MMO RPGs have gained massive followings over the years, such as World of Warcraft, but it seems nothing has seen the level of engagement quite like Square Enix's current run with Final Fantasy 14. Following the game's Endwalker expansion release, Final Fantasy 14's servers overloaded with people for weeks prompting Square Enix to do the unprecedented and pause game sales until things calmed down. Now, the popular MMO is coming back on sale at the end of the month following its pause of nearly two months of game sales.
In an update post on the game's website, game director Naoki Yoshida made the announcement that Final Fantasy 14 was resuming digital sales. Yoshida says that this decision has come "after due consideration" on the matter and that Square Enix has concluded that it would be safe for the servers to resume sales. Hopefully, this means that players waiting in server queues will be able to get in for some playtime a little quicker now.
However, one of the big reasons Final Fantasy 14 is resuming sales is because Square Enix has opened up a new Oceanian Data Center, adding five new worlds, thus allowing more than enough room for players in Oceania to migrate over. Digital sales plan to resume on January 25 and will coincide with the launch of the new data center. According to Yoshida, this data center will help many players who have struggled with network latency in the past, and Square Enix is even offering incentives for those wishing to make the jump to the new center, such as waiving transfer fees.
Coming January 26, players will also be able to resume transfer to different worlds via Final Fantasy 14's Home World Transfer service. Taking place the day after the Oceanian Data Center is launched will ensure a "smooth and stable launch," and allow all players to make the jump to wherever they want, with exceptions for transfers to congested worlds. Square Enix is also planning to expand data centers in Japanese, European, and North American territories. Japan will receive the first new data center in July 2022, increasing the game's capacity by 50,000 players, with the other mentioned territories following soon after.
Yoshida has also claimed that the game's servers should return to normal levels but will not rule out further suspensions if the case were to arise. It seems Square Enix has really jumped on combating this extreme server congestion for Final Fantasy 14, and it will be interesting to see how these new data centers stack up to the onslaught of new and upcoming players.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PS4, PS5, and PC.
Source: Final Fantasy XIV
