however, in my point of view, SE took $59.99 and gave me a junk game.
they did make it F2P while THEY ARE FIXING IT but Junks are junks. when someone buying an apple, you cant give them 10 rotten apple and said: " oooh, you get 10 apple instead of 1".
also, most people already left the game in 1-2 months. the only one left is HARD CORE FANs and only those people get the thing you called "benefit"
base on SE 's pride. they'll probly keep server running even with 1k player and claimed still have 1mil player base. anyway, i'm done with FF14, so dont wanna start a new war.
We don't need to "fight" old battles. 1.0 is gone. Arr is here. It sold a lot of copies. SE is very happy with the current trend, so much so that it changed the financial outlook for the entire company from a loss to a profit for the fiscal quarter.
I don't care how many subs FFXIV has in 6 months, a year or two years. All i care about is that it remains P2P and pumps out content every 2-4 months. It seems like SE planned on doing that as their business model and the trends show that the game is a bigger success than even they anticipated.
If SE is happy with these numbers, so am I.
And that's exactly how I feel as well. I don't care if they never reach 1 million subs. I don't care if you feel they robbed you of $60. I don't care if you or anyone else hates themepark mmorpgs. Hell I find it refreshing that a developer is satisfied with what they achieved and not looking to mimic WoW's success. So as long as SE is happy with ARR's performance, I'm happy knowing content will continue to be shoveled my way.
i don't need more devs chasing the dragon. We have enough examples already where that mindset has failed.
Oh my, how people quickly forget things.
Now go back to SWTOR and their ecstatic PR in month 1 and 2.
You dont have to care if game reaches 105121561231 subs.
But you have to care if game drops below 400k (just like you had to care if SWTOR drops below 500k, RIft dropping below x k . And its not far from that AND thats just 1 month.
The TRUE number of long term subs will be known at 7 months mark when all 3-6 (1+6+any free time given) months subs from people that dont play any more run out.
FF is following the trend of similar games and i see noting that really separates this game (SW if far bigger IP and SWTOR was huge game at launch compared to FFARR) from the pack. On the contrary, its lacking in many ways compared to the pack.
Promises of content? Hell i can probably collect few tomes of developers promises. It would be a "fun" read though.
The thing to note is (if you actually clicked the link) 1 450 000 is just NEW sales for ARR. Its nice PR spin, how many vets are there on top of that number?
As usual haters going to hate, 600k subs is a very good start for a mmo, in comparison with other mmos, WoW didn't start with that many subs, it grew over time, and with a heavy marketing campaign, the game matured. Back in the day mmos were very much a niche genre, never a big start for any of them. It's the maturity in the content, and marketing the grows the numbers.
2.2 and 2.3 should bring in another group of new players, that were either waiting on the game to mature, and waiting on ps4 release and directx11, frontline release is slated for either 2.2 or 2.3 bringing in the pvp crowd. SE launched the game at a very good time, gives the game time to mature in numbers.
The thing that seperates ARR from other mmos, some of it's player base started with level 50 characters, and if you check to see which servers have character creation restrictions are the Legacy servers. Legacy players have paid 2 month sub. According to the doom and gloomers, the Legacy players should of quit a month ago.
They have a healthy subscription base in which to mature the game solidly, their expectations were exceeded. Now it becomes an ebb and flow of subs, on a patch per patch basis, just like any other P2P.
roughly month after launch WHO had much better retention of 63%. (750000/1200000)
ARR has 42% (600000/1450000)
i believe FFAR is a better game for content than WAR - for longterm
will see what happens after 6 months has passed
Yup, im amused that people get blinded by shiny numbers.
Long term is what actually matters and after all long term subs of 3-6 months expire you will get real state of things.
How does piece of information "we have 10 subs" matters if you know that 5 of those are 3-6 months subs from people that dont log in any more and 90% wont renew their sub?
Publishers/developers of course have PR duty as part of the marketing and will twist and turn anything and everything. But in the end, as many examples before, nothing of that lasts long term, not one of those actually lived up to PR.
As for long term and content, SWTOR was huge, had immansly more content at launch AND lot of post launch/faster content updates but it didnt make it, not even nearly.
Also Rift, unprecedented in post release managing the game and content updates, yet it fell rapidly.
Those are much better examples than WHO, and even WHO had much better retention than ARR (and WHO was one of the worst)
And ARR? Bad launch. First content update (probably) in 4 months and then "who knows when" next one?
