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The story
A collaboration between FFXIV and Suntory has revealed that dedicated vending machines featuring original-label cans will appear at five locations nationwide. The headline item, Lemon Squash, costs ¥900 and is sold at room temperature rather than chilled — prompting a wave of shocked reactions on the thread, with many comparing it to the infamous “filling-less yakisoba” scandal. Some calmer replies pointed out that “Suntory’s collab-exclusive machines have always been room-temperature by design,” and the situation gradually became clearer.
Original-label FFXIV cans go on sale at Suntory vending machines nationwide starting August 31. Dedicated vending machines also make their debut
Sales will also be conducted through the dedicated vending machines
Source: famitsu.com / Original article here
What people said
It's within the bounds of the Consumer Contract Act, you idiot lol
Well, commissioning custom original labels/stickers for a niche game is naturally going to cost more.
Carbonated drinks degrade if you keep cycling them between room temp and refrigeration.
Of course they don't know. It's unreasonable to expect a first-time customer to already understand something like that.
Exactly this. You finally track down a vending machine in the blazing heat, and what comes out is basically boiling juice — worst possible impression for the game lol
[Blue Suntory-brand machines]
Lemon Squash, ice-cold!
[White collab-exclusive machines]
Lukewarm Lemon Squash lol
Re: #66
Room temperature is only for the diehard fans lmaooo
By normal standards it's crazy, but think of it as fan-business, and it's pretty par for the course.
Every title's collab is priced like this, and they've been popping up a lot lately — maybe Suntory's really pushing this line.
Thinking of it as a vending-machine drink is the mistake. You should think of this product as a can-sized gacha pull.
"Selling a brand-new Lemon Squash drink with a ¥900 sticker from a room-temperature vending machine — that can't be right, can it?"
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You guys should copy-paste that line into Gemini and try it yourselves!
Wash it all down in one go with some lukewarm Lemon Squash ^^
Apparently to the diehards it's a bargain — buying ¥20-cost filling-less yakisoba with a ¥1000 bill that itself only cost ¥10 to print lol
Background and Key Points
Suntory’s collaboration vending machines are a fixture of Japanese anime and game tie-ins: companies pay to install branded machines carrying character art and limited labels, often at inflated prices that fans accept as merchandise rather than ordinary drinks. A standard canned drink from a normal vending machine in Japan runs about ¥120–160; ¥900 for a 5-location-only, room-temperature can is roughly six times that. The “filling-less yakisoba” comparison posters kept reaching for refers to a notorious 2013 incident at a fan convention where a vendor sold yakisoba containing no noodles or filling for ¥1000, which became shorthand in Japanese online culture for any transaction seen as charging real money for essentially nothing.
The thread wasn’t actually split on whether ¥900 is expensive — nearly everyone agreed it is by normal standards. The disagreement was over whether serving it warm constitutes a deceptive rip-off or just an unadvertised industry norm: several posters clarified that Suntory’s collab-exclusive machines are room-temperature by design (unlike the same company’s regular blue machines standing right next to them, which are chilled), meaning nothing was hidden so much as never explained to first-time buyers.
What the thread never addresses is why the temperature difference exists at all — it’s not a cost-cutting choice but a packaging one: these limited labels are paper stickers, not printed cans, and repeated cold-hot cycling risks condensation loosening the adhesive, which can jam the machine. Readers should also know that comparably priced “premium” collab drinks have become common across multiple franchises, not just FFXIV.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “[FFXIV] In this blazing heat they skimped on refrigeration power and are selling lukewarm Lemon Squash for ¥900 from a dedicated vending machine lol“.
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