Covid-19 and FFXIV Fan Festival

I am curious what Square Enix intends to do with Fanfest 2020-2021.
The dates for the festivals are quickly approaching and with covid-19 not showing much signs of slowing across the world and with 5.3 delayed now, how will this affect fanfest?

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Originally Posted by Vespar

I am curious what Square Enix intends to do with Fanfest 2020-2021.
The dates for the festivals are quickly approaching and with covid-19 not showing much signs of slowing across the world and with 5.3 delayed now, how will this affect fanfest?

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Considering how shady Japanese government is on covering up their own infection prior to March because they don't want to cancel the Olympic; the medical system of Tokyo is nearly collapse
For S/E where their headquarter and their staffs all located in Tokyo, it is not too bright for them.
Patch 5.3 is already on halt because of this, you pretty much can forget about the fanfest

Its probably to early to say and not only Ses call here - depending on the country there might be laws against large gatherings and events like the FanFest and no one can say wether or not those will be lifted until the schedulde dates.

I could imagine them switching at least part of it to a stream - they've already been streaming the FanFests (or parts of those) anyways, so maybe they'll expand on those to at least cover the "information parts". Having been to two Fanfests myself I know that something like this wont make up for not being there, meeting up with your friends, playing silly minigames etc. but it might end up being the best they can do under the circumstances...

Still to early to tell, though. I dont know about other countries, but in germany you can hold events until the end of august - so we probably need to sit tight for a few more months and see what developes.

I feel like it will probably be canceled or moved. With the next patch already delayed by up to a month they probably won't even make the deadline to have enough to even show at the first one.

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Originally Posted by Vaer

I feel like it will probably be canceled or moved. With the next patch already delayed by up to a month they probably won't even make the deadline to have enough to even show at the first one.

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Thats a very valid point. Who knows how long it will take to get all the assets ready. From the CG trailer thats usually shown, to smaller materials. A lot of this stuff is also reliant on outsourced companies so who knows.

I'd be surprised if the events weren't delayed or canceled. Though the information intended to be revealed will be likely just be uploaded onto FFXIV's official social media pages instead.

I can see them pushing it back. If the fanfest isn't going to happen, I was wondering if they would consider something else such as streaming the reveal of the next expansion. Then again, it's unclear to me how much of that is feasible. From what Yoshi-p mentioned, I can only assume that production has halted in its entirety so streaming might be out of the question, too.

I don't even have a firm guess on when restrictions will be lifted in my own area, so I definitely can't speak for Japan. That dosen't mean they are not baking their brains trying to figure out how they can make it happen. I just have no idea how they could if it's only supposed to be weeks away.

Even when the day comes that restrictions are lifted, some things will be changed forever. Social distancing will remain and will change how things are done.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

I don't even have a firm guess on when restrictions will be lifted in my own area, so I definitely can't speak for Japan. That dosen't mean they are not baking their brains trying to figure out how they can make it happen. I just have no idea how they could if it's only supposed to be weeks away.

Even when the day comes that restrictions are lifted, some things will be changed forever. Social distancing will remain and will change how things are done.

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Social distancing is the dumbest term ever. I hate it. And it's not really going to change much. Unless they start forcing people to move to rural areas and out of big cities.

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Originally Posted by Vespar

I am curious what Square Enix intends to do with Fanfest 2020-2021.
The dates for the festivals are quickly approaching and with covid-19 not showing much signs of slowing across the world and with 5.3 delayed now, how will this affect fanfest?

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The first FanFest is still almost 7 months away. I doubt a decision would need to be made until June or July.

Let's focus on world recovery first before we worry about a FanFest that really doesn't mean anything.