2.1 is really just going to bring content that should have be in at launch. Not to mention a good portion of the content is going to be below coil level leaving a good portion of subs with zero gear progression.
I think a month or two after 2.1 you will see some more subs drop but the real challenge is going to be when TESO, Wildstar, EQN/L come out. The only people left playing this game will be the FF white knights. So the big question is. Will there be enough White Knights playing this game in 3-6 months from now?
I'm someone who got the 3-month sub to XIV. I did it for the vet-rewards. Yes, I know, all fluff. At the time I signed up for it I just barely hit 50 and didn't know just how shallow the game was. I really really regret my decision.
Originally posted by Takoo 2.1 is really just going to bring content that should have be in at launch. Not to mention a good portion of the content is going to be below coil level leaving a good portion of subs with zero gear progression. I think a month or two after 2.1 you will see some more subs drop but the real challenge is going to be when TESO, Wildstar, EQN/L come out. The only people left playing this game will be the FF white knights. So the big question is. Will there be enough White Knights playing this game in 3-6 months from now?
Nice slant there. Apparently a White Knight is someone who likes a game you don't these days.
The mainland China launch is imminent, the PS4 launch is making it's way, massive content updates unprecedented by other failed AAA MMO's are closer than ever. The game, exceeding the devs' expectations, will not go silently in to the good night.
[mod edit]
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Originally posted by TakooSo the big question is. Will there be enough White Knights playing this game in 3-6 months from now?
To you maybe.
So many people, who call themselves "gamers / MMO'ers / Mmorpgr's" love to try and spin anything even remotely positive in a game and trun it into a negative. Why ?
Here are some numbers from the Devs, yet they are spun around by so called MMO fans.
Personaly I won't ever see / meet or play with almost any of the current 600k players. The game could have 100, 100k, 600k or 6,000,000. Makes no difference.
They do not affect me or my gaming. I could care less if there were only 100 people subbing as long as the developers are happy that the game remains profitable and keeps turning out updates as promised. That the developers beleive the game is worth supporting is what matters. Not what some burned out MMO hack believes.
I don't care if the game does not please the majority or is not the largest record breaking game in existance - it pleases me, I'll play it and enjoy the time I choose to spend in it.
I'm not 'White Knighting' nor bashing just because it's the in thing to do. I'll support a game, point out short comings and expect bug fixes, in the meantime I'll play because I enjoy it. Not because you may or may not like the game and certainly not based off any 'numbers or stats' that really have no relevence to my enjoyment.
Wow, not only is that a MASSIVE drop off from how many people bought the game, but its barely higher than where it was after a month when the game launched the first time.
Let's see if it manages to stop bleeding subs.
Yeah, those numbers don't look too good to me, especially with the reports of how quickly people get to end-game, and how little there is to do.
Number one problem right here. I've decided to not sub again till 2.1 due to lack of content at endgame. That and the leveling alternative jobs on Fates alone has to change. It really turned me off to playing other jobs. Game needs more xp from dungeons and MOAR quests! per job and more zones while we're at it as this world feels very tiny.
I dont' really care about this game because it is just more of the same junk we've been getting so there is no reason to play it.
However, comparing it to any game WoW or earlier is useless since the market has exploded since those games came out. Comparing it to sub games that came out between WoW and now is also useless because the market has gone from an almost completely sub to play model to an almost completely btp/ftp model.
There is no way to tell if these numbers are good or bad because there is really nothing to compare it to at this point.
I dont' really care about this game because it is just more of the same junk we've been getting so there is no reason to play it.
However, comparing it to any game WoW or earlier is useless since the market has exploded since those games came out. Comparing it to sub games that came out between WoW and now is also useless because the market has gone from an almost completely sub to play model to an almost completely btp/ftp model.
There is no way to tell if these numbers are good or bad because there is really nothing to compare it to at this point.
Actually post-2008 P2P MMO's usually retain 35% of players after the free month, while FFXIV:ARR has retained 42% after a longer period of time.
The data is based on the director's comment earlier regarding the game's undeniable success over most P2P MMO's.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Originally posted by Hyanmen Actually post-2008 P2P MMO's usually retain 35% of players after the free month, while FFXIV:ARR has retained 42% after a longer period of time.
The data is based on the director's comment earlier regarding the game's undeniable success over most P2P MMO's.
