Live Letter news hope: Fan Fest... what's going on?

I'm hoping we get SOME kind of news for Fan Fest! Per the previous Fan Fest schedule, it should've been happening this fall and we should've already had ticket sales by now. It was hinted at on the New Years letter and mentioned in a few random interviews but nothing in the Live Letters yet.

who cares about fanfest? they've been increasingly poorly run for years at this point.

"This year entry for the ticket raffle will require you provide an achievement for chaotic, possibly FT also, possibly FRU. Thereafter it will be decided according to those with the highest twitch reward tiers from among our chosen twitch streamers. [Who will be mostly savage streamers because lets face it who else is left].
At this stage we are still welcoming feedback, so if you would prefer it be decided by the performance of your Cosmic/crafting automations, then please let us know via censored curated redit."

true, but I use it to see my fellow FC mates that live on the other coast (I live in Ohio) and to hang out and meet other FFXIV players. I've been to 3 of them. And while they are always a hot mess, I still enjoy going.

Fanfest typically happens after 7.3. We are currently in 7.2.

So let's use the Endwalker timing:

• August 23rd 2022 = 6.2
• January 10th 2023 = 6.3 (20 weeks later)
• July 29th 2023 = NA Fanfest (28-29 weeks later, around weekend typically, Friday-Monday)

Thus:

• March 25th 2025 = 7.2
• August 12th 2025 = 7.3
• 27th February - 2nd March 2026 = NA Fanfest
• Late May/Early June 2026 = EU Fanfest
• Late July/Early August 2026 = JP Fanfest

Endwalker was an outlier as it was pushed back due to 2020. Dawntrail released in July, back on the original expansion release schedule.

Previous fan fests were announced in like December/January. Then more info in the spring. Then tickets on Sale in June/July for a fall fan fest and a Summer expansion release.

US Fan Fests
Year 1 was October 2014 - Heavensward was released June 2015
Year 2 was October 2016 - Stormblood was released June 2017
Year 3 was November 2018 - Shadowbringers was released July 2019
Year 4 was suppose to be November 2020 (then was Streaming only instead) - Endwalker was released December 2021
Year 5 was July 2023 which was adjusted due to the 2020 set backs - Dawntrail was released July 2024

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Originally Posted by Daeris_Mormerileth

Endwalker was an outlier as it was pushed back due to 2020. Dawntrail released in July, back on the original expansion release schedule.

Previous fan fests were announced in like December/January. Then more info in the spring. Then tickets on Sale in June/July for a fall fan fest and a Summer expansion release.

US Fan Fests
Year 1 was October 2014 - Heavensward was released June 2015
Year 2 was October 2016 - Stormblood was released June 2017
Year 3 was November 2018 - Shadowbringers was released July 2019
Year 4 was suppose to be November 2020 (then was Streaming only instead) - Endwalker was released December 2021
Year 5 was July 2023 which was adjusted due to the 2020 set backs - Dawntrail was released July 2024

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DT also releasing in the summer has no bearing on the cadence of their patch series or expansion development time & therefore the timing of their fan-fests, which have increased every expansion so far. If the time between 7.5 and 8.0 isn't longer than 6.5 to 7.0 I'll eat my hat. 8.0 isn't releasing in the Summer unless its the summer of 2027. Fan fests aren't coming soon when 8.0 isn't coming out until the final months of 2026 at the absolute earliest. It's still June of 2025 for crying out loud.

Yeah, I'm of like mind that we probably won't be seeing anything FanFest related this year while we're still in x.2. Its been almost a year since DT went live, so even just using two patches per year as a base, we won't be in x.4 territory until a year from now.

We'll get advertised 3-4 different merchandise products and a collab with some obscure japanese restaurant. That's what we'll get.

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

We'll get advertised 3-4 different merchandise products and a collab with some obscure japanese restaurant. That's what we'll get.

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Only 3-4? :p
/hj

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Originally Posted by aZenZhen

Yeah, I'm of like mind that we probably won't be seeing anything FanFest related this year while we're still in x.2. Its been almost a year since DT went live, so even just using two patches per year as a base, we won't be in x.4 territory until a year from now.

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... wow that's kinda sad. For the amount of content we got, we should've get shorter time between patches.

I hope the next one has more chairs.

