Quote Originally Posted by Nero-Voidstails View Post
well most people including myself think 8.0 will be the last
So a while back, they committed to at least 5 more years. Then at the 10-year anniversary they committed to at least 10 more years. This is the timeframe Yoshi-P hopes to continue for at least.

FF11 is still around and even got another expansion after years. Their issues maintaining it were actually more about the lack of technology to maintain it with, and the fact very few people have the skills required to use their old technology. As such, they have switched to virtualization to make it somewhat easier, and are trying to get it to a point where more modern developers can work on it or switch between modern projects and FF11.

It also takes time for an established MMO to reduce enough in population. It's not as simple as next expansion, it's all dead. The fact people repeatedly and consistently claim they are quitting or dissastisfied here but then continue due to sunk cost, friends or housing should demonstrate that.

I recall there was a time when Yoshi-P said the more likely scenario, if it was necessary due to people thinking it was an "old game", would simply be to get FF14 and rebrand it as FF17.

Further evidence of their commitment is actually the graphics upgrade itself that is happening this expansion. They said this was the "first graphical update", suggesting a belief there will likely be a second one at some future date - not something an abandoned game would bother with.