Final Fantasy XIV is finally back on sale. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Endwalker expansion, the game’s servers became overloaded with players. Unfortunately, the global chip shortage prevented Square Enix from providing more servers to offset the influx of players. So, it made the hard decision to suspend sales of the base game to improve the experience for existing players.
When Can You Buy Final Fantasy XIV Again?
Since December 15, only the expansions have been available to buy. Base game sales and the free trial were both suspended, which effectively locked new players out. Even with those measures, congestion persisted until the last couple of weeks. However, FFXIV should be available to purchase on all platforms as of writing.
Fortunately, the Oceania data center has opened up, which adds five more worlds. Presumably, many will migrate to them when the option opens up on January 26. This should mitigate some of the congestion issues that we’ll inevitably see when the first major Endwalker patch, 6.1, releases in a few months.
Unfortunately, the free trial hasn’t opened back up. Square Enix is taking a wait-and-see approach before it decides to allow free players to return. Since queues were trending toward being low even before the addition of the Oceania servers, we’ll see the free trial return shortly.
FFXIV has seen a massive surge in popularity over the last year, and Square Enix has fought to keep up. Unfortunately, AFK timers only helped alleviate the issue, and the digital version of the game already sold out once in 2021 before being pulled after the release of Endwalker.
Opinion: FFXIV shows that high-quality games can charge a recurring fee without using FOMO or grinding.
Jason writes… It’s ironic that people used to complain about monthly subscriptions to MMOs. These days it seems like almost every AAA title has a battle pass, microtransactions, DLC, or season passes. I’d rather spend $15 a month and $40 for an expansion every two years and get a fantastic game that doesn’t nickel and dime me the entire time I’m playing it. Sure FFXIV has some cosmetics you can purchase for real money, but you wouldn’t know if you didn’t click around MogStation a bit. I think part of the current success of FFXIV is that it just asks for one fee. After you pay that, you get a high-quality MMO that adapts itself equally well to solo or party play.
[Source: FFXIV]
