Back in February 2022, Square Enix announced that all people who play Final Fantasy XIV via Steam would need to link to a Square Enix account for security purposes. Now that the process is going through, a problem came up. Some people found they couldn’t launch the game. However, Square Enix now has a workaround for the FFXIV Steam error that involves people’s profile names. (Update: Square Enix fixed the issue on March 9, 2022.)
The FFXIV Steam error first came up on March 8, 2022. While some people had no problem logging in, then linking, others reported they couldn’t start the game. Initially, the company couldn’t discern the issue. However, it later noted that changing a Steam profile name to one that only uses letters of the alphabet would fix the issue.
Square Enix noted that this is a “temporary” way to get around the FFXIV Steam error. It also didn’t mention if people could change their profile name back to what it was before after launching the game, getting in, and linking to a Square Enix account. As such, until an additional hotfix patch is released, it could be best to stick with an alphabetical Steam profile name.
As a reminder, this change means that people with Steam copies of the game will always need to play and log in via the client. Only the Original Launcher layout can be used from here on out as well.
Final Fantasy XIV is available for the PS4, PS5, and PC.
