Players trying to log into Final Fantasy 14 since the release of the expansion have been dealing with extreme queues and wait times, keeping a lot of paying customers from being able to access the content. In order to decrease wait times and the burden on the servers, Square Enix has pulled the plug on not just free trials, but also paid versions of the game.
Basically, if you want to jump into FF14 now, you’re out of luck - pre-existing paid players are getting the chance to actually experience the new content and play the MMO first before the developers are letting in new people. It’s a fairly unprecedented measure - except it’s been done before. Sure, the first time it happened because the game was rebuilt and relaunched, turning from one of the biggest AAA MMO disasters into a genre leader and potential WoW killer, but still. Also, this whole suspension of sales comes with a lot of fine print, so things aren’t quite as dire as it may seem. This suspension only applies to digital versions - Square Enix can’t really force physical stores to pull the product everywhere - and is being rolled out step by step, meaning the game actually is still available on most platforms and stores. Additionally, while new free trial accounts cannot be registered, existing free trial accounts can still access the game - though only at limited times, with play restricted to late in the evening and early morning. Existing accounts can still purchase upgrades to grant them access to the benefits of paid or more expensive versions of the game too, so in reality ‘suspending sales’ actually just comes down to ’limiting the influx of new players’. Interestingly, Square Enix is also dialing back marketing, presumably also to stem the tide of new players overloading game servers. Due to the way advertising deals and marketing plans are set up, complete cessation of marketing is basically impossible, but they’re cutting things back as much as possible. The overall server issues can, like so many problems currently affecting the gaming and tech industries, be linked to the global semiconductor shortage. Since hardware is unusually difficult to acquire, Square Enix is having trouble with upgrading its server capacity, since any upgrade that would make any meaningful and noticeable dent in the absolute flood of players wanting to play FF14 would requite a lot of hardware. You know how hard it is to get one GPU these days, right? Try pulling up a whole new server park. With millions of players assaulting the servers all the time, trying to get a chance to try out the new Endwalker content, it’s understandable that the developers had to turn to such seemingly extreme methods. Though fairly popular ever since its 2013 relaunch, Final Fantasy XIV has been really soaring for this past year or so. Its ever increasing player base has been attributed to positive reception of recent expansions, coupled with the decline of competing games, mainly World of Warcraft. Following a number of poorly received updates and the introduction of contentious monetization options and business practices, WoW has been bleeding subscribers with “refugees” jumping over to FF14, including popular and high-profile content creators. The recent controversy surrounding the Activision-Blizzard sexual harassment lawsuit has also resulted in boycotts, driving more players to FF14. It isn’t clear how long Square Enix will keep these new player-limiting measures in place, but existing paid players can know that they1ll have significant log-in priority for a while at least.