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Originally Posted by Daeris_Mormerileth

Endwalker was an outlier as it was pushed back due to 2020. Dawntrail released in July, back on the original expansion release schedule.

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Endwalker wasn't an outlier in terms of patch cycle. The timeframe between the final patch and expansion release used to be 5 months, but the wait for Endwalker was 8 months. Similar, we waited 8 months or so for Dawntrail.

With this, the Endwalker changes seem to be permanent and not an outlier. I am expecting that the expansion release cycle is no longer 2 years, but 2 years and a half, meaning we will alternate between June-August release dates and November(ish) release dates for the forseeable future.

This is relevant to Fanfest on the basis that I cannot see a Fanfest happening before a .3 patch. It wouldn't make sense to me. A trailer for the new expansion during 7.2 would be insanely early in the patch cycle...

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Originally Posted by Ryaze

DT also releasing in the summer has no bearing on the cadence of their patch series or expansion development time & therefore the timing of their fan-fests, which have increased every expansion so far. If the time between 7.5 and 8.0 isn't longer than 6.5 to 7.0 I'll eat my hat. 8.0 isn't releasing in the Summer unless its the summer of 2027. Fan fests aren't coming soon when 8.0 isn't coming out until the final months of 2026 at the absolute earliest. It's still June of 2025 for crying out loud.

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8.0 will probably come out fall 2026.
Summer 2026 will be too soon and forcing it into summer 2027 might even kill this game entirely because peoples patience is already thin with the patch cycles and it would need some huge changes way above the graphics update to defend that.

They will probably change between summer and fall like Jeeqbit wrote.


I think there will be a small first announcement of fan fest and I am honestly really interested in it.
The DT one was already not that hype inducing in the community outside of the promised content and now that this content has shown its myriad weaknesses people will probably keep a really close eye on the promises and especially at things like the story and the content spreading as well as the jobs.

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Originally Posted by Kozh

... wow that's kinda sad. For the amount of content we got, we should've get shorter time between patches.

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Please understand, they're busy with 2 remakes and what is either XVII or an original property.

The FanFest has to be happening soon because all the FFXIV streamers and personalities have stopped saying anything bad about the game so as to not jeopardize their invitations.

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

8.0 will probably come out fall 2026.
Summer 2026 will be too soon and forcing it into summer 2027 might even kill this game entirely because peoples patience is already thin with the patch cycles and it would need some huge changes way above the graphics update to defend that.

They will probably change between summer and fall like Jeeqbit wrote.


I think there will be a small first announcement of fan fest and I am honestly really interested in it..

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The time between the final major patch of an expansion to the following expansion launch has been increasing every expansion since SB. To release in the fall of 2026, they'd have to push out 8.0 significantly faster than 7.0, just to release in what is technically fall but literally still the month of December. While that's technically possible, I don't think it's likely at all. Even to push 8.0 out in what people traditionally think of when they think of the Fall months (September/October) they'd have to push out the game faster than from 4.5 to 5.0. That would be 25 weeks (4.5 to ShB launch) for mid/late Oct compared to the 39 weeks for DT, which would land on Jan 26th, 2027.

Additionally, there's another factor to consider. At the Korean Fanfest prior to DT, Yoshi-P told the audience that their plan for 8.0 is to launch BOTH the Chinese and Korean versions simultaneously with the international version. Now, at the time he said the work on the Chinese end of whatever infrastructure was necessary for this was already completed, but not the Korean infrastructure. This isn't the issue. The issue is that China's version of FFXIV launched DT roughly 3 months behind the international version, and the Korea version roughly 5 months behind. Now they've slowly been closing this gap for Korea with releasing the major patches on a slightly shorter delay compared to the expansion launch, but the Korean version is still ~4 months behind the international version. While China's patch cycle is unchanged and still 3 months behind the international version.

So they can 1) Drastically shorten the delay between patches for the Korea and Chinese versions to catch up with the international version, 2) Delay the international release of 8.0, or 3) A combination of the two. So far they've barely done any of #1.

If they don't significantly shorten these gaps, with the current gap Korea wont get 7.5 until the very last week of August 2026. Not to mention 7.55 which as you know contains the last MSQ as well as most likely the final zone of the Occult Crescent and the final stage of the relic grind. They're not going to release 8.0 in the Fall and essentially hose both the Chinese and Korean player-bases out of having time to experience the end of expansion content. Either Yoshi-P doesn't live up to his promise that he told Korea, or 8.0 takes longer to come out than people would like.

