2026 FanFests

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Originally Posted by Oizen

You have now realized that we're only half way through Dawntrail.

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Looking at DT launch till today, it's 421 days.

From last Fanfest till release, it changes a lot, so lets go with 5 months from the JP Fanfest, same time frame as last expansion.
That puts us in early April, so lets go with the 6th.

That would be 1008 days. We aren't even halfway if that's the case.

Wait, I forgot. A few months ago, were they not look for a new narrative (MSQ) writer?

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

Allow me to prog my first ultimate for a full year

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I'll join ya. What class do you need?

The dates freak me out a bit, too. I'm really glad a new Pokemon comes out in a couple months, but it looks like 2026 might be a gaming back log year.

That said, the shift from Vegas in felt inevitable after the ADA disaster from last one.

I think it’s best not to dwell on it. Fanfest is just announced, so we can’t confirm when 8.0 will start.

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Originally Posted by RedLolly

That said, the shift from Vegas in felt inevitable after the ADA disaster from last one.

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Anaheim is a great city tho. So I'm sure ppl will enjoy it. ^_^

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Originally Posted by Shinku_Tachi

Anaheim is a great city tho. So I'm sure ppl will enjoy it. ^_^

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That's great news, too. I hope attendees do.

I was kind of hoping we'd finally get an East Coast USA one since I could drive there, oh well.

3rd Fanfest to Heavensward early access: 180 days
3rd Fanfest to Stormblood early access: 117 days
3rd Fanfest to Shadowbringers early access: 96 days
Digital Fanfest to Endwalker early access: 202 days (initially 188 days)
3rd Fanfest to Dawntrail early access: 172 days

3rd Fanfest to 8.0 early access:
If we go by fastest (96 days): February 5, 2027
If we go by slowest (188 days, initial release date of Endwalker): May 7, 2027

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Originally Posted by Asari5

what speaks against december 26?

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History of patch and expansion cadence. If this holds true, then this will be a longer expansion release then even the Covid induced cadence.

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Originally Posted by SkankyRoe

It really is extremely strange having the fanfests so spread out, and very much indicates 8.0 not releasing until at least spring 2027. But that doesn't make much sense; if we go by the usual cadence, 7.4 should release early January and 7.5 in late May, leaving almost a year to go until the next expansion. Such a massive amount of time between the final big patch and the next expansion would be a VERY bad idea, especially with how poorly DT has been received when it comes to content drought and release cadence being too long.

The only thing I can think of, and it's VERY farfetched, is that they're increasing the number of .x patches per expansion; a theoretical 7.6 would release around mid-October, which would them put 7.65 in early February and 8.0 on schedule for the usual mid-summer release.

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But what would they fill it with? The MSQ is complete as of 7.3

I just hope that the savage release is not during christmas, new years or easter.
Everything else I dont really care about.

If it get bored, I unsub.
But my guess would be January release of the next expansion.

IF they keep to the current release schedule, then based on the predictable time frame of patch drops; 7.4 should drop around December, and then April SHOULD be around when 7.5 releases, with the ol 7.55 part 1 being in July/August and 7.55 part 2 being October/November, with 8.0 itself releasing around probably January/February 2027, with March/April 2027 being probably the absolute latest.

The dates don't really mean a whole lot other then just "Expected release dates" given the devs love their patterns with these things. If anything all this does do is help players prepare ahead of time for the expected "End of Expansion Drought" that'll come once 7.5 drops.

Granted: Beastmaster is coming in 7.5, and the second area for the Occult Crescent is coming in 7.55, so I suppose it's more that this helps players who don't have any interest in either of this things time to prepare themselves for the end of drought expansion.

It's actually sad that my reaction is honestly struck between...

"LOL" and "I really don't care"

I do not understand why people tie the time of the last fan fest to the start of the next expansion. what stops them from releasing the expansion a month after the last fan fest?
Wouldn't the better way to judge the 8.0 release date, be the time it usually takes between a X.5 patch and the next expansion? I think that would be around January 2027.

I dont know about the time gap between JP fanfest and expansion. 2 1/2 years or 3 years for next expansion.
But what we all can agree on, the expansion won't be before 1. November. They won't screw over their own home market and hold a JP fanfest after 8.0 launch.

Just throwing this out there, I don’t think the staff would have time to finish up the expansion and shove it out only a month after Fanfest.

I realy wonder if this extended date is due to how bad Blizzard is making them look atm and them trying to do a similar course correction. Say what you want about WoW, but they really did take a step back, evaluate their situation and are going all in and making increasingly better changes, systems and content while SE is coasting on mostly glams and nostalgia at this point. Heck even the FFXI team is making the FFXIV team look kinda bad. I can feel real passion coming from the FFXI crew, where Yoshida and co. is just giving half hearted PR speak

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Originally Posted by SyferU

I do not understand why people tie the time of the last fan fest to the start of the next expansion. what stops them from releasing the expansion a month after the last fan fest?