The market has completely changed though so that info isn't useful in the context you are using it. WoW has leaked subs like mad so there is more of the pie available and there have been very few sub games released in the past couple of years. My guess is this makes the 42% more impressive considering there are so many more options out there, but there are certainly people who are completely anti F2P and they might be going with this game just because it is the only non WoW option at this point. The market is in flux so it is just impossible to say what this means.
Further clouding the issue is the fact that they had to stop sales because their servers couldn't handle the load so some of these 'retained' players are still in their free month I'm going to guess.
it seems to me all this information is related to a financial report which is strictly limited to a 3 month result or up to SEP 30 like any other listed company.
and in this case, the information means that FFXIV got 600k subs by end of SEP 30, and did not count the subs afterward, this mean its in fact in very close time where the free trails ended.
the number has to be more than 600k which is by no means a bad figure, since we are approaching end year and the 3 month mark from the launch of the game. so If anyone would still want to base financial results on the game success , you will need to get the annual report which will only be released 45 days after the period ends, so expect the information released in FEB 2014 where we will see how exactly FFXIV fared financially considering it will show the subs up until DEC'13.
however, in my point of view, SE took $59.99 and gave me a junk game.
they did make it F2P while THEY ARE FIXING IT but Junks are junks. when someone buying an apple, you cant give them 10 rotten apple and said: " oooh, you get 10 apple instead of 1".
also, most people already left the game in 1-2 months. the only one left is HARD CORE FANs and only those people get the thing you called "benefit"
base on SE 's pride. they'll probly keep server running even with 1k player and claimed still have 1mil player base. anyway, i'm done with FF14, so dont wanna start a new war.
We don't need to "fight" old battles. 1.0 is gone. Arr is here. It sold a lot of copies. SE is very happy with the current trend, so much so that it changed the financial outlook for the entire company from a loss to a profit for the fiscal quarter.
I don't care how many subs FFXIV has in 6 months, a year or two years. All i care about is that it remains P2P and pumps out content every 2-4 months. It seems like SE planned on doing that as their business model and the trends show that the game is a bigger success than even they anticipated.
If SE is happy with these numbers, so am I.
And that's exactly how I feel as well. I don't care if they never reach 1 million subs. I don't care if you feel they robbed you of $60. I don't care if you or anyone else hates themepark mmorpgs. Hell I find it refreshing that a developer is satisfied with what they achieved and not looking to mimic WoW's success. So as long as SE is happy with ARR's performance, I'm happy knowing content will continue to be shoveled my way.
i don't need more devs chasing the dragon. We have enough examples already where that mindset has failed.
Oh my, how people quickly forget things.
Now go back to SWTOR and their ecstatic PR in month 1 and 2.
You dont have to care if game reaches 105121561231 subs.
But you have to care if game drops below 400k (just like you had to care if SWTOR drops below 500k, RIft dropping below x k . And its not far from that AND thats just 1 month.
The TRUE number of long term subs will be known at 7 months mark when all 3-6 (1+6+any free time given) months subs from people that dont play any more run out.
FF is following the trend of similar games and i see noting that really separates this game (SW if far bigger IP and SWTOR was huge game at launch compared to FFARR) from the pack. On the contrary, its lacking in many ways compared to the pack.
Promises of content? Hell i can probably collect few tomes of developers promises. It would be a "fun" read though.
The thing to note is (if you actually clicked the link) 1 450 000 is just NEW sales for ARR. Its nice PR spin, how many vets are there on top of that number?
That's the problem with you number hawks...you care TOO much about the numbers. While you're concerned about what the numbers look like in 7 months, I'll be playing for 7 months. And if the numbers dip below 400k, you'll be here thumping your chest while I'll be in game sitting in my house crafting some food for my FC's next raid. The only time I'll feel the effects of your number hawking is if and when SE decides to close the doors to FFXIV for good because the numbers cannot sustain the game. And when that time comes, I'll be getting ready to head over to a new mmorpg that I may find interesting (hell it may be before 7 months!). You see, my guild plays more than one mmorpg, just like me. That's the perk of being a mmorpg fan first and a specific game fan second.