Unfortunately I think any sooner than Q1 of 2027 is a pipe dream.

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Originally Posted by Ryaze

Either Yoshi-P doesn't live up to his promise ...

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Heh, that would literally never happen.

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Originally Posted by Ryaze

snip

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Don’t know. It’s just my prediction.
I don’t think we will ever see an expansion being released in the beginning of a year, thats a really undesired spot for such things right after Christmas sales.
On the other hand delaying it to summer 2027, I don’t know if the players would accept it at this point. That would be an enormous wait time for a game that hasn’t gone a single patch without massive backlash for a while now.
I don’t think even they would be so daring.
Personally I see 8.0 around October / November 2026.

Yoshida promises many things tbh, fact is though that the china and Korea versions have their own hurdles and things outside his hands. I think it’s far more realistic to see a joined 8.0 release, even if 7.55 would have been close for some of them.

But maybe you are right.
At the end of the day what decides if the community is willing to wait will be what they see in the fanfest and ho boy do they have to deliver this time.

I'd rather they use the time and money to fix the game. It's not a "fan-fest" when players and customers are furious and dropping the game one after another, just saying.

At this point I will just assume 8.0 is going to be released in 2027...

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Originally Posted by Kozh

At this point I will just assume 8.0 is going to be released in 2027...

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At the current release schedule, 7.5 Part 1 and Part 2 will release around April/May 2026. We then always have a 6-8 month period before the next expansion. They could absolutely do a November 2026 holiday release, but I think a January 2027 release is more plausible, although this completely throws off the expansion release cadence completely.

The big issue they have is delaying it to Summer 2027, you're going to have a YEAR of nothing. And that will kill the game. Period. Folks already get antsy at 4.5 months and the dead period after .5 to the next expansion is always dead too. No new content for 10-12 months to simply keep a summer release schedule would be truly ill-advised.

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Originally Posted by Aruji-sama

I'd rather they use the time and money to fix the game. It's not a "fan-fest" when players and customers are furious and dropping the game one after another, just saying.

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It's part of the marketing budget. If it wasn't getting used on Yoshida's Mr. Worldwide schtick, they'd just pocket it.

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Originally Posted by Daeris_Mormerileth

Live Letter news hope: Fan Fest... what's going on?

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Just check the live letter for 3.3, 4.3, 5.3 and 6.3 and you will have the answer to what's coming lol

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Originally Posted by Wyssahtyn

who cares about fanfest? they've been increasingly poorly run for years at this point.

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I've grown up on BlizzCon as a reference point, so ever since I started playing this game in 2019, I've seen that fanfests are overhyped and overrated. I know this has been the model from the beginning, but the idea of waiting for multiple fanfests, each months away, until I have a basic idea of what a new expansion/patch entaills is ridiculous.

No hope left after so many years. Sadly. :/
If they don't make a significant turn soon, it's ded. Not tomorrow, not next year. But it won't make another 10.

The NA one will probably be poorly run again, whenever it is.

Can’t wait to sell my right kidney for a ticket and my left kidney in the merch line just to touch a Fat Cat plush while getting sunburned in a cosplay. LET’S GOOOOOOO #FanFest2026 #PleaseNophicaLetThereBeAirConditioning

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

At the current release schedule, 7.5 Part 1 and Part 2 will release around April/May 2026. We then always have a 6-8 month period before the next expansion. They could absolutely do a November 2026 holiday release, but I think a January 2027 release is more plausible, although this completely throws off the expansion release cadence completely.

The big issue they have is delaying it to Summer 2027, you're going to have a YEAR of nothing. And that will kill the game. Period. Folks already get antsy at 4.5 months and the dead period after .5 to the next expansion is always dead too. No new content for 10-12 months to simply keep a summer release schedule would be truly ill-advised.

