Money this game makes

[Aurora_Sylphy]

It's the same thing I mentioned in a Skirois thread regarding Square ever needing to 'apologize' for releasing too much content and the people screaming that FF14 makes boatloads of money hence boatloads of content and at a fast pace should be expected. We have no idea of what percentage of the revenue FF14 generates for Square Enix is compared to the amount of that money that is reinvested or set aside for FF14s budget. Is money going back into the game? Of course, money needs to be paid to the developers and staff, on marketing and other associated fees, etc. Now a 100% increase in revenue and profit from FF14 does not mean 100% increase, or even a proportional increase in budget allocated for FF14. For all we know over the last decades (barring big one time spends like expanding data centres with new servers, which was more due to chip and worldwide shortages as opposed to cost) the budget may have remained relatively static (seeing marginal increases year on year or simply adjusting budgets to account for inflation and fluctuations in currency value).

You would need to look at Square's yearly financial documents if you would want to know the exact numbers. It might seem logical that more money equals a bigger budget, but that's not how companies nor capitalism works. No company, no matter how good their product is, is ultimately out to make money for the company, for the investors and for their shareholders. They do what makes them money, and prioritise what makes them money, and if that so happens to be good for their customer base, well that's serendipity and a lucky accident. There is a good chance that FF14s budget has been increased due to it's explosive growth and increased revenue, but we have no idea how much, or how that correlates to the money they make. And if I would guess based on how corporations always act in their own best interests and those of their investors and shareholders, I would imagine they would try their hardest to give them the minimum budget they would need to continue to pump out content that makes increasing amounts of money, cause that's less expenses for the company, and thus more profit and revenue (and thus more expensive shares making investors, shareholders and board members all happy). That's capitalism for you, and unfortunately there is not much we can do about that.