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Fanfest's star attraction is to reveal what we are getting in the expansion. It's meant to be the draw that gets people to even watch it and not just, well, ignore the whole thing like they do with Duty Commenced etc. (Don't know what that is? If so, proves my point)

SE typically do a media tour before a game release, which takes a month due to the embargo and they can't do while attending or putting together a fanfest. There is generally at least a month gap thereafter before an expansion release. Overall, the best case scenario is late January or in February.

But we can't ignore the most likely scenario that these dates imply - May or June 2027.

The most important thing they can do is manage expectations on 8.0, a good trailer video AND a release date down to the month, not the season. The farther it gets from December 2026, the more subs will go dormant. If they say Summer of 2027, a significant amount of players will go into hibernation or retire. They are already having earnings stress so bad that they had to cut XIV’s budget by 50%, anything that makes the sub drop off worse must be avoided.

I have been subbed for over 4,250 days and I came to XIV when WOW had a 9 month gap. If they push to spring or summer of 27, I may let my house go and wait it out. All I have left to do is content as nearly all of my friends left after the DT launch. SE has to focus on those who stay all the time and not worry about the migratory players, they will come back when they come back.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I realy wonder if this extended date is due to how bad Blizzard is making them look atm and them trying to do a similar course correction. Say what you want about WoW, but they really did take a step back, evaluate their situation and are going all in and making increasingly better changes, systems and content while SE is coasting on mostly glams and nostalgia at this point. Heck even the FFXI team is making the FFXIV team look kinda bad. I can feel real passion coming from the FFXI crew, where Yoshida and co. is just giving half hearted PR speak

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Excellent points!

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Originally Posted by Hyperia

They are already having earnings stress so bad that they had to cut XIV’s budget by 50%

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Can you provide a source for this? I'm curious to have that info as reference.

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Originally Posted by Auro_Seldaris

Can you provide a source for this? I'm curious to have that info as reference.

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Last I heard the source was a streamer, another said reddit. Either way it has yet to be confirmed but ppl are running with it.

If the next expansion doesn't come out until 2027 I'm definitely dropping my sub, house be damned.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

Seems the dates/locations for the 2026 fanfests have been announced:
https://i.imgur.com/WKfFyR3.png
"Our 2026 Fan Fests will kick off major future plans which we'll be rolling out at a whirlwind pace"

The dates tend to suggest that 8.0 will launch in 2027....
How does everyone feel about that?

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Its coming to Anahiem?! Haha I live close to there so I might attend my first fan fest lmfao 8.0 in 2027? I don't mind at all.

7.4 - December 2025
7.5 - May 2026
8.0 - May 2027

How cooked could this game even be?

You're just going to have to use this as an opportunity to do other things if you've completed everything you've wanted to complete in this game. Content droughts are normal and we all hate them. You will be perfectly fine though and so will the game. I've taken several breaks on this game and have come back multiple times in my 6 years of playing consistently since I started up again. You will burn yourself out if all you want to play is FFXIV. Especially if you have finished all desirable content. I would definitely recommend taking an extended break after 7.55 is done with and come back a few weeks before the expansion drops to re-familiarize yourself with the game before 8.0 drops. Early raiders do this all the time. Us casuals can learn to do it too.

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Originally Posted by Dastan

You're just going to have to use this as an opportunity to do other things if you've completed everything you've wanted to complete in this game. Content droughts are normal and we all hate them. You will be perfectly fine though and so will the game.

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*looks at sub numbers continually dropping*
*looks at SE having "funding issues"*

um, I hate to break this to you buuuuuut............

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

*looks at sub numbers continually dropping*
*looks at SE having "funding issues"*

um, I hate to break this to you buuuuuut............

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Looks at Steam chart - active players up 25% in the last month. Looks at SE financial report showing MMO department (which is almost entirely FFXIV) remains among their most profitable. Realizes that even with the decline of subs overall in DT, the game is still well above it's population in the ARR-->SB days when it was viewed as healthy, and that was *without* the added income from the Cash Shop.

Dwell in reality rather than the eye-rolling doomposting that pervades this forum.

anaheim, huh. pretty close by, but then again na fanfests have historically been bad or mid at best. like they seemed like they were finally learning to organise better back during stormblood, but the one during ew in vegas was pretty awful from the accounts i saw. kicking people out of ada seating and throwing out people's water bottles is still wild to me.

seems pretty standard and I doubt there will be radio silence after 7.5 but time will tell. 14 is still my main MMO my friends play it and I have a house in a prem spot so :3

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Originally Posted by Kunzite_Lockhart

7.4 - December 2025
7.5 - May 2026
8.0 - May 2027

How cooked could this game even be?

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Additionally, Yoshi P also mentioned that we will receive less content.

