Final Fantasy 14 pauses the MMO's automatic housing demolition process for NA players following Hurricane Helene: "Our hearts go out to those who were affected"

Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail screenshot showing the Warrior of Light, a man with lengthy swept-back brown hair, blue eyes, and facial hair stubble, smiling slightly — (Image credit: Square Enix)

Square Enix is temporarily suspending its automatic housing demolition process in Final Fantasy 14 on all North American servers, citing "damages and other factors" after Hurricane Helene.

In a recent announcement on the official Final Fantasy 14 website, the MMO's development and management team detailed the new "temporary" suspension.

"Our hearts go out to those who were affected late last month by Hurricane Helene in North America," reads the devs' post. "Due to the damages and other factors, we have decided to temporarily suspend the automatic demolition of estates."

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As of this morning, the game's auto-demolition counter, which usually operates on a 45-day cycle, is on pause in the Aether, Crystal, Dynamis, and Primal data centers. There's no set date for when the auto-demolition process will resume yet. "We will monitor the situation in the coming days," the team writes, "and inform you all when we have come to a decision that auto-demolition can commence again."

Temporary Suspension of Automatic Housing Demolition for NA Datacenters from r/ffxiv

The devs close their message with well wishes: "It is our sincere hope that recovery is swift, and those of you who were affected will be able to rejoin us in FFXIV soon."

It's refreshing to see a team so in touch with its community - as a longtime fan of the MMO now myself, it's moments like this that have me convinced Final Fantasy 14 has some of the best devs around. I'm not the only one who feels this way, either.

As highlighted in a wholesome Reddit thread on the auto-demolition pause, fans are happy with the act of kindness from the devs. "This is such an amazing thing they are doing for the community," writes one player. "This is such a relief," shares another. "My city was one of the hardest hit by the storm." It's a heartwarming discussion, albeit one born out of a difficult situation.

Here's everything you need to know about Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.1 and what it'll bring.

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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.