Square Enix: “FF14 is a Disaster, We’ve Lost Player Trust”

[Cthulhu]

Sad truth is, Sankaku really IS a newssite, probably the first source for animenews that you don't need to throw through a translator. They just insist on the generous side-helping of hentai.

Sounds like an opportunity. Same news content, safe for work, ????, profit.

 

[ForceStealer]

The backpedaling continues!

In his keynote presentation at GDC China, Square Enix SVP Hiromichi Tanaka described steps the company is taking to make improvements to its latest MMO.

Things have not gone well for the latest launch from Final Fantasy house Square Enix. Its most recent MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, has gone through two 30-day-trial extensions.

So far, users who bought the game at launch have gotten 90 free days of play instead of the expected 30.

The company has extended the trial due to widespread complaints about the game from users -- as it rushes to patch the title so users can "be given the opportunity to experience these changes firsthand before deciding to fully commit to the game," the company said in a statement on its official site.

Partnering With Shanda for Improvements

In his GDC China Keynote in Shanghai, Tanaka said, "It's a pity, but we haven't reached the expectations of the players. And of course we are working on it."

This portion of his speech, aimed at the show's Chinese attendees, centered on how the company's Chinese partner Shanda is offering feedback on the game which will help improve the game for all audiences.

Shanda is evaluating the game (which has not yet launched in this territory) and gathering feedback which it is sending to Square Enix -- which the company, apparently, will use alongside from feedback from audiences in the West and Japan, where the game has already launched as a retail product.

Said Tanaka, "We'll make every effort to increase the fun and quality of the game. The proposal from Shanda [takes into account] not only the requirements and feelings of Chinese players, but I think it's good feedback overall for global players. We can update this Chinese feedback into our global system. After the improvement process, we'll try to present this game to the Chinese players."

Auction House Woes

Meanwhile, Tanaka also addressed concerns players have with the game's user-to-user selling system, which was recently skewered in a Gamasutra feature and has drawn widespread complaints. "In a nutshell, the Market Ward system is broken," wrote feature author Simon Ludgate.

Final Fantasy XI, the company's first MMO, which it first launched in Japan in 2002, pioneered the now-traditional auction house system.

Said Tanaka, that system "encouraged interaction between different players. One of the benefits of the system was that it was cross-region, and though it was cross-region we had a communication assist system so players could communicate with each other 24 hours a day. However, because the information on prices was open and everyone knew the prices, it wouldn't cause any mistreatment of players."

However, the company saw a downside -- since all players on all servers and in all regions knew the "right" prices for items, this increased deflation. This encouraged the developers to take a different tact with Final Fantasy XIV.

While Tanaka says that the company was aware that the system, which has players hire NPCs to sell their goods, would create an "inconvenience" for players, the team chose this direction to "avoid some of the disadvantages of Final Fantasy XI's system; players can make some profit out of this deal."

Unfortunately, this "inconvenience" means that players cannot search for a specific item easily and must engage with a huge number of NPCs.

Tanaka's slide during his presentation said that this system was developed because it "makes it difficult for a single market rate to become established, providing the seller with more opportunity to turn a profit."

However, the slide went on to imply that the company may completely backpedal on its new in-game selling system. "We wish to continue observing the current in game market trends before deciding which method, [auction house or NPC market], is better," it said.

Tanaka added that "We can prepare new tools to improve searching."

Source

So changing the whole market system back to the old one, hm?

Do you think that they really think they can salvage this? I mean I guess I don't know what else that can do really. It might reflect worse on them if they just dropped it altogether.

 

[Tifabelle]

This is a cover effort because the PS version still hasn't come out yet. They need to offer some kind of "solution" so they don't lose out on PS3 sales.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Can they salvage this? No.

Next game, please. You know, assuming there is a next if more shareholders decide to bail out.

 

[ForceStealer]

I know that, but I asked do you think they think they can salvage it? Or are they just keeping up appearances?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I was ignoring the exact phrasing of your question for the sake of taking another jab at SE's expense. Thanks for raining on my parade, man.

But, yes, I think they're still firmly entrenched in the idea that they shit gold and piss fine wine, and that this whole thing is going to fall into place.

 

[Tifabelle]

But, yes, I think they're still firmly entrenched in the idea that they shit gold and piss fine wine, and that this whole thing is going to fall into place.

For true. I think they think this is the first mistake they've made.

 

[ForceStealer]

I was ignoring the exact phrasing of your question for the sake of taking another jab at SE's expense. Thanks for raining on my parade, man.

For true. I think they think this is the first mistake they've made.

And Toriyama, at least, recognized mistakes made in XIII's development, so it might be the second time.

I dunno, I just don't see how they could ever recoup the costs for this game. Even if they DID manage to the do the impossible and fix everything, there's way too much bad press to ever get people to play it...
I feel like they just need to make it look like they're trying until they have something to distract us with.

And, yes, to try and scrape some manner of confidence for the PS3 release, that too.

 

[DLPB]

Though you seem to have plenty of time to bitch about the new generation not having any games

Doesn't take 2 minutes to bitch and costs me nothing.

 

[Username]

I haven't done much research, but isn't ff14 the fucking shit online game that nobody was going to bother buying?

 

[Kobato]

I haven't done much research, but isn't ff14 the fucking shit online game that nobody was going to bother buying?

Basically yeah. Though you don't have to do much research to know that it sucks.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

I think FF14 is done. Square better pull out all the stops on whatever they do next. The next failure, PR or otherwise, is going to kill the company for real.

 

[DLPB]

Enix have the resources and money and gullible fan community to do as they please, and will probably continue to carry on in the same way.

