LuckyBancho data shows that FF14 is in decline

[sindriiisgaming]

If the FF XIV player population is in decline... why have I experienced a login queue, of consistent length, every single time I've logged into the game in the past 18 months?

for the 1st time in 3 years of playing this game almost daily, i have not had a login que now since the start of september.

[ForteNightshade]

Tin foil hat theory: Sony is still interested in purchasing SE but doesn't like the current price. They're giving SE bad advice about releasing PS exclusives so sales of new titles are lower because of the lack of additional platforms. That worries investors so the stock price falls. Lower stock price means lower price for Sony when they reappear to make the attempt to purchase SE as a counter Microsoft's recent acquisitions.

I know how much people like to mock with "small indie company" but when you're comparing them against the giants like Sony and Microsoft, it's a lot closer to the truth for SE than some think.

Even for a tin foil theory, I'm inclined to agree. Not that Square Enix has ever needed help making terrible decisions but their buddy relationship with Sony does make you wonder who is helping who here. Not to mention, Sony has to be a little more desperate now that Microsoft is buying out the likes of Activision.

^please explain How endwalker released as much content as ShB let alone stormblood

To be fair, it terms of quantity it's roughly similar depending how you fudge the numbers. Quality, on the other hand...

Endwalker's biggest issue isn't the amount of content being released per se but rather it's poor execution. Stuff like Island Sanctuary and Criterion would be fine, if they were completely barebones or lacking any rewards, respectively.

[Aword3213]

I really dislike this arrogance. "shut up and know your place, daddy SE knows better than you"

people like you are really annoying

As I said, either the data is completely wrong or it's not accurate.

In regards of data of metric and statistics, yes, SE knows better than you. If telling the truth means arrogance, so be it.

Don't we have more than enough materials for criticisms already? You don't have to resort to false data.

[Stormpeaks]

As I said, either the data is completely wrong or it's not accurate.

In regards of data of metric and statistics, yes, SE knows better than you. If telling the truth means arrogance, so be it.

Don't we have more than enough materials for criticisms already? You don't have to resort to false data.

False data = valid data you disagree with because it doesn't fit what you believe in

Understood

[Hanayumi]

Data is prolly accurate but delegating the decline to "EW no bueno" isnt, we got a post covid boom of game releases and in all likelihood we wouldve seen a sharp decline anyway.

[Payadopa]

i mean there's no endgame content rn beyond waiting for a pathetic few drips of story to come pissing down on us unless you're interested in savage content where you're not allowed even a minuscule amount of leeway or originality of thought without taking a billion dots, debuffs, vuln stacks and causing the entire raid to wipe.

what's the point in having HP if every little mistake causes your death. what's the point of playing if you can just make a flat list of each mechanic and how to resolve it. what's the point in having a healer if they can't save you or anyone else since a single mistake means y'all might as well start over anyway.

bozja and eureka - as much as people like to screamcry about them - were a good middle ground/introduction to savage-like content and there's now a rift between casual players and endgame content runners that's preventing new people from being introduced to it. this means there's more people leaving than people joining raid statics.

Just quoting for emphasis.

[Larirawiel]

Data is prolly accurate but delegating the decline to "EW no bueno" isnt, we got a post covid boom of game releases and in all likelihood we wouldve seen a sharp decline anyway.

https://steamcharts.com/app/306130#All
https://steamcharts.com/app/238960#All
https://steamcharts.com/app/212500#All
https://steamcharts.com/app/582660#All


Roughly comparable games. But they do not show that sharp decline like FF14. So the reason for this decline in FF14 is propably not covid-19.



Cheers

[Aldath]

for the 1st time in 3 years of playing this game almost daily, i have not had a login que now since the start of september.

I have queues to log in all the time in Primal, but I live in a full world, Excalibur.
That said, for being "the largest MMO", queues in DF for anything that isn't Free Trial content are excruciatingly slow for anyone not playing a healer, and PF any day has only 2 to 5 parties for current content and the rest are venues, ERP and illegal gambling.
Like, people mock PSO2NGS for it's current condition but we aren't that far from that. NGS should have crashed and burned a long time ago but ERP whales are singlehandedly keeping it afloat and giving revenue to Sega. Why do you think SE turns a blind eye to gambling venues, increased their focus on cash shop, and for all it seems Dawntrail has the vibe it was made for venue crowds.
SE probably has found in them a stable source of income. The strategy now isn't about bringing new players or keeping veterans in, it's about keeping the real spenders on even if they lose a chunk of the playerbase in the process.

[seolhyun]

Not lost players. Active characters who have achievements posted publicly (ie visible to other players on Lodestone) and had achievement completions in previous quarters but did not have new achievement completions registered for the reported quarter.

how do u know they are active? they were active in prev quarter but unconfirmed for the next bc they didnt gain any achievement. idk maybe this graph just sucks

[Stormpeaks]

I have queues to log in all the time in Primal, but I live in a full world, Excalibur.
That said, for being "the largest MMO", queues in DF for anything that isn't Free Trial content are excruciatingly slow for anyone not playing a healer, and PF any day has only 2 to 5 parties for current content and the rest are venues, ERP and illegal gambling.
Like, people mock PSO2NGS for it's current condition but we aren't that far from that. NGS should have crashed and burned a long time ago but ERP whales are singlehandedly keeping it afloat and giving revenue to Sega. Why do you think SE turns a blind eye to gambling venues, increased their focus on cash shop, and for all it seems Dawntrail has the vibe it was made for venue crowds.
SE probably has found in them a stable source of income. The strategy now isn't about bringing new players or keeping veterans in, it's about keeping the real spenders on even if they lose a chunk of the playerbase in the process.

Once again the queues dont mean the game servers are full, the login servers log in people in groups instead of individually and that's why there is a delay.