'Final Fantasy 14' Pulled From Sale Digitally And Physically
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Featured Image Credit: Square Enix
Final Fantasy XIV has been removed from sale until further notice, and the vast majority of advertising for the game has been pulled. Why? It's just too gosh-darn popular right now.
Square Enix has confirmed that sales of the beloved MMORPG have been suspended as a result of intense server and queue issues that have plagued the game since the release of the Endwalker expansion. Existing players can still get into the game and do what they want, but for the time-being no newcomers can purchase the Final Fantasy XIV Starter Edition or Complete Edition.
Expansion packs will not be pulled from sale, so existing players can continue to purchase new content if they wish.
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"We apologize for the ongoing congestion that has been occurring since Early Access and the official launch of Endwalker," wrote Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida in a blog post. "It's been nearly two weeks since the start of Early Access and players are still experiencing substantial congestion when logging into the game."
He added: "These temporary suspensions will be phased in over the next few days as we work with our retail partners. We will be coordinating with them as swiftly as possible, but please bear in mind that this will be a gradual process."
While we totally understand Square Enix's desire to stem the influx of new players so that it can get on top of things, this all seems a bit extreme. The publisher has even confirmed it's pulling all new adverts for the game and physical copies from retail stores - which honestly seems like it'd be more of a logistical effort than just sorting out the server issues.
In investigating the server error many players are bumping into, Square Enix has uncovered the cause to be a login bug that can be tracked all the way back to Final Fantasy XIV version 1.0. A fix is expected to arrive by December 21, 2021.
The publisher is also working hard to set up additional servers to accommodate all the new players, but the ongoing pandemic has made this trickier than it might usually have been. Square Enix hopes to be able to provide a more substantial roadmap of its plans in January. For now, I hope you weren't thinking about getting into Final Fantasy XIV over Christmas.
Topics: Final Fantasy, Square Enix
