Final Fantasy 14 Is So Popular That Square Enix Has Stopped Selling It

Given Final Fantasy 14's ongoing congestion and login issues, publisher Square Enix has suspended sales of the incredibly popular MMORPG.

Due to Final Fantasy XIV's continued login issues and congestion, publisher Square Enix has temporarily suspended sales of the incredibly popular MMORPG, a move that will be "phased in" throughout the coming days. Following a disastrous 2010 launch on PC, Final Fantasy 14 relaunched in 2013 on PC and PS3, enjoying relatively moderate success in the years since then. During this past summer, FFXIV gained an influx of new players, thanks in large part to World of Warcraft streamers jumping ship and giving the Final Fantasy-branded MMO an honest try.

Such a shift couldn't have come at a better time, considering the rollout of a brand-new expansion, Endwalker, which just went live on December 7. However, the game's growth in popularity encouraged Square Enix to preemptively prepare for player congestion across all available platforms. The Japanese publisher optimized its servers by increasing login caps and prioritized Final Fantasy 14 owners over free trial users. Still, only so much could be done given the ongoing global shortage of semiconductors. It hardly comes as a surprise, then, that despite Square Enix's preemptive measures to mitigate the problem, server connection issues still plague Final Fantasy 14.

In a post on Square Enix's Final Fantasy 14-dedicated webpage, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida announced the publisher will temporarily suspend digital and packaged sales of the hit MMORPG. This decision comes amid ongoing troubles wherein "players are currently experiencing extremely long wait times due to the dense concentration of play hours which far exceed our server capacity," Yoshida divulged. In addition, barring fits of lower congestion during late-night hours, free trial players rarely have the opportunity to login, especially since active subscribers receive login priority. In turn, the publisher has also elected to cease free trial registrations for the time being. Square Enix plans to "phase-in" these suspensions over the coming days, the Producer added before noting some advertisements will take a hiatus, as well.

Yoshida's post doesn't offer insight about how long the suspensions will last. At the very least, Final Fantasy 14 players can rest assured that Patch 6.05 remains on schedule for its previously planned deployment on January 4, 2022. This particular update will unlock the eagerly-anticipated Pandæmonium: Asphodelos (Savage) raid.

While Final Fantasy 14's continued growth in popularity no doubt counts as a boon for Square Enix and its development team, the unceasing server connection woes has limited many a users enjoyment of content new and old. Hopefully, the publisher's efforts in implementing a solution prove successful sometime soon.