Online Store is Getting Worse!

[Iyrnthota]

You don't seem to understand basic economics and the fact that prices for everything else have gone up, yet the subscription fee remains the same.

I don't claim to be an expert on the costs, but I've paid attention to this genre and what those in the industry have had to say on the matter. Years ago, decisions had to be made in order to support these efforts. One thought that floated around was actually in-game advertisements. Thankfully, that never happened and they instead decided to address the market for luxury goods.

Nah, I reckon even these days they could sustain on subs alone. Obviously we'll likely never know for sure, cause they're never gonna release that info, but I even with the increase in costs due to inflation over the years they'd be fine.

Least I'm honest enough to put it up front where my opinions are based, not hiding behind mysterious industry insiders and thinly veiled insults.

Edit: There's a daily post limit apparently.

[Deveryn]

Nah, I reckon even these days they could sustain on subs alone. Obviously we'll likely never know for sure, cause they're never gonna release that info, but I even with the increase in costs due to inflation over the years they'd be fine.

Least I'm honest enough to put it up front where my opinions are based, not hiding behind mysterious industry insiders and thinly veiled insults.

Edit: There's a daily post limit apparently.

I'm not hiding anything. I just don't keep it handy. It's 20 damn years of articles. The proof is out there. Just google it.
There's nothing thinly veiled about my insults. Why it's insulting to state the obvious lack of understanding on your part is another thing.

My point is this shop and its patrons are helping keep the sub cost down.

[GeminiReed]

MMO Subscriptions have never gone above 15/month in about 22 years. If you think developers are really getting by just on that and the base entry / expansion costs, you're sorely mistaken.

And over those two decades the cost of operations has dropped significantly which more than makes up for any increase in wages.

[DPZ2]

And over those two decades the cost of operations has dropped significantly which more than makes up for any increase in wages.

And you base this on a deep undestanding of the current architecture, which appears to remain unchanged since 2013? Hardware costs are the only thing that has dropped significantly over the years. Network costs, data center costs, electricity costs, et al have not experienced that sort of drop. As hardware gets older, those costs tend to increase, not decrease.

(For reference, I have been working in and around data centers professionally for the last 35+ years, and have developed operating budgets for IT departments.)

[GeminiReed]

(For reference, I have been working in and around data centers professionally for the last 35+ years, and have developed operating budgets for IT departments.)

(Funny I have a similar reference)

[Hoaxtopher]

Some back of the envelope calculations on my part

Assuming:

1. Squenix reporting of 24 mil accounts as of Oct 21 is both accurate and each is a distinct subscription

I'm pretty sure that the 24m number is the total accounts ever created for the game, not active subscriptions

[Iyrnthota]

I'm pretty sure that the 24m number is the total accounts ever created for the game, not active subscriptions

I dunno, I was doing some googling, and it looks like more recent estimates have total number of subscribers at over 30 mil.

I was going to quote them, but most seems to be pulling that figure from here:
https://mmo-population.com/r/ffxiv

[ForteNightshade]

I dunno, I was doing some googling, and it looks like more recent estimates have total number of subscribers at over 30 mil.

I was going to quote them, but most seems to be pulling that figure from here:
https://mmo-population.com/r/ffxiv

First and foremost, MMO-Population is a terrible website that has never once provided sources for their claims. Everything there should be completely disregarded.

Secondly, the whole 30-40 million players is just PR advertisement which ever game in the industry does. This number accounts for every single person who has ever registered an account, bots and trials included. If someone tried FFXIV for all of five minutes then uninstalled, they'll forever count in the "30 million players" advertisement. The reason companies stopped giving actual estimates dates back to WoW first fall from grace. Basically, Blizzard didn't want to advertise losing players. So they switched to "accounts made" despite still claiming it was the same thing. Other games have followed suit for similar reasons.

The best estimation we have of FFXIV's active playerbase is from an official census done by Lucky Bancho.

[Iyrnthota]

Hmm, looking further I'm not so sure. I googled WoW subscribers and got a place that claimed they have 4.8 mil, and there's no way ff has that many more.

You might be right that "subscribers" in the ways that these places count is defined as "people who have been subbed at least once at some point" not "people who are currently subbed"

Edit:

Okay, revised figures. on the assumption of 2.2 mil active players with all other assumptions being equal, that would be ~237 million annually, gross.

Which seeing it written down sounds a lot more reasonable (2 bil? Really?) .
Don't know that it changes my opinion mind.

[Puremallace]

People keep buying so why not keep doing it? Also the exchange rate for dollars to yen is 142 right no so them making pretty much anything in dollars makes them INSANELY profitable in Japan. It really is worse then you think it is.

That is the devils barging we all make by playing FF14. They deliver a solid product and we all look the other way on their extremely excessive monetization.