Earlier this year, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy 14 had become the most profitable Final Fantasy game ever, pulling off one of the most incredible recovery stories you’ll ever see for a game. It seems, however, that the game has only gone from strength to strength- which, of course, doesn’t come as a surprise.
Prior to Endwalker’s launch, producer and director Naoki Yoshida explained that due to the global semiconductor shortage, Square Enix had been unable to purchase new servers for the game. Server congestions were, as such, expected, and upon launch, Square Enix went on to apologize to players and offer free game time on account of the long queue times to get into the MMORPG.
Now, however, things have gone to a whole another level.
In a recently published update, Yoshida explained that server congestions have gotten so out of hand, that all new sales of Final Fantasy 14 are being temporarily suspended while Square Enix deals with the current situation. This includes all physical purchases, all digital purchases, and even free trials for new players.
“Players are currently experiencing extremely long wait times due to the dense concentration of play hours which far exceed our server capacity, especially during the peak times, and so we have decided to temporarily suspend the sale and delivery of Final Fantasy 14 Starter Edition and Complete Edition,” Yoshida writes. “Additionally, although those with an active subscription are prioritized to log in, Free Trial players are unable to log in outside of late night and early morning hours, and so we will also temporarily suspend new registrations for the Free Trial.
“These temporary suspensions will be phased in over the next few days as we work with our retail partners. We will be coordinating with them as swiftly as possible, but please bear in mind that this will be a gradual process.”
What’s more, Square Enix is even suspending all advertisements for the game- which makes sense, because for the foreseeable future, you’re not going to be able to purchase it. Yoshida writes: “We will also be suspending all new advertisements. However, it will not be possible to suspend some of the advertisements due to the nature of how they were set up. We appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter.”
That said, existing players will still be able to digitally upgrade to the Collector’s Edition and purchase expansions.
“To those who have been invited by their friends and family who have been considering joining, as well as our retail partners, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and ask for your understanding and cooperation in order to reduce congestion,” Yoshida writes. “We will continue to monitor the situation as we consider the timing around resuming sales.”
Too much success is obviously an excellent problem to have for Square Enix, but even so, they’ll be hoping to sort things out as quickly as they can. Interestingly enough though, this isn’t the first time something along these lines has happened. Earlier this year, Final Fantasy 14 was selling so well that it sold out even digitally, with servers being congested even around that time.
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