The devs are actually doing a great job

[Daniolaut]

Actually, the issue with games getting worse is because companies are trying to conform to the shareholders.

It used to be that people made games so that people would have fun games to play. Thus, they earned money because people will pay money for good games.

But somewhere along the way, shareholders and marketing teams took over and now it's just people making games to maximize profit margins, to hell with games actually being good and made with the players enjoyment in mind.

Which, if you're aware of the current situation with some prominent companies, is backfiring hard for them as people are no longer buying their garbage they're crapping out in an attempt to milk people for all they're worth.

As such, it's FORCING these companies to try and think about how retail works. You only survive when your customers are happy. If your customers are not happy, they don't give you their money because they no longer want your product. This is basic economics. Whether you're providing a service, or selling a product, your entire existence hinges on people wanting to pay you for what you provide.

You bring up artists, but they're in a different situation. Many artists do what they do because that's what they like doing. Earning money is just a side effect that allows them to keep focusing on producing their art. If they didn't earn money, they'd have to make their art only part time (Which many people do).

Business, such as those in the video game industry, have to earn money. Due to the high development costs because of many different jobs involved (Story writers, voice actors, translators, world development, character development, music composers, art and design etc). Thus, it's necessary for them to ensure they're doing what people want.

If you want to see what happens when a video game company stops listening to their customers, go check out Blizzard. Though, I'd be quick if I were you, since they might not last that much longer...

Their job is to develop a game that will make money for Square Enix. If the game doesn’t appeal to many players, they won’t make as much money. It’s nice to have an idea of “artistic integrity” but ultimately this is a business. If they didn’t take any player feedback, FFXIV would still be like it was in 1.0. If I don’t like the game, I’m not going to pay for it. It’s up to the devs to decide if they want to listen to feedback and try to improve, but either way they will make a decision whether my money is worth the investment to them or not.

One of the greatest powers one has as a consumer of a product is to not buy something that is not meeting their needs.
I’m sure most of us can agree that in general the dev team does a good job of making FFXIV fun (after all we probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t good enough to grab us as established players). That doesn’t mean there aren’t numerous areas for improvement that can be addressed. Making sure the devs are aware of those areas is the entire point, so that they can make an even better game I feel comfortable recommending to more people, which in turn makes Square Enix more money in the long run.

So lets get this straight about 1.0 first. 1.0 failed, per words of 2.0 team theirself, and the larger amount of complaints from the actual 1.0 players, was lag, bugs, and to the 2.0 teams words "2k polygons and 150 lines of shader for flower pots, being the same as a single player character."

2.0 was successful because they didnt "listen to all the feedback by the players" because 2.0 is 1.0, but runs better, and has different combat. No one said "change the battle system and make it a GCD instead of like FFXI's tp wait and hit system." No one said that. Most of the changes for 2.0 were complained about in fact. The large portion of the player base wanted an updated version of FFXI, which 1.0 was not. Neither is 2.0, but 2.0 is much closer to it. 1.0 didnt have jobs for example. There was no "Warrior, or Paladin" in 1.0. (.... until after Yoshida/2.0 team took over.)

(Note: this is a brief recap of why 1.0 failed and 2.0's success. There are numerous factors in this, and going over every single one would be absurdly time consuming. The gist of why 2.0 was successful was bugs were addressed quickly, it was created more with "Final Fantasy" and "ease/smoothness of gameplay." To argue differently would be none factual, per stated by Square-Enix and the 1.0 player base greatest complaints.)


Second, every "artist" is in a business. From musicians, to painters, to book writers, you name it. Musicians have record labels, writers work for magazines, or publishing companies, so on so forth. All of which are part of a business, with share holders....

Also just for a little side fact, a lot of shareholders are just regular consumers, but yes the bigger investors are not regular consumers no. Just wanted to point out that there are shareholders who are just regular consumers.

This goes back to my statement of people trying to control others with money. So its the fault of the company to listen to others when creating their art. Video games are an art form. They also encompass many art forms. Some of the greatest games were created by the vision of a collection of artists, without listening to anyone else but their own vision.

This idea that "artists need not listen to the fans" does not apply to things such as "come visit us in Brazil" or "can you put an Aetheryte shard near the market boards in Ul'dah." I'm speaking of "Eureka is bad, stop doing it" or "I give you my money, and I want Viera so you have to make Viera, and Viera cannot be gender locked, and if it is, because you only gave me half of what I wanted you wont get my money anymore!!!"


TLDR/Synopsis:
Companies, and artists start to fail, when they put money first. The passion, and drive and focus needed to make quality art is lost when the root of the inspiration is cash money. This was my point, after the main point, of the developers do not have to listen to the players. In my opinion they shouldnt, as their focus should be on the game, and creating something that they like, and its my opinion if that is achieved, then the likelihood of the art or "product" of the inspiration thereof will be well received.