I don't worry about numbers. I didn't do it when I started playing mmorpgs and I won't be doing it now. I'd rather enjoy the here and now instead of worrying how bad it could get....I play my mmos like I live my life...one day at a time and in the moment.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
however, in my point of view, SE took $59.99 and gave me a junk game.
they did make it F2P while THEY ARE FIXING IT but Junks are junks. when someone buying an apple, you cant give them 10 rotten apple and said: " oooh, you get 10 apple instead of 1".
also, most people already left the game in 1-2 months. the only one left is HARD CORE FANs and only those people get the thing you called "benefit"
base on SE 's pride. they'll probly keep server running even with 1k player and claimed still have 1mil player base. anyway, i'm done with FF14, so dont wanna start a new war.
We don't need to "fight" old battles. 1.0 is gone. Arr is here. It sold a lot of copies. SE is very happy with the current trend, so much so that it changed the financial outlook for the entire company from a loss to a profit for the fiscal quarter.
I don't care how many subs FFXIV has in 6 months, a year or two years. All i care about is that it remains P2P and pumps out content every 2-4 months. It seems like SE planned on doing that as their business model and the trends show that the game is a bigger success than even they anticipated.
If SE is happy with these numbers, so am I.
And that's exactly how I feel as well. I don't care if they never reach 1 million subs. I don't care if you feel they robbed you of $60. I don't care if you or anyone else hates themepark mmorpgs. Hell I find it refreshing that a developer is satisfied with what they achieved and not looking to mimic WoW's success. So as long as SE is happy with ARR's performance, I'm happy knowing content will continue to be shoveled my way.
i don't need more devs chasing the dragon. We have enough examples already where that mindset has failed.
Oh my, how people quickly forget things.
Now go back to SWTOR and their ecstatic PR in month 1 and 2.
You dont have to care if game reaches 105121561231 subs.
But you have to care if game drops below 400k (just like you had to care if SWTOR drops below 500k, RIft dropping below x k . And its not far from that AND thats just 1 month.
The TRUE number of long term subs will be known at 7 months mark when all 3-6 (1+6+any free time given) months subs from people that dont play any more run out.
FF is following the trend of similar games and i see noting that really separates this game (SW if far bigger IP and SWTOR was huge game at launch compared to FFARR) from the pack. On the contrary, its lacking in many ways compared to the pack.
Promises of content? Hell i can probably collect few tomes of developers promises. It would be a "fun" read though.
The thing to note is (if you actually clicked the link) 1 450 000 is just NEW sales for ARR. Its nice PR spin, how many vets are there on top of that number?
That's the problem with you number hawks...you care TOO much about the numbers. While you're concerned about what the numbers look like in 7 months, I'll be playing for 7 months. And if the numbers dip below 400k, you'll be here thumping your chest while I'll be in game sitting in my house crafting some food for my FC's next raid. The only time I'll feel the effects of your number hawking is if and when SE decides to close the doors to FFXIV for good because the numbers cannot sustain the game. And when that time comes, I'll be getting ready to head over to a new mmorpg that I may find interesting (hell it may be before 7 months!). You see, my guild plays more than one mmorpg, just like me. That's the perk of being a mmorpg fan first and a specific game fan second.
I don't worry about numbers. I didn't do it when I started playing mmorpgs and I won't be doing it now. I'd rather enjoy the here and now instead of worrying how bad it could get....I play my mmos like I live my life...one day at a time and in the moment.
Nope, if the game had millions of subs noone would care. Like with WoW.
Unfortunately, game is heading to below critical mass of players very fast. And ANYONE who likes the game should care because going below critical mass means crappier game in the future. You have all the examples you need what happens then. From Vanguard to SWTOR. Pretty much anything in between.
Maybe you dont care about quality of the games you play. I do. Especially if they demand payment every month just to be able to play.
however, in my point of view, SE took $59.99 and gave me a junk game.
they did make it F2P while THEY ARE FIXING IT but Junks are junks. when someone buying an apple, you cant give them 10 rotten apple and said: " oooh, you get 10 apple instead of 1".
also, most people already left the game in 1-2 months. the only one left is HARD CORE FANs and only those people get the thing you called "benefit"
base on SE 's pride. they'll probly keep server running even with 1k player and claimed still have 1mil player base. anyway, i'm done with FF14, so dont wanna start a new war.
We don't need to "fight" old battles. 1.0 is gone. Arr is here. It sold a lot of copies. SE is very happy with the current trend, so much so that it changed the financial outlook for the entire company from a loss to a profit for the fiscal quarter.
