So what exactly is driving the developers to keep going?

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

You should try not to write fake news like that in the future.

Maybe... just maybe you should take your own advice before giving them to others.

[Carin-Eri]

Yes, of course they are burned out, why else do you think we got Endwalker.

And those strict schedules? They have broken them all the time since Shadowbringers. You can no longer rely on the "schedule" if you want to take time off for week 1 prog. No one remembers when they screwed thousands of week 1 raiders off because they delayed EW for 2 weeks?

Exactly how is this state of affairs admirable? We're no longer in Stormblood when patch cadence was actually speedy and predictable.

Whilst I'm not one of those White Knights who'll jump at any chance of defending SE, I will say that this isn't a fair assessment.

A certain pandemic had a very significant role in delaying (if not outright stopping) just about everything for everyone at the time.

[Kes13a]

I am sure that they would have a planned arc that they want to fit everything in to. I also doubt that every developer there now started with 14. Maybe the managers, but for the typical coders, artists etc, I suspect decent turn over just due to life things over 10 years.

any ongoing development project would have a general "plan" and development sprints which are planned and the overall arc of the main story has to fit in or things start to get dropped. that was a problem with Covid, it could not be planned for. with the lack of in office etc, its going to slow things down considerably which means missed deadlines.

overall, it is admirable that they keep to their plan as well as they can, but what keeps them going is the same as keeping any of us going, its a job, they need to live and pay bills lol.

[DrWho2010]

people cycle in and out of programming positions all the time according to needs behind the scenes. that's part of what keeps things "fresh" and from dev burnout.

[Oizen]

Their salaries.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

So what exactly is driving the developers to keep going?

Its their Job.
They are Game Devs, Creative Business Unit III. (CBU3)
They are given a Job, and they do it.

[Raikai]

So what exactly is driving the developers to keep going?

Its their Job.
They are Game Devs, Creative Business Unit III. (CBU3)
They are given a Job, and they do it.

I think the OP asked more on a personal level - which is not anyone but the person themselves that can answer.

Even if it's my bread maker, I honestly don't think I could keep over a decade following the same modus operandi with my work. Gladly I don't have to and I'm able to reinvent myself every 2 years or so - I work in the art industry. But I personally know people who are spanning 20+ years of career by doing the same thing. I guess it depends on the person.

[Atelier-Bagur]

To answer simply based on the impression on the dev team. They still have more stories they want to tell with the FFXIV world.

There is still a lot of mysteries and unexplored threads regarding the world such as Meracydia, Ilsabard mainland, Aerslaent, and the New World (especially that since thats actually the biggest continent in the world I think)

We also still dont know the ultimate fate of the 13 shards of Etheirys.

So yeah I feel theres still more room to explore with FFXIV.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

To answer simply based on the impression on the dev team. They still have more stories they want to tell with the FFXIV world.

There is still a lot of mysteries and unexplored threads regarding the world such as Meracydia, Ilsabard mainland, Aerslaent, and the New World (especially that since thats actually the biggest continent in the world I think)

We also still dont know the ultimate fate of the 13 shards of Etheirys.

So yeah I feel theres still more room to explore with FFXIV.

Emit at the end also pretty much Drops a Nod to Future Content and adventures.
So I think its pretty obvious they arnt done yet.
How the future of this game will be....will just have to find out.

[Asari5]

they also seem to have personal influence on what project they want to work... which is a big thing in motivation