New players will be able to purchase digital copies of Final Fantasy XIV again from January 25th, game director and producer Naoki Yoshida announced in a long post. Square Enix suspended physical and digital sales of the game in mid-December last year because it was doing too well for what the company could handle at the time. People had to wait hours to get in when they tried to play at peak times, because the “dense concentration of hours of play… [the game’s] server capacity.” Unfortunately, the developer was unable to add more servers before the endwalker expansion was launched due to the global shortage of semiconductors.
In his post, Yoshida explained the steps the company is taking to deal with the game’s high levels of congestion. For starters, Square Enix is bringing its Oceanian Data Center online as well on January 25th and opening up five new worlds from the ground up so everyone in Oceania can transfer for a better experience. The world transfer service is currently suspended, but will resume on January 26th – in addition, those transferring to the new Oceania worlds will be able to do so for free.
Yoshida also revealed that Square Enix is working on expanding its Japanese, European and North American data centers. The company explained that due to the global shortage of semiconductors, it took some time to acquire the necessary components to be able to bring them online. In fact, it needs to establish the new data centers in phases because it is still struggling to secure the necessary server equipment.
For North America, the first phase of the expansion will take place in August 2022 and will see four new online worlds. The second phase will be implemented in the summer of 2023 and will open four more World Cups. For Japan, the developer plans to add one more logical data center to the current three to decrease the number of worlds for each of them. The European expansion will also take place in two phases, the first of which is scheduled for July 2022 and will bring four new online Worlds. In summer 2023, Square Enix will establish a new logical data center with eight new worlds in Europe.
“Once again, I would like to apologize for delays in server expansion caused by the global semiconductor shortage,” Yoshida wrote. He also asked for players’ understanding in the game’s resumption of sales, although some may consider the decision premature. Square Enix will monitor server stability after sales resume and may restart free trials if all goes well. However, should the servers “continue to experience extreme levels of congestion” despite all the steps being taken, the developer may consider suspending digital sales once again.
All products recommended by Ploonge are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.