FF14 player count reached the lowest point in 4 years. We lost 75% of the playerbase.

[CuteBucket]

While the player base is smaller, it's no where near 75%.



Steam does NOT and has never accounted for the majority of players.




Most players either use consoles or the official launcher.


"omg playerbase is down 75%" and producing statistics for the minority platform is just being ignorant.

Wow, would you look at that, yet another person who has no idea how statistics and sample sizes work, and who also ignores the Lucky Bancho numbers. How many of you are there? Are y'all not tired yet of having this same point debunked for 15 pages?

Yes, it's more complicated than just "we've lost 75% of the player base," but if you think these numbers aren't representative of the player base and are completely fine...more than simply ignorance, that is delusion.

[Saraide]

Wait actually steam gamers are very different, they have access to other games. Think about it: the PS5 has no games, xbox is a dead platform, standalone launcher. /s

[Clockworks]

While the player base is smaller, it's no where near 75%.



Steam does NOT and has never accounted for the majority of players.




Most players either use consoles or the official launcher.


"omg playerbase is down 75%" and producing statistics for the minority platform is just being ignorant.

Yall never learn that steam is big enough of a sample do you ?

[DPZ2]

Yall never learn that steam is big enough of a sample do you ?

It's just not a "random" sample, and it doesn't provide numbers for active subscriptions, only concurrent active players across a 24-hour period, then averaged over a month.

What is a better indicator of player numbers with subscriptions is the Operating Expense [ie Profit] lines of Square Enix's quarterly reports, assuming that DQ10 and FF11 are constants.

An example, they've changed their format from FY 2024, which did not break down operating income beyond Digital Entertainment as a whole:

MMO: Operating income up on launch of latest “FINAL FANTASY XIV” expansion pack
Net Sales: ¥44.0 billion
(Prior FY: ¥34.8 billion/ up ¥9.2 billion YoY)
Operating Income: ¥17.3 billion
(Prior FY: ¥14.4 billion/ up ¥2.9 billion YoY)


I imagine quite a bit of that 9 billion yen increase in net sales for FY2025 Q1-Q3 can be attributed to Dawntrail Expansion sales.

[Supersnow845]

It's just not a "random" sample, and it doesn't provide numbers for active subscriptions, only concurrent active players across a 24-hour period, then averaged over a month.

What is a better indicator of player numbers with subscriptions is the Operating Expense [ie Profit] lines of Square Enix's quarterly reports, assuming that DQ10 and FF11 are constants.

An example, they've changed their format from FY 2024, which did not break down operating income beyond Digital Entertainment as a whole:

MMO: Operating income up on launch of latest “FINAL FANTASY XIV” expansion pack
Net Sales: ¥44.0 billion
(Prior FY: ¥34.8 billion/ up ¥9.2 billion YoY)
Operating Income: ¥17.3 billion
(Prior FY: ¥14.4 billion/ up ¥2.9 billion YoY)


I imagine quite a bit of that 9 billion yen increase in net sales for FY2025 Q1-Q3 can be attributed to Dawntrail Expansion sales.

DT sold well initially nobody denies that

DT selling well is meaningless next to the fact that the playerbase cratered after we discovered DT is not good

Using operating income is one of the worst measures to discuss population

[Oizen]

Dawntrail sold well because Endwalker sold it
I'd bet money 8.0 does not sell as well as Dawntrail did.

[Striker44]

Wow, would you look at that, yet another person who has no idea how statistics and sample sizes work, and who also ignores the Lucky Bancho numbers. How many of you are there? Are y'all not tired yet of having this same point debunked for 15 pages?

Yes, it's more complicated than just "we've lost 75% of the player base," but if you think these numbers aren't representative of the player base and are completely fine...more than simply ignorance, that is delusion.

Sample size is largely irrelevant when the sample itself isn't statistically random (which it isn't, at all). What you need to look at are the average daily logins, and those show nothing abnormal compared to similar points in previous expansions. DT is now at the 8-month mark, and has "lost" about 40% of its average daily logins compared to its release month. At the same 8-month mark, EW had lost 49% and ShB had lost 39%. Not only have we lost nowhere near "75%" of the playerbase, but there is zero evidence we are actually seeing anything out of the ordinary. The real difference is that the specific subset of players DT has "lost" are the type that are most likely to inhabit places like Reddit or leave Steam reviews. Pare that away, look at the hard data, and you'll see it's nothing out of the ordinary.

[CuteBucket]

Sample size is largely irrelevant when the sample itself isn't statistically random (which it isn't, at all).

And once again, you have yet to provide any logical reason why Steam players are different enough as a cohort to render them statistically irrelevant.

[celi85]

hop on lost ark

[Dorito_Burrito]

hop on lost ark

Hop on Spider Solitaire.