Final Fantasy 14 developer Square Enix has temporarily suspended sales for the highly successful MMORPG to keep up with the high demand.
In a statement released to the game’s official website, Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida updated fans on several elements of the online game however, most surprisingly, announced that the team is "suspending delivery of package versions and temporary suspension of digital version sales" of Final Fantasy 14.
The reasoning for this is that players are currently experiencing extremely long wait times to get into the game, due to the "dense concentration of play hours which far exceeded [Square Enix’s] server capacity." Yoshida and the team's resolution for this is to limit the number of players attempting to access the game temporarily.
Additionally, Square Enix is no longer accepting new registrations for the free trial of Final Fantasy 14 and limiting memberships to certain playtimes. For example, those with active subscriptions are prioritized to log in, and free trial players are only able to play late at night and in the early morning to try and deal with the congestion caused by players. Existing players will still be able to access the expansion packs and collector’s edition so they can upgrade as needed.
Another unexpected move from the studio, Square Enix will also be halting a lot of advertising for the game. As Yoshida explains though, "it will not be possible to suspend some of the advertisements due to the nature of how they were set up," meaning you may still see the odd Final Fantasy 14 ad here and there despite many of them being taken down.
Yoshida finished explaining the suspension by adding: "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and ask for your understanding and cooperation in order to reduce congestion." If there was some good news to come out of this though, Square Enix has gifted players with two weeks additional game time compensation after previously granting an additional seven days just a couple of weeks ago.
Wondering what all of the fuss is about? Take a look at our Final Fantasy 14 Endwalker review.
