Letter from the Producer, VI (03/16/2011)

As you may have heard, northeastern Japan was recently struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to all affected by this great tragedy.

To do our part in the electricity conservation effort, we have temporarily taken our game servers offline. I apologize deeply for the inconvenience this causes all of you, and ask for your patience and understanding.

I would also like to thank all of the players who have offered words of support and sympathy on the FFXIV forums. I made a brief post myself, but would like to take this opportunity to do so formally and report on the current state of the development team.

Tokyo, where our development and operation teams are based, has suffered minimal damage from the earthquake and its after effects. We have confirmed the safety of all our team members, but there are those with family in the affected regions. Due to this, the concerns of the nuclear plants, and the ongoing aftershocks, we are not at our best.

The planned blackouts in the Kanto region have disrupted public transportation, preventing many from even making it to work. In addition, our French and German localization staff have left Tokyo at the urging of their respective embassies. For these reasons, and to allow our staff to focus on their safety and that of their families, I have decided to make adjustments to the development schedule.

We were working to release patches 1.16a and 1.17 by the end of March, but now anticipate a delay of one to two weeks. During this time, we will not only be making minor improvements, but also directing our efforts on laying the groundwork for future content.

I had intended to announce this in a future letter, but we will release information regarding the Grand Companies of Eorzea (what were referred to as “public companies” in previous posts) just before patch 1.17 goes live. We are currently readying a page dedicated to this exciting new feature, and hope to have it up on the Lodestone shortly.

Despite current conditions, we are doing all we can to release the patches and get you adventuring again as quickly as possible.

Talk to you again soon!

FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida