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

[genuine_stranger]

Why some people still think that a sample size of about 95k on Steam (all-time peak, there are more owners of the game which are to account for) cannot represent the general health of the game and player sentiment is still kind of beyond me.

Yes, most players don't use Steam, but there is no reason to believe that those who are not on Steam feel any different about XIV than those who are.

[Ath192]

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



LuckyBancho confirms these numbers.



We haven't even gotten to the second patch and we already lost 75% of our playerbase.



But I guess those $5 Hilda hairstyles will single-handedly save this game.

We deserve it. While the population evolved in line with a succesful game (at the time) the game failed to evolve with them, and thus, lost the success. I have my doubts they will be able to turn this around by now. I think we're just in for a slow and long decline like XI.

That's why I do think 17 needs to be an MMO. The ship has too many holes to correct. Always had. It's a miracle it went this far.

I tried playing some PF content in primal late last night. Lmao, there was absolutely noone playing.

[yesnt]

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?

Because:

I tried playing some PF content in primal late last night. Lmao, there was absolutely noone playing.

Less players = less chances to meet people who are up for the same content

[Dorito_Burrito]

I tried playing some PF content in primal late last night. Lmao, there was absolutely noone playing.

Everyone started doing the "lump raiders onto Aether" thing again. I missed the memo too.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Hoping they turn things around given I want them to succeed.

[AnnRam]

Everyone started doing the "lump raiders onto Aether" thing again. I missed the memo too.

DC traveling was tremendous mistake, enjoy your empty DC's and dead servers.

[Wasselin]

Hi, person from Dynamis here, and I assure you that low player count does in fact make a huge difference when you're trying to, you know, actually play content that demands other people to do it with. You wanna know just how dead Maduin is in particular?

-snip-

I'm well aware, and do feel sorry for Dynamis players, but that has nothing to do with overall player count and more to do with the introduction of the servers + the datacenter travel feature setting those servers up to fail. They never got a good start even when there were more players and then players stopped even trying to queue there and just datacenter travel instead. It doesn't require millions of players for low queue times, because even back in ARR and Heavensward you could find people to play with.

[Auro_Seldaris]

... 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...

No, but generally, the more fun a game is, the more people want to come and play it. Which was part of the reason behind the "WoW exodus" to FFXIV in the first place.

Why some people still think that a sample size of about 95k on Steam (all-time peak, there are more owners of the game which are to account for) cannot represent the general health of the game and player sentiment is still kind of beyond me.

Yes, most players don't use Steam, but there is no reason to believe that those who are not on Steam feel any different about XIV than those who are.

I am just as baffled. Clearly these people haven't taken many statistics classes. A sample size of roughly 1000 random people is enough to be considered a reasonable sample size in most situations. I'm not sure why they believe 95,000 doesn't.

[Supersnow845]

Doesnt account in, Xbox, Playstation and non Steam user, and lets be real steam was the least used platform for ffxiv

If you have 4 platforms and they have say……

500000
250000
100000
50000

The 50000 playerbase halving when nothing is changing about the system that playerbase plays on its a pretty good indicator the playerbase has halved across the board

[Wasselin]

No, but generally, the more fun a game is, the more people want to come and play it. Which was part of the reason behind the "WoW exodus" to FFXIV in the first place.

Well then I guess we should all quit FFXIV and go play Fortnite since it must be more fun since it has more players?

There is obviously a lot more that makes a game popular than "fun." Advertising, burnout, competition... etc... that doesn't mean people, like myself, aren't having fun playing FFXIV regardless of if there is an "exodus". Was the game less fun in ARR or Heavensward and that's why there were less players then? Why do I remember that time fondly then?