Final Fantasy 14 came out over a decade ago and has been running on PlayStation 4 since soon after it launched. Sony’s last-gen hardware won’t be able to support Square Enix’s MMORPG forever, though, and director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida recently explained why.
“My basic stance is that I do want to continue supporting hardware which has grown old,” he said in an interview with Feed4Gamers (via TweakTown). “But I do have one concern, and that’s regarding the OS of the PlayStation 4, and this is regarding the hardware regulations which were made by Sony. These regulations are related to the limit of the data, and because there’s that limit of the data, well, we are continually incorporating updates for Final Fantasy 14 and we are now approaching that limit.”
He continued:
And so for this limit that’s in place, we have been asking Sony Interactive Entertainment from our side to increase that just for Final Fantasy 14, and they have kindly been doing that so far. But they’ve told us now that they are also reaching their limits. So I will repeat myself: I do want to provide support for platforms as long as possible. However, there will eventually come a time when the hardware is at its limits in terms of its technology, and at that point in time we would have to provide an end to the service on that hardware. But I will be sure to provide clear reasoning for that decision when I communicate it to the players.
According to Yoshida, Sony’s already been making exceptions to its standard developer rules in order to accommodate new content for FF14. The game has received several major updates since last year’s Dawntrail expansion, including this month’s patch 7.3, The Promise of Tomorrow. It’s unclear just how much wiggle room is still left for further upgrades and content drops.
When is Final Fantasy 14‘s next expansion coming?
Square Enix has been cagey on the timing of its next expansion, with speculation from some fans that it could arrive as late as spring 2027. Yoshida teased that there will at least be an update on the date for FF14 Fan Fest 2026 on the 10-year anniversary of A Realm Reborn this week.
Other big multiplayer games like PUBG and Genshin Impact are both dropping support for last-gen consoles in the coming months. While Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is still coming to PS4 and Xbox One this fall, other big annual franchises like MLB: The Show and Madden NFL have all ditched the aging hardware. Considering we’re nearly five years into the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S lifecycles, the only surprising thing is that these moves didn’t come sooner.
Originally released on the PS3 in 2013, FF14 left that console behind at the time of the Stormblood expansion in 2017, a departure for which Square Enix provided eight months of notice. My guess is that update 8.0, whenever it arrives, might similarly mark the end of the MMORPG’s journey on PS4. And by that point, PS6 will probably be just around the corner.
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