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By the grace of the Twelve, Final Fantasy 14 might just be healing as unofficial census shows increase of 110,000 players in 3 months – with returners and sprouts alike

News
By Anna Koselke published 26 February 2026

Time to hit Limsa Lominsa

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Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail cinematic screenshot showing Alphinaud Leveilleur, an Elezen boy with short white hair
(Image credit: Square Enix)
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Final Fantasy 14 is healing in a post-Dawntrail world, it seems, as an unofficial census shows a nice uptick in fans – one that boasts nearly a million active players now, in fact.

It's no secret that Dawntrail hasn't exactly done well – you know, "Mostly Negative" reviews nearly two years post-launch and all – as the MMO's most recent expansion.

While the raid tier, The Arcadion, has arguably stood as one of the game's best to date, it hasn't been enough to carry (especially when you consider how many "hardcore" fans there are who raid compared to more casual folks who just check out the normal-difficulty tier and move on).

This has shown in the unofficial census that Lucky Bancho, a fan who gathers all sorts of data from The Lodestone regularly, unveils in a new post on his blog. From information like newly registered minions and mounts as well as alterations in HP, the player conjures up a rough chart of how many users Final Fantasy 14 has – and, compared to just a few months ago in November, there are apparently plenty now.

Article continues below
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Unofficial Final Fantasy 14 census made by Lucky Bancho

(Image credit: Lucky Bancho)

Since November, Lucky Bancho has noted a nice increase of 110,000 players, bringing the number of active folks from 820,000 to 930,000. The number of new Warriors of Light registered has also shot up by 20,000, from 40,000 to 60,000. That means that, not only are longtime fans returning to Final Fantasy 14, but a plethora of sprouts can be found in New Gridania and Limsa Lominsa, too (if you know, you know).

As for how many players have remained active since Lucky Banco's last census, he explains that the number has remained stable at around 650,000 users. That's honestly not bad, but, as the fan says, the number of active players is still about 100,000 fewer than he marked down in May 2025.

Hopefully, though, the trend continues – we do have the hotly anticipated patch 7.5 to look forward to, which is sure to feature loads of new content.

Director Naoki Yoshida, known better by his alias "Yoshi-P," did previously tease another big "rebirth" of sorts for the MMO, and there's been plenty of talk about everything from class fixes to new types of content floating about – so, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Thal's balls, Final Fantasy 14's beloved in-house rock band that's made up of Square Enix devs is playing one of the UK's biggest festivals

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Anna Koselke
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Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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