I don't care how many subs FFXIV has in 6 months, a year or two years. All i care about is that it remains P2P and pumps out content every 2-4 months. It seems like SE planned on doing that as their business model and the trends show that the game is a bigger success than even they anticipated.
If SE is happy with these numbers, so am I.
And that's exactly how I feel as well. I don't care if they never reach 1 million subs. I don't care if you feel they robbed you of $60. I don't care if you or anyone else hates themepark mmorpgs. Hell I find it refreshing that a developer is satisfied with what they achieved and not looking to mimic WoW's success. So as long as SE is happy with ARR's performance, I'm happy knowing content will continue to be shoveled my way.
i don't need more devs chasing the dragon. We have enough examples already where that mindset has failed.
Oh my, how people quickly forget things.
Now go back to SWTOR and their ecstatic PR in month 1 and 2.
You dont have to care if game reaches 105121561231 subs.
But you have to care if game drops below 400k (just like you had to care if SWTOR drops below 500k, RIft dropping below x k . And its not far from that AND thats just 1 month.
The TRUE number of long term subs will be known at 7 months mark when all 3-6 (1+6+any free time given) months subs from people that dont play any more run out.
FF is following the trend of similar games and i see noting that really separates this game (SW if far bigger IP and SWTOR was huge game at launch compared to FFARR) from the pack. On the contrary, its lacking in many ways compared to the pack.
Promises of content? Hell i can probably collect few tomes of developers promises. It would be a "fun" read though.
The thing to note is (if you actually clicked the link) 1 450 000 is just NEW sales for ARR. Its nice PR spin, how many vets are there on top of that number?
That's the problem with you number hawks...you care TOO much about the numbers. While you're concerned about what the numbers look like in 7 months, I'll be playing for 7 months. And if the numbers dip below 400k, you'll be here thumping your chest while I'll be in game sitting in my house crafting some food for my FC's next raid. The only time I'll feel the effects of your number hawking is if and when SE decides to close the doors to FFXIV for good because the numbers cannot sustain the game. And when that time comes, I'll be getting ready to head over to a new mmorpg that I may find interesting (hell it may be before 7 months!). You see, my guild plays more than one mmorpg, just like me. That's the perk of being a mmorpg fan first and a specific game fan second.
I don't worry about numbers. I didn't do it when I started playing mmorpgs and I won't be doing it now. I'd rather enjoy the here and now instead of worrying how bad it could get....I play my mmos like I live my life...one day at a time and in the moment.
Nope, if the game had millions of subs noone would care. Like with WoW.
Unfortunately, game is heading to below critical mass of players very fast. And ANYONE who likes the game should care because going below critical mass means crappier game in the future. You have all the examples you need what happens then. From Vanguard to SWTOR. Pretty much anything in between.
Maybe you dont care about quality of the games you play. I do. Especially if they demand payment every month just to be able to play.
I and many others find the quality of this game to be good and with more patching will be even better. I think the game will do well over the coming months especially with it releasing on the PS4 next year. Time will tell of course, but I'm betting your crystal ball is broke.
You tell him his crystal ball is broken and then go on to make predictions about PS4 release and the upcoming patches.
Ok!!!
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
That's the problem with you number hawks...you care TOO much about the numbers. While you're concerned about what the numbers look like in 7 months, I'll be playing for 7 months. And if the numbers dip below 400k, you'll be here thumping your chest while I'll be in game sitting in my house crafting some food for my FC's next raid. The only time I'll feel the effects of your number hawking is if and when SE decides to close the doors to FFXIV for good because the numbers cannot sustain the game. And when that time comes, I'll be getting ready to head over to a new mmorpg that I may find interesting (hell it may be before 7 months!). You see, my guild plays more than one mmorpg, just like me. That's the perk of being a mmorpg fan first and a specific game fan second.
I don't worry about numbers. I didn't do it when I started playing mmorpgs and I won't be doing it now. I'd rather enjoy the here and now instead of worrying how bad it could get....I play my mmos like I live my life...one day at a time and in the moment.
Nope, if the game had millions of subs noone would care. Like with WoW.
Unfortunately, game is heading to below critical mass of players very fast. And ANYONE who likes the game should care because going below critical mass means crappier game in the future. You have all the examples you need what happens then. From Vanguard to SWTOR. Pretty much anything in between.
Maybe you dont care about quality of the games you play. I do. Especially if they demand payment every month just to be able to play.
