Final Fantasy XIV director apologises for server congestion due to “staggering and unexpected” player growth

Final Fantasy XIV director apologises for server congestion due to “staggering and unexpected” player growth
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

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Final Fantasy XIV Online‘s producer and director Naoki Yoshida has issued an apology to players unable to get into the MMO thanks to difficulties with server congestion.

In the open letter, Yoshida explained that the game is “currently experiencing a dramatic increase in its player base.” In particular, he says, the increase in North American and EU-region players specifically over the last two weeks has been “so staggering and unexpected that many players are now having difficulty logging in or creating new characters due to server congestion.”

To try and get more people into the game, the team at Square Enix has been able to upgrade the server hardware to allow an extra 18,000 players. Though a similar upgrade is apparently scheduled for the EU servers, it is yet to go ahead. “That said, the team is currently working hard to optimize existing servers in an attempt to increase the caps, if by a smaller amount, and will endeavour to make continued adjustments and improvements while maintaining game stability.”

Of course, the ongoing global pandemic has been a big factor, with the global semiconductor shortage a travel restrictions other big reasons they’ve not been able to put up new servers. However, the game will be bringing forward an auto-logout feature originally planned for the upcoming Endwalker expansion, where idle players will be kicked after a certain amount of time. In the meantime, the team ask that players log out of their characters when idle, and avoid creating new characters during peak congestion times.

Yoshida added: “As producer, the responsibility for being unable to predict the current influx of new players falls to me. The days before an expansion’s launch are supposed to be ones of excitement, but instead they’ve brought many players grief, and for that I, personally, am extremely sorry.” He concluded: “We are aware of the burden we have placed on our player base, and are working diligently to lighten it in the coming weeks and months. We will continue to develop measures to combat server congestion, and will keep you up to date with any and all developments in this area.”

Speaking of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, the upcoming expansion is currently scheduled for a November 23 release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC.