FFXIV population decline continues

[Clockworks]

Yoshida (2016, Gamescon): "It's alright not to play it everyday. Since it's just a game, you can stop forcing yourself if it's hard on you to keep that up. Rather, it'll just pile up unnecessary stress if you limit yourself into playing just that one game since there are so many other games out there. So, do come back and play it to your heart's content when the major patch kicks in, then stop it to play other games before you got burnt out, and then come back for another major patch. This will actually make me happier, and in the end, I think this is the best solution I can answer for keeping your motivation up for the game."

Translation: "Feel free to unsub, take a break, and come back when you want to."

So people are just taking his advice. Nothing else to see here as people are playing other things since they did the content they wanted to. I am personally just going through a back catalogue of games I have like RDR2 or Elden Ring.

That's the hypocrisy of that statement.

Let me put it in real terms :

Translation: "Feel free to unsub, take a break, lose the house you spent months (if not years) to get, and come back when you want to, and enjoy spending months or years for another house."

[Chasingstars]

That's the hypocrisy of that statement.

Let me put in real terms :

Translation: "Feel free to unsub, take a break, lose the house you spent months (if not years) to get, and come back when you want to, and enjoy spending months or years for another house."

Hmm yeah, I might lose my house if I unsubbed, but I still will have apartment rooms on my main and various alts. And I already got my decorating bug out of my system. At most the house is just neat for gardening and workshop purposes. Honestly more satisfied with decorating done for the apartment than the house as I got bored with that. And not interested in making my home into one of the dime-a-dozen venues that are around, plus a venue can just be an apartment room. Plus from what I've seen there is still plenty of open plots so that isn't exactly an issue if I wanted to grab one later as its not like we are going to have another big player boom like we did before.

[Torashiki]

Another post with the same doomers that I have seen for years claiming the same things that are either opinions taken out of proportion by streamers or just flat out not right.

''The story is bad!'' about Stormblood.
''There is no content'' about X.1 patches.
''People are leaving'' about pre-patch lulls.

Some people need to stop pretending to be martyr prophets.

[NaoSen]

Every MMO has had a "Is Dying" phase, player loss etc...
Generally, players return if their game adds something appealing that makes them go "Oh that looks cool, I'll give it another try".

I'm quite happy seeing numbers drop heavily, it's the only way that SE can see that what they are doing isn't what a huge number of players want.

[Kohashi]

That's the hypocrisy of that statement.

Let me put it in real terms :

Translation: "Feel free to unsub, take a break, lose the house you spent months (if not years) to get, and come back when you want to, and enjoy spending months or years for another house."

Then you ain't hating the game enough to actually make a stand and all you do is yappy yappy. Imagine getting attached to a pixel in a random game that is a major point of distress in somebody's life..lol. You enjoy self-flagellation and self-inflicted misery. Nobody keeps you hostage, nobody is forcing you to take any decisions, you do this to yourself. Stop playing the victim already.

[Mawlzy]

Then you ain't hating the game enough to actually make a stand and all you do is yappy yappy. Imagine getting attached to a pixel in a random game that is a major point of distress in somebody's life..lol. You enjoy self-flagellation and self-inflicted misery. Nobody keeps you hostage, nobody is forcing you to take any decisions, you do this to yourself. Stop playing the victim already.

Isn't it a bit more subtle than that, and thus cynical on the part of SE?

Whether I keep paying $15/month on a game I rarely play has zero impact on me. On the other hand, losing my house, finding the game finally adds content I like, and playing it again without my house is an actual problem.

This is precisely what SE intends, surely? Compounded by the fact that me unsubscribing will have no impact on them whatsoever.

[BigCheez]

Another post with the same doomers that I have seen for years claiming the same things that are either opinions taken out of proportion by streamers or just flat out not right.

''The story is bad!'' about Stormblood.
''There is no content'' about X.1 patches.
''People are leaving'' about pre-patch lulls.

Some people need to stop pretending to be martyr prophets.

Objectively not true.

https://luckybancho.ldblog.jp/archives/58883226.html

Every expansion saw growth between x.0 and pre-x.1 censuses.

SB 663k -> 830k
ShB 943k -> 1.2m
EW 1.3m -> 1.7m
DT 1.4m -> 1.1m

In terms of player retention (x.0 peak numbers vs x.1 peak numbers), every patch saw about 45% of initial playerbase returning to x.1 patch, but in case of DT, only 39% returned for 6.1.

|| || |pre x.1| post x.1|Result|
|DT |-290k | -147k |-437k|
|EW|+354k| -369k |-14k|
|ShB |+242k| -221k |+20k|
|SB|+167k| -5k |+162k|

It is likely FFXIV will fall under 1 million active players soon, going under pre-Shadowbringers level.

Comparison data from WaltzForLilly

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ayer_drop_off/

[Kohashi]

and playing it again without my house is an actual problem.

No is not. It's a self-created problem so, stop blaming others for your own decisions. A sensible way would be to move away from something that is clearly affecting you, your mental health, and your well-being overall. Nobody cares if you got a house in a game, it's not a symbol of anything.

[Clockworks]

No is not. It's a self-created problem so, stop blaming others for your own decisions. A sensible way would be to move away from something that is clearly affecting you, your mental health, and your well-being overall. Nobody cares if you got a house in a game, it's not a symbol of anything.

What a ridiculous take. Let's not blame SE for the artificial housing scarcity, let's blame the players instead, typical GCBTW.

[Mawlzy]

No is not. It's a self-created problem so, stop blaming others for your own decisions. A sensible way would be to move away from something that is clearly affecting you, your mental health, and your well-being overall. Nobody cares if you got a house in a game, it's not a symbol of anything.

Who am I blaming for my decisions?

The point I was making is that unsubbing, having the game improve, and chasing a new house would be inconvenient, whereas paying a $15/mo sub for something I don't use much is not. My mental health is just fine, but thanks for your concern.

The broader issue is whether SE using false scarcity is a cynical business practice that keeps funds coming in despite little content being added.