SE's actual results tell us close to nothing about how well FFXIV is doing.
SE's Digital Entertainment division - which includes everything: consoles, PCs, tablets, mobile, browser games - had sales of $225M and operating income of $43 for the quarter. Attributed to various:
Murdered; Soul Suspect (console)
strong repeat sales
Sengoku IXA (PC browser) - continued solid growth
Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light (mobile) - continues solid growth
Schoolgirl Strikers (smartphone, Japan only!) encouraging start
Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X - favourable progress
The big reasons for their improved results - given in a number of releases - being:
repeat sales for console titles
group wide efforts of cost reduction.
Now check out Activision's last results: increased profitability due in part to:
"strong digital sales of WoW".
So what does that tell us? WoW back to 8M sub maybe; or even 9M - after all most PC sales are digital yes? If only Activision didn't feel obliged - by financial disclosure rules - to reveal that WoW had lost 800k subs we could have had weeks of speculation.
So if "strong digital sales" = a drop of 800k subs what does "favourable progress" really mean?
Big message imo: SE are still supporting the game. Beyond that - who knows.
So if "strong digital sales" = a drop of 800k subs what does "favourable progress" really mean?
Big message imo: SE are still supporting the game. Beyond that - who knows.
It means the games' performances are similar or above to the companies' predictions. WoW is predicted to bleed subs - strong digital subs indicate that WoW is bleeding subs at the rate Activision has predicted, or even below it.
Obviously that doesn't mean that "favourable progress" for ARR means the game is making more revenue than, say, TOR did, but it is performing along or above SE's expectations. The fact is that FFXIV is doing good, unless SE has been predicting for the game to flop since the pre-release in which case the project would have been canned.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Well, it do prove what to do if the game you just released ain't good enough. Stop charging for it until it is fixed up.
I have a feeling that if they handled this like all the other MMO companies and just continued to charge monthly fees for for it while fixing it the game would have been a wasteland by now.
Now if just the rest of the companies would learn from this....
So if "strong digital sales" = a drop of 800k subs what does "favourable progress" really mean?
Big message imo: SE are still supporting the game. Beyond that - who knows.
It means the games' performances are similar or above to the companies' predictions. WoW is predicted to bleed subs - strong digital subs indicate that WoW is bleeding subs at the rate Activision has predicted, or even below it.
Obviously that doesn't mean that "favourable progress" for ARR means the game is making more revenue than, say, TOR did, but it is performing along or above SE's expectations. The fact is that FFXIV is doing good, unless SE has been predicting for the game to flop since the pre-release in which case the project would have been canned.
Absolutely. Although "good" is a relative term as they are simply comparing the actual results to what they predicted.
They could have predicted a drop in subs to (pick a number) 350k say. And if subs subsequently came in at 370k that would be favourable progress. Subs didn't decline as fast as predicted. Or they could have grown. We don't know.
As far as the game being canned: more complicated. FF, not FF XIV, is a significant brand with value. Clearly there will be a point at which they would say enough is enough but FFXIV had already flopped realistically the only way FF ARR could go is up. Having revamped it they set a team size to look after it, feed and water it occasionally and hope they get the subs they need to cover most of the cost. A profit would be good but even a "small" loss would be tolerated imo since ARR is salvaging the FF brand.
And for me that remains the key message: SE will stick by FF ARR. They will look after it.
I started up with FFXIV ARR am really enjoying the game. So much to do and so many groups and enjoying my healer in it. Best of all the community rocks in it. Happy that Yoshi and his vision panned out and I am happy and subbing.
Yes you pay a sub and get access to everything. My kind of game.
As far as the game being canned: more complicated. FF, not FF XIV, is a significant brand with value. Clearly there will be a point at which they would say enough is enough but FFXIV had already flopped realistically the only way FF ARR could go is up. Having revamped it they set a team size to look after it, feed and water it occasionally and hope they get the subs they need to cover most of the cost. A profit would be good but even a "small" loss would be tolerated imo since ARR is salvaging the FF brand.
And for me that remains the key message: SE will stick by FF ARR. They will look after it.
Going "up" from XIV 1.0 is also a rather relative term. You don't need a game to be that badly received for it to be seen as a financial disaster. To say that it made perfect sense to make ARR is quite far-fetched and I don't think anyone but the people at SE bought the idea in the beginning. People saying they might be remaking the game were seen as lunatic up until the official announcement. What happened is unprecedented and we've had some strong IP's not recover from their flops before.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Comments
SE's actual results tell us close to nothing about how well FFXIV is doing.
SE's Digital Entertainment division - which includes everything: consoles, PCs, tablets, mobile, browser games - had sales of $225M and operating income of $43 for the quarter. Attributed to various:
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1
Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
It means the games' performances are similar or above to the companies' predictions. WoW is predicted to bleed subs - strong digital subs indicate that WoW is bleeding subs at the rate Activision has predicted, or even below it.
Obviously that doesn't mean that "favourable progress" for ARR means the game is making more revenue than, say, TOR did, but it is performing along or above SE's expectations. The fact is that FFXIV is doing good, unless SE has been predicting for the game to flop since the pre-release in which case the project would have been canned.
Well, it do prove what to do if the game you just released ain't good enough. Stop charging for it until it is fixed up.
I have a feeling that if they handled this like all the other MMO companies and just continued to charge monthly fees for for it while fixing it the game would have been a wasteland by now.
Now if just the rest of the companies would learn from this....
Absolutely. Although "good" is a relative term as they are simply comparing the actual results to what they predicted.
They could have predicted a drop in subs to (pick a number) 350k say. And if subs subsequently came in at 370k that would be favourable progress. Subs didn't decline as fast as predicted. Or they could have grown. We don't know.
As far as the game being canned: more complicated. FF, not FF XIV, is a significant brand with value. Clearly there will be a point at which they would say enough is enough but FFXIV had already flopped realistically the only way FF ARR could go is up. Having revamped it they set a team size to look after it, feed and water it occasionally and hope they get the subs they need to cover most of the cost. A profit would be good but even a "small" loss would be tolerated imo since ARR is salvaging the FF brand.
And for me that remains the key message: SE will stick by FF ARR. They will look after it.
I started up with FFXIV ARR am really enjoying the game. So much to do and so many groups and enjoying my healer in it. Best of all the community rocks in it. Happy that Yoshi and his vision panned out and I am happy and subbing.
Yes you pay a sub and get access to everything. My kind of game.
Going "up" from XIV 1.0 is also a rather relative term. You don't need a game to be that badly received for it to be seen as a financial disaster. To say that it made perfect sense to make ARR is quite far-fetched and I don't think anyone but the people at SE bought the idea in the beginning. People saying they might be remaking the game were seen as lunatic up until the official announcement. What happened is unprecedented and we've had some strong IP's not recover from their flops before.