Very Concerned for the Future of FFXIV and SE

[LittleArrow]

Starting this off, I want to say that this is based off of an industry rumor; however, there seems to be some pretty sound evidence this rumor could very well come to fruition soon.

I've been reading multiple articles detailing the rumor that Sony may be in the process of acquiring Square Enix. This has me on edge for many reasons, mainly what happened to WoW after Activision acquired it.

I stopped playing WoW at the end of WotLK, so please forgive my ignorance as to the full state of the game now, but from understanding it's a microtransaction mess with kill purchasing and an extensive p2w system in place for purchasing gold.

This is what I'm so afraid of happening in XIV. As many veteran and new players have noticed, XIV has been in an incredible special bubble that has preserved a way of gaming not seen in decades. Sure, there are cosmetics and we don't like that, but for the most part Yoshi has been able to keep XIV free from extensive microtransactions. What happens when / if Sony purchases SE?

Let's not all kid ourselves either in thinking this wouldn't happen. They've already sold Crystal Dynamics among other studios, had multiple poorly performing games, and the golden goose egg that is XIV has been very publicly praised within the past year.

My personal expression is this to the developers and Yoshi - I have played your games since I was a child. XIV represents a very special place in the market of games and MMO's. Please, do not allow corporate greed to taint this secret garden we're all enjoying. Please remember what happens to products that fall into the gutter of profits over quality. We have been with you since the launch, supported you through the failure, and cheered you all on during the success - please do not disregard or forget us for Sony's profits.

Just an additional thought I posted below but feel is very important to add to these concerns:

I'm not completely doom and glooming. I do believe Sony is far better than many of the other major publishers out there. They allowed Kojima to make that crazy game with Norman Reedus, and they also were very hands off to allow GoW to be produced the old school way.

I'd much rather SE get acquired by Sony than anyone else, but I'm still very concerned to see this go in a bad way. I know Yoshi is on the board of directors at SE, and I honestly believe that's why XIV has been spared the horrific MMO / gaming trends that has killed so many franchises / games in the past decade.

Again, better Sony than other companies, but I just hope Yoshi holds out to keep XIV safe and not become Activisions' WoW (which turned into a product, not a game).

[Jeeqbit]

I wonder why Square Enix would want to end their company suddenly. If it's just what shareholders want then that's unfortunate.

[LittleArrow]

I'm not completely doom and glooming. I do believe Sony is far better than many of the other major publishers out there. They allowed Kojima to make that crazy game with Norman Reedus, and they also were very hands off to allow GoW to be produced the old school way.

I'd much rather SE get acquired by Sony than anyone else, but I'm still very concerned to see this go in a bad way. I know Yoshi is on the board of directors at SE, and I honestly believe that's why XIV has been spared the horrific MMO / gaming trends that has killed so many franchises / games in the past decade.

Again, better Sony than other companies, but I just hope Yoshi holds out to keep XIV safe and not become Activisions' WoW (which turned into a product, not a game).

[Ath192]

Square Enix's mgmt is a super greedy bunch of execs and have used FFXIV to fund failed projects, maybe Sony, who kept the CD port from killing consoles will see the value of investing FFXIV money into FFXIV

[Sebazy]

As zany as SE's direction has been at times, it'll still be a huge loss to the industry if they get taken over by Sony IMHO.

Even if you hand wave away any bias for/against Sony, it'll be a shame as much of SE's best work over the last few years has been it's smaller scale titles focused more on the Switch. Their in-house hit rate in the AAA league really isn't that great lately.

[Evergrey]

Well, sooner or later FFXIV will either shut down or get so old/outdated that a successor will take its place.
So no reason to think of "when" or "how".
Just enjoy the ride for as long as it carries on and when it doesn't feel right for you anymore carry on elsewhere.

[Hawuhawuu]

My personal expression is this to the developers and Yoshi - I have played your games since I was a child. XIV represents a very special place in the market of games and MMO's. Please, do not allow corporate greed to taint this secret garden we're all enjoying. Please remember what happens to products that fall into the gutter of profits over quality. We have been with you since the launch, supported you through the failure, and cheered you all on during the success - please do not disregard or forget us for Sony's profits.

That ship has sailed a long time ago, investors want money or they won't invest. The game is in a decline. Due to doubling their player base/revenue in the last year it appears that they're investing less into the game. The content that just came out is poorly designed to jobs... Ult aside. Try anything as blm you can't even get a ley lines. Jobs are simplified losing identity. They will squeeze every penny while they can. The old SE is disappearing. The question is at what point do they become like blizzard when it changed from a quality company?

[Denji]

Sony is even more notorious than Square in that they refuse to even acknowledge PCs as a gaming platform.

[Lieri]

I wouldnt be worried if its Sony. Also most of the team will stay even if acquisition happen, if SE remains but Yoshi P leaves then things will change for the worse.

[Thaciscokidd]

Square Enix's mgmt is a super greedy bunch of execs and have used FFXIV to fund failed projects, maybe Sony, who kept the CD port from killing consoles will see the value of investing FFXIV money into FFXIV

The current climate of Sony moving away from eastern games and all out Restructuring of Sony Japan would be a detriment to Square Enix overall.

Honestly it'd be more of a Microsoft move to try to buy Square Enix since they are trying to get into the eastern gaming sphere more.

I'm kinda hoping that Nintendo tries and buy the full rights to Super Mario RPG from Square Enix. I'd love to see Geno and Mallow in a game again.

Sidenote: FF14 has nothing on Squenix's Mobile department when it comes to Net Profits.