@OP

If they are taking that long is because they need time.

If Mr. Yoshida says it's going to be great then it most likely will.

I'm really hoping SE allows all owned characters to share the MSQ and pretty much every quest available in-game. That way if a character gets an item it will be available for every other alt.

Basically, alt characters would need only level up jobs individually and everything else would be shared.

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Originally Posted by SyferU

I do not understand why people tie the time of the last fan fest to the start of the next expansion. what stops them from releasing the expansion a month after the last fan fest?
Wouldn't the better way to judge the 8.0 release date, be the time it usually takes between a X.5 patch and the next expansion? I think that would be around January 2027.

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At this point, I'm in a wait and see (April will give us a better idea)

I feel relying on fanfest to predict dates for an expansion is not the smartest idea. It relies on 3rd parties and has varied drastically in the past (3 months between 3rd fanfest and SHB release- I don't know why people think 6 months is the only possibility). People have also mentioned online they had a hard time looking for venues. This might have led to dates being later than they wanted, we really can't know.

Others have said they don't want FFXIV to land around the same time around FF7 Part 3 and sure, I feel SE wants the titles to be spread apart... but if an expansion is due, an expansion is due- they cannot risk their biggest money earner which is FFXIV by delaying it to summer.

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Originally Posted by Striker44

Looks at Steam chart - active players up 25% in the last month.

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In a patch month? No way!

25% isn't that great for a .3 patch either. And also I believe the narrative is that Steam charts do not prove anything. (unless of course it's on an upward trend) But striker gonna be striker

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Originally Posted by Bonoki

Additionally, Yoshi P also mentioned that we will receive less content.

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He meant due to it being scalable, though. So it's effectively the same, and for people wanting a "medium difficulty" or "easier difficulty", it will feel like more content.

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Originally Posted by SigmaOZ

@OP

If they are taking that long is because they need time.

If Mr. Yoshida says it's going to be great then it most likely will.

I'm really hoping SE allows all owned characters to share the MSQ and pretty much every quest available in-game. That way if a character gets an item it will be available for every other alt.

Basically, alt characters would need only level up jobs individually and everything else would be shared.

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We have given them more time before and we got Dawntrail for it.
So no, no more time.

Yoshida also said DT will be the expansion most packet with content. Havent felt that with drought setting in 3 weeks after a patch.
Hell even Endwalker which was famous for droughts had more to do, Just compare what it gave the players by 6.3 compared to 7.3.

If anything if they go forward with 1 year of no content then they should halt demolition and/or drop the sub for a year.
Why should people that already caught up pay for nothing.

Use the cahs shop money to make up for it instead throwing that money they got from the FFXIV shop at failed projects.

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Originally Posted by ViinaS

Hell even Endwalker which was famous for droughts had more to do, Just compare what it gave the players by 6.3 compared to 7.3.

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Wasn't Shadowbringers the one with the most drought? That's when the pandemic hit which was most understandable. All I remember is seeing E5-8 (and savage) more often than I wanted compared to the pace of Endwalker.

If it's truly a one-year period from 7.5 to 8.0, we can now understand why the Ultimate is releasing in 2026. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we don't drop to Stormblood numbers this expansion. It used to be 5 months, maybe 6...

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Originally Posted by brinn12

If it's truly a one-year period from 7.5 to 8.0, we can now understand why the Ultimate is releasing in 2026. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we don't drop to Stormblood numbers this expansion. It used to be 5 months, maybe 6...

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I think the numbers will get lower (possibly misrepresented a bit this time round due to the Free Login campaign). Probably really, really, really low.

But when 8.0 finally releases, I think everyone will just return to the game again and do it despite everything they said about quitting etc. Even if they quit immediately after finishing the MSQ. That happened with Dawntrail after all despite resentment towards Endwalker content and patch story.

They may get more for 8.0 if the trailer is actually something super cool and interesting like Shadowbringers was.

That's my prediction, not being positive or negative, I just think that people always talk about quitting but then they peak in at expansion launch anyways even if they quit right after.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

I think the numbers will get lower (possibly misrepresented a bit this time round due to the Free Login campaign). Probably really, really, really low.

But when 8.0 finally releases, I think everyone will just return to the game again and do it despite everything they said about quitting etc. Even if they quit immediately after finishing the MSQ. That happened with Dawntrail after all despite resentment towards Endwalker content and patch story.

They may get more for 8.0 if the trailer is actually something super cool and interesting like Shadowbringers was.

That's my prediction, not being positive or negative, I just think that people always talk about quitting but then they peak in at expansion launch anyways even if they quit right after.

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The difference is that Endwalker's lows were still decent. We're not even halfway through Dawntrail, and the Steam charts have already hit a monthly low not seen since late 2020. Luckybancho also noted that FFXIV lost active players during a period when those numbers had always gone up in past expansions. We can't expect people to keep coming back forever.