 

[Misaka]

Enix have the resources and money and gullible fan community to do as they please, and will probably continue to carry on in the same way.

Cause when talking about Final Fantasy, Enix is the appropriate company to mention. The only thing Enix has to do with Final Fantasy is the fact that they merged with the company that made it. Nothing else.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Enix have the resources and money and gullible fan community to do as they please, and will probably continue to carry on in the same way.

They really don't have the money and fan community to spare, though. Their stock has been dropping for years, and they've been losing credibility for the same amount of time as well. No resource is infinite; after all, it was the fact that the Spirits Within flopped so hard that marked the biggest change in the company that's determined the flow of things since.

 

[DLPB]

Cause when talking about Final Fantasy, Enix is the appropriate company to mention. The only thing Enix has to do with Final Fantasy is the fact that they merged with the company that made it. Nothing else.

When I say Enix I always mean Sqenix, and Square was a damn site better before the merger in terms of quality games imho.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Doesn't really change that it's the wrong name to be using, both in letter (the actual name) and spirit (most of the same people still work there).

 

[Dana Scully]

Online game Final Fantasy XIV is a bit of a mess. Critics aren't thrilled, players aren't thrilled. Heck, even Square Enix isn't thrilled. Know what that means? Heads will roll. And they have. Director Nobuaki Komoto and producer Hiromichi Tanaka are being taken off the game and replaced by Naoki Yoshida. In an official statement, Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada describes Yoshida as "a passionate individual for whom customer satisfaction has always taken top priority".
Besides Yoshida, several "hand-picked" developers will join the existing team.
Previously, Wada came out and said Final Fantasy XIV "isn't satisfactory", and Square Enix is trying to fix the game.
In a statement issued today, Wada adds, "While more than two months have passed since the official launch of Final Fantasy XIV service, we deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that Final Fantasy fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies."
Square Enix is asking players to be patient until a concrete plan explaining the game's new direction. Until that time, the game's free trial period will be extended.
It's not only the PC version of the game that is experiencing troubles. The PS3 version, slated for release in March 2011, is being delayed.
"Regarding the PlayStation 3, it is not our wish to release a simple conversion of the Windows version in its current state, but rather an update that includes all the improvements we have planned," says Wada. "For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of the PlayStation 3 version beyond the originally announced date of March 2011."
For a game as big as this, for a franchise as big as this, everything seems to have spun out of control. Square Enix is making tough decisions and taking action. It's now a matter of cleaning up the mess — and whether or not players are willing to wait.

http://kotaku.com/5711039/heads-roll-over-final-fantasy-xiv-ps3-version-delayed


Next time Wada, just fire yourself instead.

 

[ForceStealer]

On the plus side, I'll bet they never outsource to China again

 

[Tifabelle]

For a game as big as this, for a franchise as big as this, everything seems to have spun out of control. Square Enix is making tough decisions and taking action. It's now a matter of cleaning up the mess — and whether or not players are willing to wait

Apply this to the whole company, not just the game. There are a lot of things to clean up. Personally, I would be willing to wait a bit longer for better quality games. FFXIII, for example, was an enjoyable game, imo. But it was lacking. Since FFX, games have been good, but not great. And for the amount of time that goes into some of these games, they should be great. XIV apparantly will be the straw that broke the camel's back?

 

[ForceStealer]

Might've been more of an anchor than a straw, but yeah

 

[ForceStealer]

So since SE fired all the people originally in charge of XIV Naoki Yoshida was made the director as YACCBs' article reported. My sincerest sympathies go out to him. Could you imagine getting saddled with this?

Apparently he got into online RPGing with Diablo and apparently played all the big MMOs and some I haven't heard of.

"My train of thought is MMORPGs are like a theme park," Yoshida said prompting 4gamer to dig further. He explained that as an analogy theme park attractions are like content. You start with the basics like a roller coaster or a haunted house, from there you create a theme, and add many attractions or content. Yoshidia gave Disneyland as an example, which expanded with its own identity by building Cinderella’s Castle and Toontown.

Getting down to specifics and before expanding the proverbial park Yoshidia said a working economy is essential for a MMORPG. He’s aware the economy has problems too and as it is players are not properly motivated to continue playing.

Yoshidia, like many players, realizes there isn’t a quick fix, but he is confident quarter-by-quarter he can improve Final Fantasy XIV by opening lines of communication with the game’s community.

*shrug* Still seems an insurmountable a task, but he's got a good attitude I guess. He's also fairly new (2004), so he might not be as backwards as some of them.

 

[Madame Mayor]

Ya, seems like it would be easier to just start fresh and give people who bought FF14 a free copy of the new one rather than trying to fix it. But at least it sounds like he knows the direction it should be going in.

 

[DLPB]

Give him 6 months and what they have so far and that's enough time to do a good job. We will see what they come back with...

 

[ForceStealer]

In a detailed Q&A session with the Japanese site 4gamer.net, newly incumbent Final Fantasy XIV Online director Naoki Yoshida has detailed his approach to rescuing the floundering Square Enix MMORPG, commenting that he wants to bring the impact and atmosphere of global bestseller Final Fantasy VII to Eorzea.


In a summary translation posted on MMORPG.com, Yoshida stated that FFVII is his personal favourite entry in the long running series. The new director wants to bring similarly affecting, memorable content to lend global appeal to FFXIV.

“Even talking with fans from North America and Europe, you hear how it leaves an impact you never forget,” he said.

I thought salvaging the game was an insurmountable task. But to make it as memorable as FFVII? Damn.
I guess no one can say he doesn't dream big.

(source and translation)