[Display] Ultrawide Support for Cutscenes

Hello Square Enix,

Today, I would like to contact you to submit another suggestion regarding the many players who use ultrawide monitors (21:9 or wider).

Indeed, it seems that even in 2026, we still cannot enjoy cutscenes rendered with the game engine in a format matching our screens.
As a result, we are forced to deal with large black bars on the left and right sides of our displays.

https://i.ibb.co/1fQNdxXn/ffxiv-dx11...-46-14-456.jpg

Since gameplay already fully supports 21:9+ resolutions, it would make sense to also update the cutscenes, at least for the release of the highly anticipated 8.0 Evercold expansion.
This would allow us to immerse ourselves even more deeply in this magnificent adventure.

https://i.ibb.co/fVvjg7Kb/ffxiv-dx11...-42-40-506.jpg

Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion. I hope Square Enix will understand the real value such a feature could bring to the game.

Sincerely,
Your Warrior of Light.

As you might suspect, I wholeheartedly agree with and support this suggestion! I am actually blessed to play the game with a Samsung G9 OLED with a 32:9 aspect ratio, so for any cutscenes, nearly HALF the monitor sits black and it hurts so much.

The only point I would raise as a concern to your precise suggestion is that SE should not be expected to “update” the cutscenes for wider aspect ratios. If they had to do this…

1) It would require them to revisit an incredible amount of legacy MSQ content to modify and optimize them for wider aspect ratios, which would also incur non-trivial amounts of QA time/expense to retest.

2) The cutscenes have been designed for a basic 16:9 (or is it 4:3?) aspect ratio to ensure that all players can enjoy the cutscenes, regardless of their setup. If anything was included specific to the wider aspect ratios, any players without the larger displays would never see it.


I would suggest that the best and simplest way to deliver 99.9% of what we are both seeking is as I framed it in my other nearby thread on the topic: Give players the option to simply remove the black bars — no work needed to update the cutscenes or create cutscenes designed for different aspect ratios, and all cutscenes could continue to be designed wide the original aspect ratio in mind to ensure perfect presentation for every player.