Quality of huh? Where have you been for the last 3 years? You do know that FFXIV released back in 2010 (with a sub) was a dud right? I was ready to play and held off because of all the negative feedback it was getting. The metacritic score for that debacle was: 49 critics, 3.8 user score. Flash forward 3 years and an entire revamp later and guess what? I played the beta and enjoyed it. Thought to myself now this is a game I can play. Guess what happened to that revised score on Metacritic: 83 critics, 7.4 user score. So yeah, somewhere between a 3 year span the players spoke with their wallets. And it may not be the crowning jewel of themepark mmorpgs, but that's not what I was hoping for anyway.
Like I said, you keep working those numbers, I'll continue playing while the game still has my interest.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Originally posted by Hyanmen Actually post-2008 P2P MMO's usually retain 35% of players after the free month, while FFXIV:ARR has retained 42% after a longer period of time.
The data is based on the director's comment earlier regarding the game's undeniable success over most P2P MMO's.
The market has completely changed though so that info isn't useful in the context you are using it. WoW has leaked subs like mad so there is more of the pie available and there have been very few sub games released in the past couple of years. My guess is this makes the 42% more impressive considering there are so many more options out there, but there are certainly people who are completely anti F2P and they might be going with this game just because it is the only non WoW option at this point. The market is in flux so it is just impossible to say what this means.
Further clouding the issue is the fact that they had to stop sales because their servers couldn't handle the load so some of these 'retained' players are still in their free month I'm going to guess.
Actually, it is very much possible to say what this means.
It means that FFXIV:ARR is doing a lot better than it's past competitors. You can try to analyse the reasons but they all lead to one conclusion: FFXIV:ARR is doing better than the rest of them.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
I have to say, I don't really care what SE, EA, Blizzard, or anyone else says; you don't shoot for a 41.3% retention rate after your first month.
Is 600k a healthy player base? Absolutely. Many long-term MMORPGs would kill for that kind of number.
Just not after their first month of billed subscriptions.
If this feat was accomplished in say, March, 6 months later, alright then; that's a good, healthy number. But if less than half of the people who purchased the game are interested in it a mere 30 days after playing it, then it speaks loudly to the what your game has to offer (or in the case of FFXIV, doesn't offer).
I would suspect the numbers for this month will be even lower, and by December, possibly even halved,
Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...
Comments
Oh my, how people quickly forget things.
Now go back to SWTOR and their ecstatic PR in month 1 and 2.
You dont have to care if game reaches 105121561231 subs.
But you have to care if game drops below 400k (just like you had to care if SWTOR drops below 500k, RIft dropping below x k . And its not far from that AND thats just 1 month.
The TRUE number of long term subs will be known at 7 months mark when all 3-6 (1+6+any free time given) months subs from people that dont play any more run out.
FF is following the trend of similar games and i see noting that really separates this game (SW if far bigger IP and SWTOR was huge game at launch compared to FFARR) from the pack. On the contrary, its lacking in many ways compared to the pack.
Promises of content? Hell i can probably collect few tomes of developers promises. It would be a "fun" read though.
The thing to note is (if you actually clicked the link) 1 450 000 is just NEW sales for ARR. Its nice PR spin, how many vets are there on top of that number?
As usual haters going to hate, 600k subs is a very good start for a mmo, in comparison with other mmos, WoW didn't start with that many subs, it grew over time, and with a heavy marketing campaign, the game matured. Back in the day mmos were very much a niche genre, never a big start for any of them. It's the maturity in the content, and marketing the grows the numbers.
2.2 and 2.3 should bring in another group of new players, that were either waiting on the game to mature, and waiting on ps4 release and directx11, frontline release is slated for either 2.2 or 2.3 bringing in the pvp crowd. SE launched the game at a very good time, gives the game time to mature in numbers.
The thing that seperates ARR from other mmos, some of it's player base started with level 50 characters, and if you check to see which servers have character creation restrictions are the Legacy servers. Legacy players have paid 2 month sub. According to the doom and gloomers, the Legacy players should of quit a month ago.
