The image is called "FxIVPUBDIGITALFANFESTIVAL202132.0."
The latest expansion pack for Final Fantasy XIV was launched this month.
The image is from Square Enix.
The server congestion that has been afflicting the game since the release of its Endwalker expansion has led to the temporary halt of sales of the Starter and Complete editions. Naoki Yoshida, the game's producer and director, wrote in a post that the company is suspending the physical version of the game, as well as the free trial, because of financial issues.
Endwalker was released in early access on December 3rd and then an official release days later on December 7th. The game has a limited server capacity that has made it hard for players to log into the game. The game's server appeared to collapse under the load last night.
We wanted to share an update from Naoki Yoshida on the ongoing congestion, additional game time compensation, suspension of sales, error codes, and our upcoming plans.
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Final Fantasy XIV is on December 16, 2021.
The sales suspension will be phased in over the next few days and will apologize to potential customers who are losing out, as well as the company's retail partners. Expansion packs and Collector's Edition digital upgrades will still be available for existing players, even though new ads are being stopped.
In normal times, a company like Square Enix would invest in new server to fix capacity issues. The global chip shortage has made it difficult for Square Enix to buy new server hardware. The company is starting to see some progress as it builds out its server capacity and hopes to provide a roadmap by January 2022, according to Yoshida.
The action taken in July this year followed a similar increase in new players, IGN reported at the time. It is not known if physical sales were also affected.
The server capacity issues and the Error 2002 bug are both listed in a post by Yoshida. The patch to address this bug is due for release on December 21st.
Square Enix has a lot of work to do if it wants to solve its problems before players drift away. The company is giving all players who own the full game and have an active subscription an additional 14 days of free playtime. This is in addition to the seven days granted earlier this month.
