The North American Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival was expected to take place this November, but Square Enix cancelled the event due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns.
The announcement comes from the Letter from the Producer LXIII in which Naoki Yoshida explained the situation. The Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival was originally scheduled for November 6-7, 2020 but it will no longer take place. After plenty of deliberation, Yoshi-P and the devs decided to cancel the event.
While the team did work on various arrangements to adapt to the pandemic, they ultimately felt that they could not guarantee the health and safety of the attendees, performers, or company staff members who’d be present at the event. The producer & director offered his since apologies on behalf of the team, to all of those who were looking forward to the festivities.
That said, despite the San Diego event for this November being cancelled, Square Enix hasn’t given up on the next Fan Festival in North America. While nothing is set in stone, for the time being, plans are already in motion as the team examines possible dates, cities, and venues for a festival sometime in the first half of 2021.
As for the other festivals, there’s the Fan Festival for Japan that is scheduled for December 2020 and the European Fan Festival for February 2021. Preparations for those two Fan Festivals are still underway while Square Enix monitors the state of the coronavirus pandemic and expect to proceed with the events as the situation dictates.
Lastly, Naoki Yoshida touched up a bit on the next major update for Final Fantasy XIV. With the team working from home, Yoshi-P says the development production is at about 85-90% capability. That said, things are still getting set up for the new work environment, but Yoshida will have a better idea soon when he conducts a “Producer/Direct check” next week. During this time, he’ll begin a thorough playthrough of the main scenario and other content.
The Patch 5.3 was expected to release on June 16, 2020 but this has been delayed by more than a month at the very least. Square Enix will announce a new release date in the near future.
Final Fantasy XIVÂ is available for the PlayStation 4 and PC. In case you missed it, check out the RZ-140Â Final Fantasy XIVÂ Edition collaboration gaming chair by DXRacer in our previous report.
