The internet is a serious of tubes and if you line up all those tubes you sometimes get some decent information. This beta information comes via several different sources, but it is originally from a Gamewatch interview with Tanaka, the head honcho.
The beta tests are going to go in stages, starting with closed limited, then closed less limited, then closed unlimited, then closed stress test, then open. That may sound a little overwrought but they seem to have very specific goals for each stage. Tanaka also said that testing was coming along well and he thought that they could aim for a release next summer. I think that is way earlier than most people had considered.
Corinth posted the information, and presumably handled the translation because she is cool like that. You can check out all of the information here.
Monday, September 28, 2009
FFXIV News: Beta Information Released?
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19 comments:
I can answer that:
Faster they get out XIV, faster they can pull the plug on XI -- which it's becoming more and more evident that they need to do to make XIV "vialbe" (in their eyes).
Uh...no?
XI's plug isn't going to be pulled any time soon. While we won't get content at the pace we did before, they've repeatedly stated as long as there's demand, they'll develop and continue XI.
EQ and EQ2 are a great example of old and new MMOs from the same company still co-existing. Having never played EQ2, I don't know what the content is like compared to EQ1, but I can't imagine Sony just up and made an updated version of EQ1 for people to play. EQ2 came out in Nov '04 and currently holds the same approx playerbase as EQ1, which was release in...MARCH OF 1999.
Do yourself a favor and check the information on this site out before you come around here with anymore of your prophetic death of FFXI crap.
http://mmogdata.voig.com/
All games eventually get the plug pulled on them, but pulling the plug on FFXI to make FFXIV viable? Please. Even at 200k subscriptions each month (well below half of what there is now), that's nearly 2.4 MILLION a month that SE is hauling in minimum. If you're mathematically challenged, that would be a grand total of nearly 29 million dollars a year that FFXI hauls in for SE.
You really think they're going to give that up? You really think none of that 29 mil gets put into XIV? Do you argue with people at yard sales trying to get something for a dime instead of a quarter cause that's about as much business sense as you're making.
WTF happened to thinking before speaking...
Aion is phenomenal, the end.
Starcade, die in a fire.
BG, I don't get the appeal of Aion. It's very pretty, and it's very, very pretty. Outside of that it's just a WoW clone run by a Korean MMO company. To me, it's just another over-hyped fanboy toy and nothing more.
It definitely is a WoW clone there is no denying that, but it's a WoW clone that you can fly in!!!
And it's pretty like Iz's mouth.
My faith in SE actually delivering 14 by the end of next year has been severely hampered by the delays on the various 13 games (I believe 12 also experienced delays, but not like 13 has), regardless of what (public relations produced) statements are made. My guess is they won't meet whatever standards they are aiming for in the betas and the testing will drag on into 2011, it's a shame too cause that TGS trailer looked pretty spiffy.
I am pretty sure that 12 took a lot longer and had a lot more delays than 13. But that is just from memory.
You're full of crap, Qtipus (not that that surprises me)-- and I _DO_ read more information.
Square-Enix is either playing us for the biggest bunch of rubes in history, or they cannot be happy with the state of FFXI.
I think this is a very telling statement from Ringthree's own post that you chose to miss:
Tanaka also said that testing was coming along well and he thought that they could aim for a release next summer. I think that is way earlier than most people had considered.
Why would they rush it out _during the summer_ if they didn't see the current landscape and not like it?
Wake up -- XI is dead.
Ringthree: Set one with me in it, moron.
Wake up to dying in a fire.
Why would they try to release it at a time when about half their intended audience has nothing to do all day (as in they are on summer break), that just seems like such a risky move. How a summer release of any game has to do with the motherfucking sky in Vana'diel is falling is beyond me. Look at for the Galka in black suits, they are coming to get you!
Here's some more common sense lessons for you Starcade:
Let's use the 200k accounts example I gave at the start. $29,000,000/year from XI (not including mules, sales from FFXI merchandise, etc). Just the raw account subscriptions.
Let's say you have this great new product that's ready for the market sooner than you had anticipated. This would be FFXIV.
Would you hold back it's release because XI is still making you so much money? No you wouldn't.
Realistically, FFXI is making SE a lot more than what I'm saying if their numbers are correct. You may be of the sky is falling mentality, but there's no reason whatsoever for SE to come out and say in the census from a few months ago that there are 2 million unique characters and 500k accounts. Do the math.
500k x 11.95/month.
Holy shit. That's a lot of money. That's damn near 6 million a month and we haven't even gotten into the other alleged 1.5 million $1 mules out there or the sales from merchandise like the add-on scenarios or toys.
Do I think that's a high estimate? Yes. Which is exactly why I put the figures at 200k/accounts. While it's also true that those aren't the staggering numbers that WoW puts up, it's comparable to the vast majority of the other MMOs out there. The fact that those numbers are that strong 6-7 years after the release and have plateaued the past 4 years w/o a significant decline shows exactly that FFXI isn't dead.
