Square Enix has confirmed it's looking into the long load times Final Fantasy 14 players are experiencing on Nintendo Switch 2.
Earlier this week, Square Enix finally released its critically acclaimed MMORPG on a Nintendo console for the first time in its near-13-year history and – aside from needing a separate subscription and being the biggest game on the console by a somewhat significant amount – it seems to have turned out quite well.
Over on the game's subreddit, fans are praising the new version, with many calling it the best way to play on a handheld compared to the Steam Deck version. One user says, "The Switch version is a big upgrade over playing it on the Steam Deck. It only runs slightly better on the Switch 2, but the larger, higher-resolution display of the Switch 2 makes a huge difference."
Unfortunately, some players have been experiencing long load times during certain segments when the screen fades to black. In a post on the Final Fantasy 14 website, Square Enix posted, "Our investigation has confirmed that, when a player enters an instanced duty while surrounded by many characters, loading data will take longer than usual, which lasts until the player leaves the instance," before giving a number of examples.
It continues, "We have identified certain cases in which the data reloading and cache clearing processes required for safe rendering are taking an extended amount of time. As such, these processes have been optimized to ensure faster data loading even under similar conditions, and the updated version is currently in testing."
Ultimately though, for a game of this scale, it running as well as it does on Switch 2 is undoubtedly very impressive. And if it weren't for the weird alternate subscription shenanigans, it would be the absolute best way to play in my eyes.
