FF14 player count has fallen off a cliff and is now at 2019 levels (3/16/2025)

[User202503201232]

Remember the last LuckyBancho census?



Oh how we wished it stopped at the high points of Shadowbringers.

Not only has the game lost all the gains it made from the WoW exodus....

It has now dropped to below 1 million players and to nearly Stormblood territory.



There is only ONE quarter where player count is lower, and that's FIVE AND A HALF YEAR AGO in 2019.

Square Enix. By being cautious and risk averse you are taking the BIGGEST RISK FOR THIS GAME.



Oh something that got brought to my attention:

From Dawntrail onwards, the absolute number of new characters is lower than in the Heavensward and Stormblood periods, when the overall number of characters achieved was lower.

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http://blog.livedoor.jp/umadori0726/.../62221080.html

JP sentiment:

1. "Are all those Archer bots included too?"
2. "83 out of 99 are ‘golden characters,’ so that means there aren’t many new players at all. Is the negative reputation campaign working better than expected?"
3. "Is the 3% completion rate for Eden lower or higher compared to past Ultimate raids? Someone knowledgeable, please explain."
4. "The numbers went down, and that’s hilarious."
5. "If the active player count only dropped by 1%, why did the number of continuing characters from the last survey drop by nearly 10%? What’s going on?"
6. ">>1 Do bots even pay for subscriptions? Without a subscription, they can’t go past level 71, right?"
7. "You guys always say, ‘If you don’t like it, quit!’ Well, congrats, people actually did."
8. "Heading straight for a population decline."
9. "So before COVID, the player base was stable at around 600,000, and then it suddenly doubled? The COVID boom was insane."
10. "I bet they’re desperately inflating these numbers somehow."
11. "If they didn't count bots, the actual number would probably be much lower."
12. "The golden ratio is way too high, showing that almost no new players are coming in."
13. "Even during COVID, the game wasn't that exciting for me. Once restrictions lifted, I quit immediately."
14. "The fact that the golden characters keep increasing while the total active player count stays about the same shows a problem."
15. "The trend is pretty clear: fewer new players, old players sticking around, but some are slowly leaving."
16. "Bot activity inflates the numbers so much that it’s impossible to know how many real players are left."
17. "Are there really only 990,000 active characters left? That number seems so fake."
18. "Looking at past data, it's clear that the population peaked during COVID and is now in decline."
19. "They should really do something about these bots. It’s annoying seeing them everywhere."
20. "I’m surprised it’s still at 990,000. I expected it to drop below 900,000 by now."
21. "FF14 is still in a better position than most other MMOs, but they need to think about player retention."
22. "I'm still having fun, but I can definitely feel the decline."
23. "Most of my friends have already quit. I only log in for the story patches."
24. "The extreme lack of new players means the community is getting stale."
25. "All my free company members have stopped playing, so I just solo now."
26. "If the devs don't introduce new incentives, this game is going to enter a slow decline."
27. "This game used to feel fresh. Now, it just feels like a chore."
28. "I still enjoy raiding, but everything else feels like filler content."
29. "I was excited for this patch, but it doesn’t seem like it changed much."
30. "New content needs to be more engaging if they want people to stick around."
31. "They should stop catering so much to casual players and give hardcore players more challenges."
32. "Another ultimate raid was nice, but I think people are getting burned out."
33. "The game needs something fresh, not just another ultimate or savage tier."
34. "At this rate, I don’t think the next expansion will bring in many new players."
35. "FF14 still has a lot of potential, but they need to innovate."
36. "Even if player numbers are stable, engagement levels seem to be dropping."
37. "I wonder if the devs are aware of how many people are getting tired of the formula."
38. "I still log in daily, but only because I have nothing else to play."
39. "How long can they keep relying on nostalgia and the story to keep people invested?"
40. "I used to think FF14 was unbeatable, but now I’m not so sure."
41. "They need to speed up content delivery. Waiting so long between updates is painful."
42. "A lot of people I know are moving to other games. The competition is getting stronger."
43. "It’s not just about the numbers—player sentiment is also getting worse."
44. "I keep seeing new gacha games pulling away FF14 players."
45. "MMOs in general are in a rough spot, not just FF14."
46. "The devs need to stop ignoring feedback if they want this game to last another 10 years."
47. "A lot of my friends switched to playing single-player RPGs instead of MMOs."
48. "If they don’t shake things up soon, it’s going to be a slow death."
49. "I don’t see myself playing this game much longer unless something major changes."
50. "FF14 is still my favorite MMO, but I’m starting to feel less attached to it."
51. "I wonder how many people are only staying because they feel obligated rather than because they enjoy it."

