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

[DBriggs304]

I always love how logging on, you get the "server congested" message. You know none of the servers are congested.

[Chasingstars]

The last month in which the player count was below 17100 was January 2021, which was Patch 5.45.

Chicken little, the sky isn't falling. Using steam charts might help with potentially checking a trend, but it's really always been a small fraction of the playerbase. Like lets say there is 500,000 active users right now, which factors in the steam chart numbers. That is 5.2238% of the playerbase. This is only made more evident it is a small fraction of the playerbase when the game was riding higher at it's peak and had more players than WoW for awhile. As the all time peak on steam charts for FFXIV is just 95,102 across a full 10 years. Lets say we had 2 million players across all platforms when it was beating out WoW, well 95,102 is 4.7551% of the playerbase.

[Kes13a]

Then perhaps if people are only able to play solo in an MMORPG they would be better off in different types of games, they shouldnt be catered to in a multiplayer game. I get what you mean, but FFXIV catering to solo players and encouraging them to keep playing solo in a multiplayer game was and still is a mistake.

I completely agree. except that SE tries to cater to everyone.. and really pleases no one... well, except for the corporate koolaid drinkers

[Clockworks]

Chicken little, the sky isn't falling. Using steam charts might help with potentially checking a trend, but it's really always been a small fraction of the playerbase. Like lets say there is 500,000 active users right now, which factors in the steam chart numbers. That is 5.2238% of the playerbase. This is only made more evident it is a small fraction of the playerbase when the game was riding higher at it's peak and had more players than WoW for awhile. As the all time peak on steam charts for FFXIV is just 95,102 across a full 10 years. Lets say we had 2 million players across all platforms when it was beating out WoW, well 95,102 is 4.7551% of the playerbase.

Just tell us you dont know how statistics and samples work.

I completely agree. except that SE tries to cater to everyone.. and really pleases no one... well, except for the corporate koolaid drinkers

Pretty much yeah.

[Rolder50]

I always love how logging on, you get the "server congested" message. You know none of the servers are congested.

That's more due to the strange way their login servers work where they login people in batches. When you are sub 100 login queue you're really just waiting for the next batch.

[LilaIronman]

People love to complain about player numbers when it suits them to bolster their own argument but really what difference does it make if there are 1 million or 2 million or 500,000 people playing the game? Does that make the game more fun for your personally to know that there are 1.9mil other people player over only 499,999 thousand?

The number matters for the people at square tasked with making money, but doesn't really matter to players unless it drops to the threshold where the game isn't profitable at all.

Hmmge well low player numbers could have impact on daylie life you know, if you spread 500k across all data centers and servers, theres not much left, Queues will pop slower, cities will start looking less and less alive, Dynamis kinda scenario just use your head

[Shurrikhan]

I wonder if the game having a WoD moment is a bad thing?

I mean, if WoW's Warlords of Draenor moment was bad for WoW, then... presumably XIV having the equivalent would, yes, be kinda bad for XIV.

That said, what we have right now feels less like a WoD moment...

• that is, overpromising and then having a few fundamental errors atop reeling back in said promises that then cause people to be skeptical of future promises, reducing sub numbers such that it's no longer financially incentivized to provide as much content in that expansion, instead cutting losses and hoping to win people back next time

than a Shadowlands moment...

• that is, doubling down on recent trends of how the devs have been doing things / content has been mapped out despite increasingly greater boredom, annoyance, and/or apathy from the playerbase, with a general "we know better than you" attitude towards any well-formed criticism...

...but with a sixth the content and no reconsideration in sight.

[Xrono_Amber]

The question is what is the constructive use of your negativity spiral?

In indicating the Square Enix that these demands exist. Because without it they will convince themself they don't have to do anything or even keep it in mind. It's easy to say the story is bad, for example. But to say why and where it's bad takes time. And discussion. A lot of discussion. Including the repetition of these discussions, especially if these are issues that have been voiced for years. The simplest and most obvious example, hats for hrothgars and vieras. How many years have people been asking for this problem to be solved? Everyone knows it's here. But a solution is still not on the horizon. And it is not certain that there will be one. But I would rather constantly and annoyingly remind them of it than hide my head in the sand and pretend that everything is fine.

I don't have to hope for the best in some future. Because I'm paying for the present. And if a game wants me to praise it, it should do its best, rather than having me lower my already relatively low standards.

[Ryaze]

Chicken little, the sky isn't falling. Using steam charts might help with potentially checking a trend, but it's really always been a small fraction of the playerbase. Like let’s say there is 500,000 active users right now, which factors in the steam chart numbers. That is 5.2238% of the playerbase. This is only made more evident it is a small fraction of the playerbase when the game was riding higher at its peak and had more players than WoW for awhile. As the all time peak on steam charts for FFXIV is just 95,102 across a full 10 years. Let’s say we had 2 million players across all platforms when it was beating out WoW, well 95,102 is 4.7551% of the playerbase.

lol, FFXIV has NEVER been beating out WoW. Even their lowest of 5 million concurrent subs is more than double the estimated peak FF14’s numbers.

[AshtonCrowe]

I'm wondering what their backplan plan is if the new Bozja is not well received? Radio silence for 2 months?