They have a healthy subscription base in which to mature the game solidly, their expectations were exceeded. Now it becomes an ebb and flow of subs, on a patch per patch basis, just like any other P2P.
disclaimer - i think FFAR will do better than WAR longterm
for comparison
As of September 30, 2008, WAR had sold 1.2 million copies and had 800,000 registered users.[31]
As of October 10, 2008, Mythic Entertainment announced that 750,000 people were playing Warhammer Online.[32]
As of December 31, 2008, the number of active WAR subscribers had decreased to "over 300,000 paying subscribers in North America and Europe."[33]
EQ2 fan sites
How do you figure?
roughly month after launch WHO had much better retention of 63%. (750000/1200000)
ARR has 42% (600000/1450000)
i believe FFAR is a better game for content than WAR - for longterm
will see what happens after 6 months has passed
EQ2 fan sites
Yup, im amused that people get blinded by shiny numbers.
Long term is what actually matters and after all long term subs of 3-6 months expire you will get real state of things.
How does piece of information "we have 10 subs" matters if you know that 5 of those are 3-6 months subs from people that dont log in any more and 90% wont renew their sub?
Publishers/developers of course have PR duty as part of the marketing and will twist and turn anything and everything. But in the end, as many examples before, nothing of that lasts long term, not one of those actually lived up to PR.
As for long term and content, SWTOR was huge, had immansly more content at launch AND lot of post launch/faster content updates but it didnt make it, not even nearly.
Also Rift, unprecedented in post release managing the game and content updates, yet it fell rapidly.
Those are much better examples than WHO, and even WHO had much better retention than ARR (and WHO was one of the worst)
And ARR? Bad launch. First content update (probably) in 4 months and then "who knows when" next one?
2.1 is really just going to bring content that should have be in at launch. Not to mention a good portion of the content is going to be below coil level leaving a good portion of subs with zero gear progression.
I think a month or two after 2.1 you will see some more subs drop but the real challenge is going to be when TESO, Wildstar, EQN/L come out. The only people left playing this game will be the FF white knights. So the big question is. Will there be enough White Knights playing this game in 3-6 months from now?
I'm someone who got the 3-month sub to XIV. I did it for the vet-rewards. Yes, I know, all fluff. At the time I signed up for it I just barely hit 50 and didn't know just how shallow the game was. I really really regret my decision.
Nice slant there. Apparently a White Knight is someone who likes a game you don't these days.
The good news keep coming, [mod edit]
The mainland China launch is imminent, the PS4 launch is making it's way, massive content updates unprecedented by other failed AAA MMO's are closer than ever. The game, exceeding the devs' expectations, will not go silently in to the good night.
[mod edit]
To you maybe.
So many people, who call themselves "gamers / MMO'ers / Mmorpgr's" love to try and spin anything even remotely positive in a game and trun it into a negative. Why ?
Here are some numbers from the Devs, yet they are spun around by so called MMO fans.
Personaly I won't ever see / meet or play with almost any of the current 600k players. The game could have 100, 100k, 600k or 6,000,000. Makes no difference.
They do not affect me or my gaming. I could care less if there were only 100 people subbing as long as the developers are happy that the game remains profitable and keeps turning out updates as promised. That the developers beleive the game is worth supporting is what matters. Not what some burned out MMO hack believes.
I don't care if the game does not please the majority or is not the largest record breaking game in existance - it pleases me, I'll play it and enjoy the time I choose to spend in it.
I'm not 'White Knighting' nor bashing just because it's the in thing to do. I'll support a game, point out short comings and expect bug fixes, in the meantime I'll play because I enjoy it. Not because you may or may not like the game and certainly not based off any 'numbers or stats' that really have no relevence to my enjoyment.
Number one problem right here. I've decided to not sub again till 2.1 due to lack of content at endgame. That and the leveling alternative jobs on Fates alone has to change. It really turned me off to playing other jobs. Game needs more xp from dungeons and MOAR quests! per job and more zones while we're at it as this world feels very tiny.
I dont' really care about this game because it is just more of the same junk we've been getting so there is no reason to play it.
However, comparing it to any game WoW or earlier is useless since the market has exploded since those games came out. Comparing it to sub games that came out between WoW and now is also useless because the market has gone from an almost completely sub to play model to an almost completely btp/ftp model.
There is no way to tell if these numbers are good or bad because there is really nothing to compare it to at this point.
Actually post-2008 P2P MMO's usually retain 35% of players after the free month, while FFXIV:ARR has retained 42% after a longer period of time.
The data is based on the director's comment earlier regarding the game's undeniable success over most P2P MMO's.
