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Final Fantasy XIV Game Suspends Shipments, Digital Sales, Free Trial Due to Congestion

The official website for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV MMORPG announced on Thursday that Square Enix is temporarily halting delivery of physical copies of the game, temporarily halting sales of digital copies, and temporarily suspending new registrations for the game's free trial version due to an ongoing server congestion that has seen long queues for logging into the game.

Square Enix is also halting all new advertisements for the game, although it noted that "it will not be possible" to suspend some ongoing advertising campaigns.

Players who own the game will still be able to purchase expansion packs and digital collector's edition upgrade packs for their copy of the game.

The game recently recorded 25 million registered accounts worldwide earlier this month, and the game's "Endwalker" expansion also recently debuted on December 7.

Square Enix released Final Fantasy XIV Online for personal computers in September 2010. After criticism from fans, the company revealed an updated version of the game titled Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn that added a new world and story. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launched on Windows PC and PS3 in August 2013, and then on PS4 in April 2014. The game's companion app for iOS and Android launched in August 2019.

Square Enix released the first expansion for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, titled "Heavensward," in June 2015. The second expansion, "Stormblood," launched in June 2017. The third expansion, "Shadowbringers," launched in July 2019. The game launched for PlayStation 5 on May 25.

The Final Fantasy XIV Dad of Light live-action television miniseries debuted on Netflix in the United States in September 2017. The original source material also inspired a live-action film remake with a new cast that opened in June 2019. The game is also inspiring a live-action series at Sony Pictures Television and Hivemind.

Source: Final Fantasy XIV's website