Patch cycles are longer than ever. Can we finally get a clear answer about the release schedule?
After watching the Tokyo Fan Festival keynote, one of my biggest concerns remains completely unaddressed: the increasingly long delays between major patches and expansions.
Let's look at the actual numbers.
Average time between major patches (x.0 to x.5, excluding minor patches):
- ARR: 102 days (14.6 weeks)
- Heavensward: 115 days (16.4 weeks)
- Stormblood: 113 days (16.2 weeks)
- Shadowbringers: 130 days (18.6 weeks), or 119 days (17 weeks) if we exclude the exceptional COVID-related delay.
- Endwalker: 133 days (19 weeks)
- Dawntrail: 133 days (19 weeks)
Dawntrail has had exactly 19 weeks between every single major patch. What used to be around 16–17 weeks has now become 19 weeks, consistently.
And the delays between the final major patch and the next expansion are even more concerning:
- 4.5 → 5.0: 175 days
- 5.5 → 6.0: 238 days
- 6.5 → 7.0: 273 days
- 7.5 → 8.0: 301 days
That's almost TEN MONTHS between the last major patch of Dawntrail and Evercold. From the release of Dawntrail to Evercold, we're looking at 966 days, or over two years and seven months. The longest expansion cycle in FFXIV's history.
At the North American Fan Festival, Yoshi-P acknowledged that patch cycles had become longer and mentioned that the team wanted to try reducing those delays.
I was genuinely happy to hear that.
But since that brief statement, we've received no concrete information about how they intend to achieve it. Nothing at the Tokyo keynote about a shorter patch schedule, no target, no roadmap, no indication of whether the 8.x series will be any different.
Evercold was originally announced for January 2027 and has now been pushed back to February 23. I understand that development takes time, and honestly, taking three additional weeks to properly finish an expansion is perfectly reasonable.
What concerns me is not those three weeks. It's the increasingly long release cycles becoming the new normal since the pandemic, with no clear indication that this trend will ever be reversed.
During the NA Fan Festival, Square Enix's CEO publicly promised to give Yoshi-P and his team all the support they need.
So what does that actually mean?
Was it simply a reassuring statement for the audience, or can we expect Square Enix to genuinely reinvest in FFXIV's development resources to help shorten these cycles?
I'm not asking developers to work unreasonable hours or sacrifice their well-being. Quite the opposite. If the team needs additional staff, better resources, or organizational changes to deliver content more regularly, then Square Enix should be investing in those solutions.
FFXIV is a subscription-based MMORPG. Players are paying every month, and I find the continued lack of transparency about future release schedules increasingly disrespectful to those who have supported the game for years.
We hear a lot about respecting players' time, especially with Evercold's new systems. But respecting our time should also mean providing a reasonable and predictable content release schedule.
I'm not asking for exact release dates years in advance. I understand that schedules can change. But surely the development team can communicate a clear target.
Are we aiming to return to 16–17-week patch cycles? Are two-year expansion cycles still a goal? Or should we simply accept 19-week patches and nearly three-year expansion cycles as the permanent standard going forward?
I love FFXIV, and I genuinely want to be excited for Evercold. But after Dawntrail, its long periods between updates, and the increasingly short lifespan of some of its content, I find it difficult to remain optimistic without answers to these questions.
The NA Fan Festival gave me some hope when Yoshi-P mentioned shortening patch cycles. The silence since then has been disappointing.
A clear, honest response from the development team about their plans for the 8.x patch schedule would go a long way toward restoring my confidence in the game's future.
Continue reading...
After watching the Tokyo Fan Festival keynote, one of my biggest concerns remains completely unaddressed: the increasingly long delays between major patches and expansions.
Let's look at the actual numbers.
Average time between major patches (x.0 to x.5, excluding minor patches):
- ARR: 102 days (14.6 weeks)
- Heavensward: 115 days (16.4 weeks)
- Stormblood: 113 days (16.2 weeks)
- Shadowbringers: 130 days (18.6 weeks), or 119 days (17 weeks) if we exclude the exceptional COVID-related delay.
- Endwalker: 133 days (19 weeks)
- Dawntrail: 133 days (19 weeks)
Dawntrail has had exactly 19 weeks between every single major patch. What used to be around 16–17 weeks has now become 19 weeks, consistently.
And the delays between the final major patch and the next expansion are even more concerning:
- 4.5 → 5.0: 175 days
- 5.5 → 6.0: 238 days
- 6.5 → 7.0: 273 days
- 7.5 → 8.0: 301 days
That's almost TEN MONTHS between the last major patch of Dawntrail and Evercold. From the release of Dawntrail to Evercold, we're looking at 966 days, or over two years and seven months. The longest expansion cycle in FFXIV's history.
At the North American Fan Festival, Yoshi-P acknowledged that patch cycles had become longer and mentioned that the team wanted to try reducing those delays.
I was genuinely happy to hear that.
But since that brief statement, we've received no concrete information about how they intend to achieve it. Nothing at the Tokyo keynote about a shorter patch schedule, no target, no roadmap, no indication of whether the 8.x series will be any different.
Evercold was originally announced for January 2027 and has now been pushed back to February 23. I understand that development takes time, and honestly, taking three additional weeks to properly finish an expansion is perfectly reasonable.
What concerns me is not those three weeks. It's the increasingly long release cycles becoming the new normal since the pandemic, with no clear indication that this trend will ever be reversed.
During the NA Fan Festival, Square Enix's CEO publicly promised to give Yoshi-P and his team all the support they need.
So what does that actually mean?
Was it simply a reassuring statement for the audience, or can we expect Square Enix to genuinely reinvest in FFXIV's development resources to help shorten these cycles?
I'm not asking developers to work unreasonable hours or sacrifice their well-being. Quite the opposite. If the team needs additional staff, better resources, or organizational changes to deliver content more regularly, then Square Enix should be investing in those solutions.
FFXIV is a subscription-based MMORPG. Players are paying every month, and I find the continued lack of transparency about future release schedules increasingly disrespectful to those who have supported the game for years.
We hear a lot about respecting players' time, especially with Evercold's new systems. But respecting our time should also mean providing a reasonable and predictable content release schedule.
I'm not asking for exact release dates years in advance. I understand that schedules can change. But surely the development team can communicate a clear target.
Are we aiming to return to 16–17-week patch cycles? Are two-year expansion cycles still a goal? Or should we simply accept 19-week patches and nearly three-year expansion cycles as the permanent standard going forward?
I love FFXIV, and I genuinely want to be excited for Evercold. But after Dawntrail, its long periods between updates, and the increasingly short lifespan of some of its content, I find it difficult to remain optimistic without answers to these questions.
The NA Fan Festival gave me some hope when Yoshi-P mentioned shortening patch cycles. The silence since then has been disappointing.
A clear, honest response from the development team about their plans for the 8.x patch schedule would go a long way toward restoring my confidence in the game's future.
Continue reading...