Square Enix has taken Final Fantasy XIV servers offline in order to implement a hotfix for the Xbox Series X/S version of the game. Details of the hotfix will be released after the downtime, but for now, players will be unable to get into the game.

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The game will be down for maintenance for a 4-hour emergency hotfix, which suggests that Square Enix is trying to fix a pretty severe issue. The data center and Mog Stations were turned off 30 minutes before the maintenance to ensure everyone got out of the game in time. The downtime starts on July 6, 2024, at 4:30 AM PT and will last until 8:30 AM PT the same day. Of course, if the developer isn’t able to implement the hotfix quickly or encounters another issue, it could last longer.

More information on the emergency hotfix to come later

Screenshot via Final Fantasy XIV YouTube

Square Enix announced the emergency downtime and hotfix for Final Fantasy XIV out of the blue on the same day the maintenance was due to take place. The fact that it happened over a Saturday morning in the UK suggests that it really wasn’t something that could wait, given that this is when many young professionals carve out time in their week to sit down and play their favorite video games.

We will be carrying out a maintenance in order to implement a hotfix for the Xbox Series X|S version of #FFXIV. We apologize for the inconvenience.

We will provide more details on the Xbox Series X|S fixes at a later time. https://t.co/YqLrnfiPZr

— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) July 6, 2024

The exact reason for this maintenance hasn’t been disclosed at the time of writing. Square Enix wanted to fix the error and then explain what it did. It makes much more sense than explaining the error and watching it cause havoc while waiting for future downtime to fix it.

As you can imagine, players are less than thrilled about the emergency maintenance. Those in the US don’t mind too much because the downtime is so early in their day. For us in the UK and Europe, this is prime time for sitting down and playing something after getting up on a lazy Saturday morning.

Luna Celestia pressed their frustration in the replies on Twitter. “On JP/OCE peak hours? Can’t you guys move it 3-4 hours later so NA isn’t peak, EU isn’t peak, and JP/OCE is asleep? Everyone happy.” User Sharkz’s comment cuts a little deeper, though. “Xbox limitations holding us back.”

While it’s easy to say that one platform holding everybody back feels unfair, players cannot understand the intricacies of how this game’s servers work. Most MMOs throw up errors when users run outdated versions of the game, which is why every version must run with the same updates installed.

Earlier in 2024, Digital Extremes announced that the mobile version of Warframe wouldn’t have crossplay enabled because of a certification issue that meant it would need to remain outdated for a time. For Square Enix, it’s possible to fix this with a 4-hour period of maintenance, which seems like a better deal for the entire community.

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