No New Final Fantasy XIV Expansion in 2023?

No new FFXIV Expansion? But what if? Find out all the details here!

Welcome! It is once again the season of local video game writers trying to make sense of briefings meant for investors who really don't know what the company is selling. And this is also not the full report, this is just the business year until now, as the business year for Square Enix usually ends in March.

The Square Enix Financial Briefing

So we can take a few things from the report so far. That sales of HD games have been down compared to last year, as there was a lack of big AAA titles from the publisher. This will however be remedied with the release of Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and the potential release/announcement of Dragon Quest XII.

And Square Enix can still look forward to two big titles buffing their numbers. While Forspoken released to middling reviews (read ours here) and matching sales, Octopath Traveler II looks like it delivered on everything fans of the first one hoped for. But it doesn't look like Square Enix will be able to reach the same level of success they had last year.

So what about that Final Fantasy XIV Expansion?

But there was something that tripped many people up here, the financial report mentions that Square Enix's two big MMORPGs Dragon Quest X (A Japanese Exclusive) and Final Fantasy XIV have no new expansions planned and would focus on retaining users through a variety of operational initiatives, so they'll still receive regular patch content.

This stirred a bit of a discussion that Final Fantasy XIV wouldn't get a new expansion for quite some time. It's already been over a year since its last major expansion pack, Endwalker released and with the recent 6.3 patch players have been wondering what to look forward to.

As of now, there is no information on what the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion will look like when it's gonna be released. The reason it's worded like this in the financial report is because of Final Fantasy XIVs Endwalker Expansion and the massive increase in players that preceded and proceeded with its release made a notable bump in sales.

And now that the Endwalker patch content is starting to reach the ‘End of Expansion lull' with the last set of raids releasing in the next 3-4 months. It is traditionally the phase when subscription numbers drop, as many players usually return to the game a month or so before the next Expansion drops.

Final Fantasy XIV 7.0 Release Date and When to Expect New Details

If you want to know when the newest Final Fantasy XIV expansion launches, you'll have to keep an eye on the Square Enix-organized conventions known as the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fests. These usually happen every two years in the lead-up to the new expansion.

Thanks to the pandemic, not only was Endwalker delayed by almost 6 months and then an additional 2 weeks. But the Fan Fest was also rolled up in a streamed mega event.

Now we're back on schedule. The first Fan Fest 2023 is set for July 28 and July 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada (you can get tickets here). Traditionally, the Fan Fest opens with a Letter from the Producer Live and starts with the teaser version of the new CGI trailer as well some general information on the new expansion.

The European Fan Fest is on October 21 and October 22 in London UK, with another presentation by director and producer Naoki Yoshida introducing the new jobs and new features.

And the final Fan Fest is currently scheduled for January 7 and January 8 in Tokyo, Japan in the Tokyo Dome. Here we'll get the full version of the CGI trailer as well as a release date and further information about the next expansion.

With the currently laid-out patch schedule, we can even make an educated guess about when the next expansion released. On the current 4-month rotation, we can expect patch 6.4 to release sometime in May of 2023, and patch 6.5 which is traditionally split into two parts will probably land in October/November 2023 and January/February 2024.

Everything we know about Final Fantasy XIV 7.0 So Far

But wait! There is more! We can even tell you some things you can expect in the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion. At the start of 2022, Naoki Yoshida gave a detailed presentation of their plans for the critically acclaimed MMORPG going forward. One of the big ones was future proofing old content, something the team has slowly rolled out over the past year.

The team has also started to experiment with a full-scale graphical overhaul that will be rolled out throughout the 7.0 patch cycle. We don't know the exact scope of it, but new shaders, textures, and an increase of detail in the environment as well as other smaller technical things are all planned.

Just keep in mind that despite being available on the PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy XIV will not yet end its lifecycle on the PlayStation 4 according to Yoshida. But that might change now that the PlayStation 5 is widely available again and we still have another year to go till the new expansion is released.

But Naoki Yoshida said last year that it was important to not increase hardware demands too much, so they wouldn't disgruntle people of their player base. So expect some more under-the-hood improvements as well as some optimization efforts instead of a full-scale overhaul with 8K textures. The team also wants to make sure that the art direction stays consistent.

And then you can expect the usual, a brand new main scenario that could lead us potentially anywhere at this point. With a bunch of new zones, new jobs to play, new side quests and raids, and a new level cap at 100. We'll of course keep you updated as soon as there is any more information available.

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