The game will now enter early access on December 3rd, with the public release set for December 7th.
The highly anticipated expansion to Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV), titled Endwalker, will be delayed by two weeks, according to game producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida. Accompanied by global community producer Toshio Murouchi and live interpreter Aimi Tokutake, Yoshida personally announced the unfortunate news live in the latest Letter from the Producer. Publisher Square Enix also posted the news simultaneously on the official FFXIV website.
Yoshida has henceforth officially set the new release date on December 7th — exactly 14 days later than the original date of November 23rd. The producer himself cited general quality assurance as the reason for the delay, though he did not go into much detail about it in the presentation.
The Source Keeps on Turning
Regardless of the delay, however, Yoshida soldiered on with the rest of the presentation, revealing the rest of the changes to the release schedule. Early access will now open on December 3rd, which coincides with the release of Patch 6.0. Those that preorder Endwalker prior to this date will be able to play then. Four days later, the game will officially release to the public.
On December 7th, meanwhile, FFXIV Endwalker will see the release of a brand new raid, titled Pandaemonium — albeit only the normal versions of the first four bosses (known as the first "raid tier" of the expansion). The Savage versions will come out two weeks after, on December 21st, alongside Patch 6.05.
The producer also revealed a brand new trailer showing glimpses of the upcoming main scenario quest (MSQ) cutscenes, and a bit of gameplay featuring the two new jobs Sage and Reaper.
Endwalker is the final chapter of the current Final Fantasy XIV story arc, which focuses on the conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark, the two patron deities of the world the game takes place in. It will bring a glut of brand new story content, which will wrap up the current arc. This comes some months after the eighth anniversary of the game's revival, which came in August 2013 in the form of A Realm Reborn.