ideals (Tanaka where are you??) as me, I'd be willing to go pretty nutso with my monthly bill

[Vaer]

I get some of the reason people has put forth. But that begs another question. Why put the effort into making something people might not buy? If they had put the Fuga gear out and no one had bought it then they wasted that time and don't get paid for it? It's the same for the items in the game tho right? If no body does the content they spent the time developing then that time is still going to waste?

It's a risk for sure but they have other stats (This isn't the first eastern outfit they've sold) to go on. If the item fails to turn a profit they'll just stop producing them. If it didn't sell they would have cut it off. But since they keep appearing every month they're probably selling.

[Claviusnex]

lol, don't get into how much I'd be willing to spend on my 'perfect' MMO. People go nuts with the cash shop so if some dev clearly expressed the same ideals (Tanaka where are you??) as me, I'd be willing to go pretty nutso with my monthly bill

OK .. I understand.

[FoxyAreku]

The cash shop will never go away, you don't need anything there, if you don't like it don't buy it, the rest of us will continue spending money there to support the game, [insert reasoning that has been said 10000 times before], etc etc.

[Belhi]

Again I'm just wanting, preferably someone from SE, to say why one set of cometic gear is worth paying for. 18 bucks at that. When another set of cosmetic gear they put in the game, either as a recipe or a reward or w/e. The question applies to all the cash shop stuff. Like Mounts and emotes.

People are explaining.

Look this is just straight forward financial planning within a business. FF14 makes a certain amount of revenue from core game sales and subscriptions. It has certain base expenses to keep the server infrastructure and support services running. What is left over after that is used to determine the games performance financially and allocate a budget to the developers, taking into account things like necessary upgrades and alterations needed for sustained subscriptions and growth. That budget is then divided up into the various development projects used to produce in game events, expansions and the patch cycle and work on infrastructure upgrades and game features.

To expand their revenue they created the cash shop. Rather than determining the net revenue by factoring in infrastructure costs, net revenue is determined by the production costs. SE forecasts what they expect sales figures to be and determine if the production costs are sufficient to justify the production of the items for sale.

Now here is the interesting bit often overlooked. Net revenue from the cash shop would be factored into the total earnings of FF14 which in turn will dictate the core budget for the main content production and will help justify investment into the game such as server upgrades. The cash shop helps pay for stuff you get for your sub fee, not the other way round. Additional revenue streams help the developers put more into the game, not less.

That is a very simplified version but almost certainly close to what SE's model is from the information I have seen.

I get some of the reason people has put forth. But that begs another question. Why put the effort into making something people might not buy? If they had put the Fuga gear out and no one had bought it then they wasted that time and don't get paid for it? It's the same for the items in the game tho right? If no body does the content they spent the time developing then that time is still going to waste?

Sales forecasting is a basic part of developing new products for sale. They would be using a lot of existing metrics to determine what is in demand and likely to provide good returns. This goes for the base game as well. The features they have developed and the focus of content and design will have taken into account what players are likely to react positively to and enjoy.

[YuzukiHibiya]

I work for my money and how I want to spend it is up to me. If I want to buy a virtual outfit that's my choice. We got a new data center, in NA, partly, thanks to the Mogstation purchases. The only optional items I think are foolish are the jump potions but again they make their money so how they spend it is not my problem.

[Naunet]

We got a new data center, in NA, partly, thanks to the Mogstation purchases.

You have no idea if this is a true statement or not.

[Feidam]

You have no idea if this is a true statement or not.

Is it? I thought I remember they somewhat mentioned that in a response to a question. I'll have to go back and find it if I get some time to.

[RaijinSupreme]

I get some of the reason people has put forth. But that begs another question. Why put the effort into making something people might not buy? If they had put the Fuga gear out and no one had bought it then they wasted that time and don't get paid for it? It's the same for the items in the game tho right? If no body does the content they spent the time developing then that time is still going to waste?

That's like asking why FFXIV would continue to use a subscription model for this game when most games in this genre have switched to free to play.