Quote Originally Posted by Xirean View Post
Do you think my bringing up his stated opinion on people subbing and unsubbing is defending those other points? Cause it's not. I just really don't see an issue with fluctuating game populations.
No, I'm pointing out that things Yoshida say tend to reflect very little about the reality of running a game as a business. He says things about player retention not mattering because his competition in the genre are publicly known for being too heavy-handed in their attempts at creating retention systems, not because players taking breaks is a genuine objective of SE as a business. He wants to create the perception among potential and current customers that this game retains players organically, and is going so far as to publicly pretend it isn't a major internal objective.

It is absolutely not within this games interest as a business to have a decreasing retention rate. A game that makes 12-15 usd per person that is subscribed makes less money when there are less people subscribed. Regardless of what Yoshida tries to say, this game absolutely aims to hold onto as many players as possible. Housing demo, loot lockouts, tomestone caps, long relic grinds, expert delivery, etc.