The Final Fantasy XIV team at Square Enix has altered its update plans for this summer, namely pushing back the planned mid-June patch to a yet-undetermined date.
As with many other recent game and update delays, the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame. In Square Enix’s case, FFXIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida says complications from different situations in multiple countries have had a sizable impact on its plans for future updates to the MMORPG.
Lockdowns in East Asia, North America, and Europe, for example, have delayed the delivery of assets needed to finish the update, European lockdowns have complicated delivery of necessary voice actor work, and work-from-home limitations in Japan have slowed down day-to-day QA, production, and other development efforts.
“FFXIV relies heavily on our development and QA partners across the world, and at this point, we must accept that the situation will significantly impact our development schedule,” reads the post from Yoshida.
Yoshida notes that maintaining an online game while managing a suddenly remote team is a complicated process, and may lead to difficulty with bug fixes or maintenance down the line. A cadence for future updates is also a little difficult to predict at the moment so the current delay could range anywhere from weeks to a month.
“Finally–though this may seem somewhat superfluous–I’d like you to know that myself, the development team, and the production team are all doing fine at present. We’re currently testing remote work environments and applications so that we can resume patch development on all fronts.”
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2020