Square Enix temporarily suspends sale of Final Fantasy XIV due to overloaded servers

Square Enix will temporarily stop selling mmorpg Final Fantasy XIV because the servers can’t handle the number of players. Since the release of the Endwalker expansion about two weeks ago, the popularity of the game has soared.

“Players are currently experiencing extremely long wait times due to the high concentration of playing hours that far exceeds our server capacity, especially during peak times,” writes producer and director Naoki Yoshida.

Yosihda reports that Square Enix is ​​working with download stores and retailers to temporarily pause sales of Final Fantasy 14. At the time of writing, the game is still for sale on Steam, but the game has disappeared from the PlayStation Store and buyers are referred to a waiting list on the publisher’s website. It is unknown how long the sales freeze will last.

It is also no longer possible to register for a free trial version and users of that version now have less priority in the queues. Furthermore, Square Enix says it will stop advertising the Endwalker expansion whenever possible. The publisher does not say anything about expanding the server capacity.

Endwalker came out in Early Access about two weeks ago, and Final Fantasy 14 players have been dealing with long waits ever since. The publisher previously apologized for this and gave paying players seven free days of playtime. That compensation is now being extended to an additional 14 days, giving players a total of three weeks of free play. The compensation applies to all players who have the full version of the game with an active subscription on December 21.