Money this game makes

[Illmaeran]

Given an average Yen to USD conversion of 100:1, that's an operating budget of roughly 494 million dollars for FY2022. For a business the size of SE, that doesn't seem like reasonable amount to me. Looking at the credits of XIV alone, they've got a LOT of people engaged in development, even if a number are contractors and not actual SE staff.

[StriderShinryu]

I'll preface this by saying that I agree it would be nice to see FF14 get a bigger budget and it does feel like in at least some aspects we are getting less content than we used to (regardless of how many power point slides they show).

I think there's a couple things to keep in mind here. First, even if FF14 did get a bigger slice of the pie, it wouldn't instantly translate into more content for FF14. SE could drop hundreds of millions of more dollars into Yoshida's lap tomorrow but he'd still have to go out and find the quality capable staff. They'd still have to train and onboard said staff. They'd still have to plan out and manage the content. They'd still have to actually create and test the content. Etc. It's not just a case of FF14 getting more money.

Second, as others have mentioned, it's a necessary business expense to put some if not most of the income from successful projects into other projects. Bear in mind that FF14 was one such failure not that long ago. It was a complete money pit that involved running a dead game while simultaneously developing a new one all while collecting no money from the people who were still playing the game. The game sucked up likely hundreds of millions of development dollars and many years of resources only be basically end up clogging up the office toilet. It was only through funding from other projects at the time that FF14 as we know it today exists.

Now, will Babylon's Fall or Chocobo GP be the next ARR? Probably not. Was Avengers a complete waste of time that should have stayed a single player game? Sure. Was there any way Balan Wonderland was going to be anything but a garbage fire? Yeah, I don't think there was any way to save that. But sometimes you do have to throw good money after bad.

[Risvertasashi]

I'll preface this by saying that I agree it would be nice to see FF14 get a bigger budget and it does feel like in at least some aspects we are getting less content than we used to (regardless of how many power point slides they show).

I think there's a couple things to keep in mind here. First, even if FF14 did get a bigger slice of the pie, it wouldn't instantly translate into more content for FF14. SE could drop hundreds of millions of more dollars into Yoshida's lap tomorrow but he'd still have to go out and find the quality capable staff. They'd still have to train and onboard said staff. They'd still have to plan out and manage the content. They'd still have to actually create and test the content. Etc. It's not just a case of FF14 getting more money.

Second, as others have mentioned, it's a necessary business expense to put some if not most of the income from successful projects into other projects. Bear in mind that FF14 was one such failure not that long ago. It was a complete money pit that involved running a dead game while simultaneously developing a new one all while collecting no money from the people who were still playing the game. The game sucked up likely hundreds of millions of development dollars and many years of resources only be basically end up clogging up the office toilet. It was only through funding from other projects at the time that FF14 as we know it today exists.

Now, will Babylon's Fall or Chocobo GP be the next ARR? Probably not. Was Avengers a complete waste of time that should have stayed a single player game? Sure. Was there any way Balan Wonderland was going to be anything but a garbage fire? Yeah, I don't think there was any way to save that. But sometimes you do have to throw good money after bad.

But the type of experimentation also matters.

Balan Wonderland is utterly bizarre, and sometimes radical departures from established game designs end up really catching on. It didn't here, it's just weird, but I can respect them for at least taking some creative risks in this way.

Babylon's Fall is an experiment on how mediocrely Square can slap together some proven game mechanics and try to fleece us for as much money as possible... while investing as little as possible in a quality experience. That, along with whatever NFT abominations await us in the future, is much much worse.

I can understand not wanting to support a company pursuing category 2 there. But for me personally, I'll just buy the stuff that's good and pass on the suspiciously brown and smelly ones.

[StriderShinryu]

I can understand not wanting to support a company pursuing category 2 there. But for me personally, I'll just buy the stuff that's good and pass on the suspiciously brown and smelly ones.

Oh, of course. At the end of the day it does come down to consumer choice. On the company side, I can understand them throwing money at stuff to see if it works out. They threw money at FF14 that they, truthfully and honestly, probably shouldn't have in many senses but look where we are today. I'm just saying that if they see a potential benefit, even just a monetary one, in something it's literally their job to do it.

It's on the consumers to push back and say no, like the explosion of "no NFT" responses to the CEO's idiotic New Years letter. Like the complete and utter failure of Babylon's Fall and Balan Wonderland. Like the very clear response to Avengers and Chocobo GP. It's a give and take. Company tries to make money, consumers says yes or no in the only way that really matters (with their wallets), and the cycle continues. The real point of failure is when you have a consumer base that complains and whines and moans about perpetual problems yet spends money on the thing anyway. The consumers aren't happy, just addicted, and the company is not going to change their ways because, hey, money.

[technole]

Yeah SE doesn't space out FFXI, XIV, and DQX from their MMO revenue, they combine them all but it's pretty obvious XIV is the majority, followed by DQX.

But the type of experimentation also matters.

Balan Wonderland is utterly bizarre, and sometimes radical departures from established game designs end up really catching on. It didn't here, it's just weird, but I can respect them for at least taking some creative risks in this way.

Babylon's Fall is an experiment on how mediocrely Square can slap together some proven game mechanics and try to fleece us for as much money as possible... while investing as little as possible in a quality experience. That, along with whatever NFT abominations await us in the future, is much much worse.

I can understand not wanting to support a company pursuing category 2 there. But for me personally, I'll just buy the stuff that's good and pass on the suspiciously brown and smelly ones.

Babylon's Fall is from Platinum Games, one of the producers also produced NieR Automata. They gave a statement recently on fully supporting the live service.

SE does a pretty good job being a JP publisher overall, and farms out their IP and development to expand franchises.

Like Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin from Team Ninja, it's like the real FF1 prequel for today's time. Nioh died for it and it's worth it.

[hagare]

Babylon's Fall is from Platinum Games

man. Platinum is such a hit or miss studio @_@
Then again, releasing BF at that time was just suicide.

[Curisu]

SE is a company like every other company.
Of course they spent the FFxiv money on other projects.

That's how every big company works.
It would be great if I could use all the earnings my division is doing to upgrade machinery and give pay raises, but that's not how it works.
A lot of money goes into a production division that never have been directly profitable, but their products are needed so they have to work while "losing" money.

[deadman1204]

Honestly, what does it matter OP? You have zero control of what is done iwth the money. Will you quit FFXIV if you don't like the ratio?

[EnigmaticDodo]

Honestly, what does it matter OP? You have zero control of what is done iwth the money. Will you quit FFXIV if you don't like the ratio?

It is a consideration, but I'm probably going to just do what others have suggested. Buy what I like, don't buy what I don't like. It just really sucks they keep blowing money on these flops. I sort of miss that golden era where they just had hit after hit, but maybe that's just going to be something that stays in the past!

[dsgawwewerfw]

You don't understand
Creative Business Unit III is shaped like a triangle so they can't make more content