[weebtext]

We have to go LOWER! LOWEEEEEEEEEER!!

[AshtonCrowe]

Deserves to go back to 1.0 imho

Yoshi needs to go, CBu3 Needs to go . . Both are Actively poisoning the game, We need monthly updates the dripfeeding ain't it.

[AvoSturmfaust]

And if 7.2 drops the Numbers go up again, like always in the x.0 - x.2 time, i mean i really hope the playerbase stays so low in the hope it changes something but sadly i know exactly it wont change anything at all

[CNitsah]

That's not a problem, they're just playing other games, they will come back when they feel like it. Everything is going according to the plan.

[Kaurhz]

I think the general trend will be that we end up conforming to Shadowbringers numbers for this expansion, once some people return to try out the new exploratory, but I do think in 8.x series, we will see it drop to Stormblood figures pretty consistently, when people come to realize that it's just the same thing they've been doing.

and I just can't see them managing to capture people the same way they did with something like ShB, between the story and the general surprise that we were not going to Garlemald, but an entirely different reflection, or something like Endwalker when it was meant to serve as a conclusion to a really long, and fairly satisfying story.

[Arrius]

And if 7.2 drops the Numbers go up again, like always in the x.0 - x.2 time, i mean i really hope the playerbase stays so low in the hope it changes something but sadly i know exactly it wont change anything at all

This is the correct answer.
Players will bounce between games and come back to those where they have invested a considerable amount of time when patches are cycled through.

[AshtonCrowe]

I think the general trend will be that we end up conforming to Shadowbringers numbers for this expansion, once some people return to try out the new exploratory, but I do think in 8.x series, we will see it drop to Stormblood figures pretty consistently, when people come to realize that it's just the same thing they've been doing.

and I just can't see them managing to capture people the same way they did with something like ShB, between the story and the general surprise that we were not going to Garlemald, but an entirely different reflection, or something like Endwalker when it was meant to serve as a conclusion to a really long, and fairly satisfying story.

They can get playercount back up if they just Tsukiyomi Dawntrail and Endwalker, Awaken the player a few years after the 4th warden was defeated. Scions gone, Gra'ha only one that stayed.


Everything that happened in Dawntrail and Endwalker was just visions fed into your comatose mind by the light.
Lifes good, Zodiark is back, Empire is back, Ascians are present, Scions are gone no quick solutions, ETC

Strand the Warrior in Novrandt, Must explore other reflections to return home, Do not allow CBu3 Or Yoshi to immediately push Scions.

Rename the Endwalker and Yawntrail zones to "Dreamscape (Name)" Everyone within is slightly transparent now or add the FFX Farplane soul visuals to constantly be floating nearby NPCS.

Crisis Adverted, Bad writing removed, Victory.

[Hallarem]

We have to go LOWER! LOWEEEEEEEEEER!!

Unironically yes. Seems money is the only thing they will listen to at this phase, judging by the last live letter.

[Araxes]

I am not surprised. Back in the Day we got 2-3 Dungeons per Patch and not just one. We also had shorter Development cycles than we have now. We get less content in longer Development cycles. Doesn't make any sense right?

Also the quality of the content suffered a lot. Events are now 2 minute talking quests. Go back a Few years and we had small, fun, mini dungeons for several events like the Halloween event or even the valentines Day event. To much Ressources are wasted on Ultimates which people use forbidden plugins or Boost services to clear.

The normal player gets literally nothing except one dungeon each larger patch.

PvP got turned into a boring Chore people only play till they have their rewards, jobs leveled up or to stomp randoms in premades and relish in their misery.
Unique Rewards, be it pve or pvp, no longer exist cause some first world feelings could get hurt.

I hope it drops further so Squeenix wakes up or just end Service of the damn thing.