The market has completely changed though so that info isn't useful in the context you are using it. WoW has leaked subs like mad so there is more of the pie available and there have been very few sub games released in the past couple of years. My guess is this makes the 42% more impressive considering there are so many more options out there, but there are certainly people who are completely anti F2P and they might be going with this game just because it is the only non WoW option at this point. The market is in flux so it is just impossible to say what this means.
Further clouding the issue is the fact that they had to stop sales because their servers couldn't handle the load so some of these 'retained' players are still in their free month I'm going to guess.
it seems to me all this information is related to a financial report which is strictly limited to a 3 month result or up to SEP 30 like any other listed company.
and in this case, the information means that FFXIV got 600k subs by end of SEP 30, and did not count the subs afterward, this mean its in fact in very close time where the free trails ended.
the number has to be more than 600k which is by no means a bad figure, since we are approaching end year and the 3 month mark from the launch of the game. so If anyone would still want to base financial results on the game success , you will need to get the annual report which will only be released 45 days after the period ends, so expect the information released in FEB 2014 where we will see how exactly FFXIV fared financially considering it will show the subs up until DEC'13.
my 2 cents.
That's the problem with you number hawks...you care TOO much about the numbers. While you're concerned about what the numbers look like in 7 months, I'll be playing for 7 months. And if the numbers dip below 400k, you'll be here thumping your chest while I'll be in game sitting in my house crafting some food for my FC's next raid. The only time I'll feel the effects of your number hawking is if and when SE decides to close the doors to FFXIV for good because the numbers cannot sustain the game. And when that time comes, I'll be getting ready to head over to a new mmorpg that I may find interesting (hell it may be before 7 months!). You see, my guild plays more than one mmorpg, just like me. That's the perk of being a mmorpg fan first and a specific game fan second.
I don't worry about numbers. I didn't do it when I started playing mmorpgs and I won't be doing it now. I'd rather enjoy the here and now instead of worrying how bad it could get....I play my mmos like I live my life...one day at a time and in the moment.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Nope, if the game had millions of subs noone would care. Like with WoW.
Unfortunately, game is heading to below critical mass of players very fast. And ANYONE who likes the game should care because going below critical mass means crappier game in the future. You have all the examples you need what happens then. From Vanguard to SWTOR. Pretty much anything in between.
Maybe you dont care about quality of the games you play. I do. Especially if they demand payment every month just to be able to play.
You tell him his crystal ball is broken and then go on to make predictions about PS4 release and the upcoming patches.
Ok!!!
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
Quality of huh? Where have you been for the last 3 years? You do know that FFXIV released back in 2010 (with a sub) was a dud right? I was ready to play and held off because of all the negative feedback it was getting. The metacritic score for that debacle was: 49 critics, 3.8 user score. Flash forward 3 years and an entire revamp later and guess what? I played the beta and enjoyed it. Thought to myself now this is a game I can play. Guess what happened to that revised score on Metacritic: 83 critics, 7.4 user score. So yeah, somewhere between a 3 year span the players spoke with their wallets. And it may not be the crowning jewel of themepark mmorpgs, but that's not what I was hoping for anyway.
Like I said, you keep working those numbers, I'll continue playing while the game still has my interest.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Actually, it is very much possible to say what this means.
It means that FFXIV:ARR is doing a lot better than it's past competitors. You can try to analyse the reasons but they all lead to one conclusion: FFXIV:ARR is doing better than the rest of them.
I just have 4 words. 2.5. Second. Global. Cooldown.
yawn. I played my friends character through a dungeon and nearly fell asleep.
1...2..3...4...3..4...2... I just started to arbitrarily mash any one of those keys.
Aside from the art direction, this isn't any different from WoW - and the GCD is SOOOO slow.
-on topic. 600k subs seems a lot :P
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
There's still quite a few threads left to say the same thing over and over again ;D
I have to say, I don't really care what SE, EA, Blizzard, or anyone else says; you don't shoot for a 41.3% retention rate after your first month.
Is 600k a healthy player base? Absolutely. Many long-term MMORPGs would kill for that kind of number.
Just not after their first month of billed subscriptions.
If this feat was accomplished in say, March, 6 months later, alright then; that's a good, healthy number. But if less than half of the people who purchased the game are interested in it a mere 30 days after playing it, then it speaks loudly to the what your game has to offer (or in the case of FFXIV, doesn't offer).
I would suspect the numbers for this month will be even lower, and by December, possibly even halved,
Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...