Final Fantasy XI “To End in 2010″

[Koeta]

Just read this on Sankaku Complex,

"A senior Square Enix employee is being reported as publically saying that Final Fantasy XI will terminate in 2010, to be replaced by Final Fantasy XIV.

The remark was apparently made by one of Square Enix’s top HR people at the “Square Enix Recruiting Seminar 2011,” and duly reported on a personal blog by an attendee:

“I think some amongst you will know, but FF11 started in 2002 … Well, this year it’ll end and the stage will shift to FF14.”

The witness suspects the remark was inadvertent, but it is adamant it was made. Oddly, first the article and then the entire site which reported the remark were taken down shortly after.

Square Enix has previously assured players that any shutdown of the game would be announced a year in advance, so just what is going on is not clear."

NSFW Link:
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/0...o-end-in-2010/

[Aurara]

lol they're gonna regret doing that :<

[Skjie]

I think it's far more likely by end, they mean end of new content. No way they'll close servers while money is still coming in.

[Spira]

why not u just wait 10 days and hear it from the horses mouth?

[Guitarman]

I think it's far more likely by end, they mean end of new content. No way they'll close servers while money is still coming in.

can't spare even a single person of their crack 4 man team of ITT tech dropouts to worry about upkeep on FFXI once XIV hits.

[richardd]

idk guitarman

i doubt FFXI is gonna die anytime soon. didnt they say they had like 3 years of content planned out like 1 year ago? the far eastern expansions or whatever? idk, i dont keep up with this shit anymore lol

i just heard about augments like 2 months ago <_>. didnt even know that shit existed

[Ezhno]

in before 20 pages of bitching about bonanza relics and "dead game is dead" comments.

[Eanae]

Will believe it when I hear it from a reputable source. A friend of a friend of a guy etc.

[Ezhno]

Will believe it when I hear it from a reputable source. A friend of a friend of a guy etc.

But I heard a rumor of a story of an alleged focus group where a quote taken out of context indicates that they're gonna end FFXI in 2010.

[Guitarman]

Will believe it when I hear it from a reputable source. A friend of a friend of a guy etc.

this, too.

I will admit, this is pretty telling after the announcement the new bonanza was giving out straight up relics. That set off some alarms in my head.

[Draylo]

lol this is pure bullshit.

[Furionstormrage]

ITT: Ensuing mass panic and quitting FFXI.

Seriously though, until a legitimate source says this, I highly doubt SE would shut down the servers anytime soon. They still profit from XI and could continue to do so, merging servers, etc, for (I would assume) quite some time.

[Skjie]

They won't even look into shutting down FFXI until server merges begin, and that's likely to be a long way off, even after FFXIV.

[Akucaen]

Isn't Everquest 1 still running? I know that was a cash cow long after EQ2 launched. I honestly doubt SE will close down XI with the release of XIV, but the notion of it is fucking stupid. Why shut down a source of revenue while it outweighs server costs?

[Guitarman]

ITT: Ensuing mass panic and quitting FFXI.

Seriously though, until a legitimate source says this, I highly doubt SE would shut down the servers anytime soon. They still profit from XI and could continue to do so, merging servers, etc, for (I would assume) quite some time.

do we really know they still profit, though? You've seen it too; the servers are getting smaller all the time. We don't know how much it costs them to upkeep the servers and pay GMs etc to keep everything running. I'm not looking to start a shitstorm, but until you've seen their ledgers you can't really say for sure they're making money on ffxi.

[Eanae]

FFXI population has actually went UP in 2009.

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/150k-1m.png

omg ffxi is dieing.

[Furionstormrage]

do we really know they still profit, though? You've seen it too; the servers are getting smaller all the time. We don't know how much it costs them to upkeep the servers and pay GMs etc to keep everything running. I'm not looking to start a shitstorm, but until you've seen their ledgers you can't really say for sure they're making money on ffxi.

I don't know for sure, but going with the average price per month, average registered accounts per server, there's a lot of cash coming in and I highly doubt SE is devoting a large team of IT and GMs to XI, so I would be shocked if it wasn't profiting.

[Guitarman]

^mules, rmt accts, etc. but i'll just say your right, i really don't care all that much either way lol.

edit: was meant for eanae's post. damn you furion!

[Furionstormrage]

From Eanae's chart, assume 510,000 subscriptions, assume none of them have mules (which we know is not the case), and you're still looking at over 6 million a month in revenue. There is absolutely no way that it costs anything near that to keep XI up and running.

Good point guitarman, is that 510,000 accounts, or content ids and free trials, that would have a drastic impact on money incoming.

[Eleven19]

FFXI population has actually went UP in 2009.

Spoiler: show

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/150k-1m.png

omg ffxi is dieing.

off topic, I still find it funny the massive upwards and downwards spike were leading up to, and after the release of, CoP.