Quote Originally Posted by NegativeS View Post
You think they're starting to let the praise get to their head?

I remember back in like, 2013-2017, Blizzard was starting to get that 'we are too big to fail' mindset, where they felt like they could churn out anything and people would buy it. Well, they ended up losing like, 90% of their peak players, and it took them until 2022 to finally get it in their heads that they actually need to try to maintain their numbers.

I feel like Square might be hitting that point with XIV. 'These players are too addicted to our game to quit, we don't even have to try anymore!' And that might be true for some people. But I know that if I don't hear the right things in the Live Letter later this month, I'm taking an extended hiatus...
That would require Square to be bleeding players. They're not. Since 2.0, there has been the typical consistent cycles that all MMO's experience, with gradually an overall upward trend. DT just had the highest presales of any FFXIV installment, and the current player population is likewise among the highest ever (being topped only by the release month of DT itself and that brief massive influx we saw a few years back with the "WoW exodus").