Sure it's old school and like any MMO, it will dwindle away slowly, but to suggest that SE is trying to rush XIV to market because XI's numbers are craptasically low speaks of nothing but ignorance.
No, SE is trying to capitalize on the playerbase it has. Their main goal is to get their current subscriber base to pay for both XI and XIV.
If you truly read any of that shit and had any business sense, you'd just shut your pie hole now. Show me the actual number of accounts SE has compared year to year from a source other than the census and what criteria SE uses to deem an account an "active" account. You show me a drastic decline in the accounts over the past 4 years and I'll be man enough to say you're right. Otherwise, take you bible-thumping, sky-is-falling, holier-than-thou, closed-minded idiocy to someone else's blog and spread your fear-mongering there.
You've not supported any of your claims with factual numbers published by anyone other than your own thoughts.
And to address your quote from Ring's blog (since I can't fit it into my original post):
No shit SE isn't happy with FFXI. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that FFXI is doing what every other MMO does at this point in it's life.
It's not like FFXI is on life support. SE just isn't stupid. It's not going to make them money forever. It's good business sense to find the next big thing while the funds still support it. If you're SE, do you put your next MMO out when you still have a very strong customer base who is more likely to try your next offering or do you wait until it's dwindled to nothing and hope you can lure them back from the other games they might be paying monthly subscriptions for?
SE is hoping that both games will maintain a decent playerbase. They stated it at E3. If 500k accounts are true from the census and XIV lures 300k of those over...holy shit, guess how much more money you just dumped on top of your bottom line?
A lot.
Again, ignorance is supposed to be bliss, but apparently you missed that memo.
Oh come on, it's not like Starcade has any reasoning skills, any sort of discernment, or a good sense of proportion. The sad part is that he's actually earnest in his "sentiments."
Drakus: Precisely the point. Why would they release it in _summer 2010_, rather than, say, Christmas 2010??
Qtipus: YES YOU WOULD hold it back, especially if the only reason you continue this game is to continue to make money toward XIV. And if anyone can give another reason that, this far down the hill, XI is still going, I'm sure you all will.
But yes -- especially if you hadn't pulled the plug already -- you would want to hold it back to ensure you had a (supposed) audience for XIV.
And this is Square-Enix we're talking about here, so you have to question whether common sense even applies, else they'd have eliminated the vast majority of American 75's due to misconduct!
Do you _really_ want me to read the entire report, and note that immediately, operating income is down by nearly half, net income down by a third (and by two-thirds over the course of the last three years)...
(Their online division has seen similar losses. I assert that many of these half a million accounts they are talking about are non-paying RMT...)
http://www.square-enix.com/eng/ir/ar.html
We see the following (This is in millions of Yen btw):
Apr 1, 2005 to Mar 31 2006 (Page 39)
Games Offline: 45,916
Games Online: 15,720
Operating Income: 15,470
Apr 1 2006 to Mar 31 2007 (Page 46)
Games (Offline): 51,316
Games (Online): 13,660
Operating Income: 25,916
Apr 1 2007 to Mar 31 2008 (Page 48)
Games (Offline): 41,588
Games (Online): 12,098
Operating Income: 21,520
Apr 1 2008 to Mar 31 2009 (Page 47)
Games (Offline): 36,340
Games (Online): 10,580
Operating Income: 12,277
Wow...those numbers are so drasically different from 4 years ago.
Hard to imagine that SE actually puts other stuff out there for sale aside from FFXI. But wait, FFXI is dead despite the fact that SE sees a sales slump in all divisions. It's only FFXI that's dragging them down though right?
Pay attention to the fact that they haven't released a decent console game or anything of significant importance for FFXI since 2007. Those numbers don't actually include the release of the mini-expansions for FFXI.
But FFXI is dead.
Pay attention to the fact that online sales saw a steeper decline 4 years ago than they did from 2008-2009.
But FFXI is dead.
Pay attention to the fact that online sales have made up roughly 25% of the total sales the past 4 years.
But FFXI is dead.
I mean really, FFXI is so dead.
SE can't survive if they don't pull the plug on FFXI.
You know...they need to get rid of 25% of their total income in order to survive as a company.
FFXIII won't save them if they don't get rid of XI. All the other projects like the new FF game for the Wii, the Dragon Quest game for the DS and various other titles they have in the works won't save them if they don't get rid of XI.
XI is too much of a sinkhole, they need to just pull the plug on their whole online division since it takes away from their offline division sales. Scrap XIV, no way it can survive as long as XI is still around.
Sacrasm aside:
STFU.
Starcade, I placed sarcasm on your point PRECISELY because it doesn't make any sense. What does a summer release of 14 have to do with 11?
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