Those looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker may have to wait a little longer. That’s because Square Enix has delayed the release of the new expansion to December 7, and for a good reason.
Endwalker is the fourth expansion of the game. Production had actually been delayed due to the pandemic. Still, the planned changes and new content were something that the community was excited to experience. Originally, it was supposed to be released on November 23.
Anyway, so why the change? In a post, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida revealed that while it was clear this upcoming expansion was indeed a huge undertaking, they went on with development and the plan to make it in time for the original release date. He shared that as he played through everything, he wasn’t able to contain his “desire to further improve Endwalker’s quality.”
He added that the whole team was resolved to make the necessary adjustments, even to the smallest nuances, to make sure that the writing could cover the finest points of the story which has spanned for more than a decade. Because of this, Yoshida said that it resulted in a situation where they “cut into the time required for final quality assurance checks due to this time spent on additional improvements.”
This meant that there was a risk that they would reach the release date without ensuring the “stability” of the game. Yoshida said that this was the reason he made the decision to postpone the release.
Considering that this is a two-week delay, it really doesn’t make that much difference when you think about it. That hasn’t stopped Yoshida from apologizing and stating he had “never postponed a previously announced release date.” He continued that he was even torn between cutting down the volume or releasing the content in installments just to make it in time since players had already made arrangements. He even went as far as saying that it was his “selfishness” that resulted in the delay. He later asked forgiveness for it.
The delay was revealed during a stream, and you can watch part of the actual announcement below:
With the delay, the new schedule is listed below:
- Official Release: December 7, 2021
- Start of Early Access: December 3, 2021
- Patch 6.01 Scheduled Release: December 21, 2021
- Patch 6.05 Scheduled Release: January 4, 2022
What are your thoughts on this delay?
Final Fantasy XIV is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
