FFXIV takes a deep breath… and charges for content
It’s weird how things pan out sometimes. Last night we were having a discussion in the Massively chat room about FFXIV for some reason, and I basically said, “I mean no malice to the game, but if I was Square-Enix, I would pull the plug instead of dumping money after money into it.” This may be a reversal of my position from a couple weeks back, but while it certainly would be a PR blow to the company, I think that over the long run it’s worse to operate a game that’s bleeding money left and right just to save face.
Maybe Square-Enix has access to figures that I don’t or is just wildly optimistic, but in any case they’re getting ready to flip back on the monthly subscription switch and relaunch the game. This has happened in the industry, but not that often, and so I’m fascinated to see if this will help matters or if it’s setting SE up for an even bigger fall down the road.
Optimistically, they’re doing a lot of things right here. They’re acknowledging all of the work that’s been done on the game and following that up with a detailed roadmap into the future. Players need to hear that, need to know that there is a plan above and beyond “crossing our fingers and wishing for ponies.” I think the company is putting a lot of faith into the PlayStation 3 release of FFXIV, which I could see going either way. Still, it’s really cool to see concrete details instead of vague promises.
Of course, the big issue — and one that the company acknowledges — is that the entire situation changes the second they start charging for the game again. The problem here is three-fold. First, FFXIV players have been enjoying the game for the better part of a year without any fee whatsoever. Even though Square-Enix needs to start making money here, it’s not going to be greeted with enthusiastic applause from players who’ve gotten used to the way things were. People don’t like change, and they really don’t like change that costs them more (see: Netflix’s recent price increases and that fun fallout).
The second problem is that, by and large, MMO players have gotten really used to there being free-to-play options. Subscription-based titles are becoming the minority, as they are perceived to ask for a bigger up-front commitment of money. Not just that, but asking for a subscription for a game that’s suffered some of the worst reviews and PR of any title over the past year is a tall order for even the most skillful spin doctor.
The third problem is that once you start charging a subscription, you put your game in a selective club of subscription MMOs that compete with each other on a higher level than F2P titles do with each other. Like it or not, players do evaluate where they want to spend their $15 a month and aren’t as prone to go for multiple titles (it does happen, just not in the majority). So unless this monthly fee is, say, $5-8, FFXIV is going to be asking, with a straight face, that players spend just as much on this game as World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
I think these are considerable obstacles. Not impossible, and I have to allow for the fact that players do get loyal to a title and that the PS3 version could be a goldmine for Square-Enix. But from where I’m sitting, it’s going to get a lot more bumpy before it gets better.
- Posted in: Final Fantasy
Yeah… I don’t think this is going to go well for them. I don’t have any wish for them to fail, but this… just doesn’t look good. They would have been better served to change to a Guild Wars business model.
They’re actually doing much more than that. They are pretty much making a new MMO but keeping the name.
The current FFXIV, back on subscription, is only going to be around for about 10-12 months. In late 2012 the game shuts down for a short while, then re-opens with a 2-3 month free trial period. The whole game gets a relaunch with the world completely redone with new, individual zones replacing the current seamless landmass. An entirely new UI with different functionality gets added at that point as well. New character models and gender options are added too.
For my money, when you switch off your game and restart with a different world, different UI and different characters you have just launched a different game. The trick SE are trying to pull off is that, by keeping the name and porting your current character and progression across you won’t notice they’ve deleted your game and put you into another one.
I do think it’s odd that they’ve decided to charge for the game they’ve got for the last year of its life. Personally, I’ll wait for the 2012 free trial to see what the new game’s like. I won’t be subbing for the dead-man-walking version.
Well, so much for my recent return to FFXIV. While the game is in much better shape than it was at launch, it’s not at a place where I’d be willing to pay a monthly sub for it. I just needed an excuse to switch over to Fallen Earth (which I am subbed to) full-time anyway, so there it is.
I commented when I was a guest on the Multiverse podcast that the only way I could see them charging for the game was to do some sort of freemium thing. Offer something (like an expansion) that would be premium content people would have to pay a subscription fee to access. Until then, let the core game continue to be free.
Sadly, I think the ship has sailed for FF14. It’s got a bad reputation, and it’ll take a miracle to fix that. Maybe the PS3 launch will help things, but it’s still not in good shape.
Seeing how poorly PS3 players took to the monthly fee in DCUO, I can’t imagine this will go well.
The picture accompaning the post pretty much says everything that needs to be said.
if what Bhagpuss says is true then I hope FFXIV players do their research. Players should not have to pay for a game that is going to be essentially executed and then resurrected as a completely different animal. Consumers should not have to pay a monthly fee for what essentially sounds like, now, another iteration in the FF universe with multiplayer opportunities attached.
I like the idea suggested of them offering some specific content to those who WANT to pay and support SE, but don’t make them pay for the core game that they’ve been given freely for months. That ship has sailed.
Hopefully someone gets in SE’s ear and shows them what a horrid idea this is…
I enjoyed my time playing FFXIV but real life has been keeping me away from my keyboard. I was really looking forward to a consol MMO to try on my PS3; unfortunately it might be a little too late for this game and me.
I wish Square-Enix all the best, I have been a fan of the company since the original Final Fantasy on the NES. I liked the ideas in FFXIV but the execution was a miss.