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Part 2 in EW was 15 weeks after Part 1. Currently Part 1 is scheduled for April 28th 2026. So if they continue with the EW cadence that puts 7.55 on August 11th 2026. Far off from April/May. We had an entire 9 months from 6.5 to 7.0. It doesn't throw off the expansion cadence at all. It's just following their previous trends of increased development time. They can always change. But generally speaking, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

I agree, a summer 2027 would kill the game, which is why I don't think they'll do it. They don't need that much development time for an expansion, even a China + Korea simultaneous release. I think Q1 to Spring is more than enough time. The drought from 6.5 to 7.0 was bad enough. It's why I think in general they really need to re-evaluate their development pipeline and consider altering their patch cycles and when they put out content. I don't think the game can sustain continued exacerbated expansion launches to justify more makeovers.

If they host in Las Vegas AGAIN it's going to be a nightmare because last time they did it there was so much that went wrong. What's more, the US is NOT SAFE to host venues at because of the current state of things, so we'll be even lucky to get an NA Fanfest this year unless it's Livestreamed since otherwise you want to risk Yoshida getting locked up. I don't see how people can win here.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

If they host in Las Vegas AGAIN it's going to be a nightmare because last time they did it there was so much that went wrong. What's more, the US is NOT SAFE to host venues at because of the current state of things, so we'll be even lucky to get an NA Fanfest this year unless it's Livestreamed since otherwise you want to risk Yoshida getting locked up. I don't see how people can win here.

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This is probably one of the most insane things I've read on the Official Forums in a long time - and this place is insanity incarnate.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

If they host in Las Vegas AGAIN it's going to be a nightmare because last time they did it there was so much that went wrong. What's more, the US is NOT SAFE to host venues at because of the current state of things, so we'll be even lucky to get an NA Fanfest this year unless it's Livestreamed since otherwise you want to risk Yoshida getting locked up. I don't see how people can win here.

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Please don't blame Las Vegas for that.

By number of attendees, we're the largest convention destination in the US and have been for the last twenty-six years. Conventions come back year after year because the many convention centers know what they're doing.

Fanfest was a fiasco because Square Enix was involved, plus apparently some people hadn't been told that drinking water is important in a desert in mid-summer.

That said, I can understand why people from other countries would not want to visit here at the moment.

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Originally Posted by Anonemoose

This is probably one of the most insane things I've read on the Official Forums in a long time - and this place is insanity incarnate.

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I wouldn't have said anything about it if it weren't a major concern considering we have people who have positions of power being arrested by masked men who act like a gestapo. That's what's spine-chilling here...

Also Mawlzy, I'll try to temper my expectations on that - but it'd be nice if SE didn't fumble the bag so hard like they did last Fanfest because I still remember the fiasco that had people packed like sardines in the place with not enough amenities to go around. Same with the merchandise.

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Originally Posted by Anonemoose

This is probably one of the most insane things I've read on the Official Forums in a long time - and this place is insanity incarnate.

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I wish I could agree, but all things considered - and with recent happenings over there in mind - it actually doesn't sound as insane as it should sound.

Hopefully they address and fix the issue with how absurd this forked tower entry is designed and not just a "Thank you for your feedback we will take it into consideration for the next Patch"

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Originally Posted by Anonemoose

The FanFest has to be happening soon because all the FFXIV streamers and personalities have stopped saying anything bad about the game so as to not jeopardize their invitations.

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Probably some truth in that. I expected to see a few streamers/influencers talking about the whole 'Forked Tower' debacle, but so far have seen very little about it in that respect.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

Probably some truth in that. I expected to see a few streamers/influencers talking about the whole 'Forked Tower' debacle, but so far have seen very little about it in that respect.

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Quite a lot did actually.
Cider criticized it harshly,
Xenos calls it out as well (as much as I don’t like him, he is honest about things he thinks are bad which I respect),
Rinon did also call it out in a pretty good video,
Aitherea absolutely hates it.

But yeah, Arthas and Quazii seem unusually quiet about it.
I don’t really follow Happy so I don’t know his final stance in it but I haven’t heard much criticism from him outside the entrance system?

Other than them I don’t really get any FF14 Videos from others nowadays. Larry seems to have left it and Drak is a bit busy with his Kickstarter it seems.


To be fair though, I watch their videos mostly in the background while doing roulette or reading so I might have missed something and I only actively watch the videos of Cider and Aitherea.

I mean, I'm sure all of the content creators/steamers criticized it at some point. Nobody can actually defend repeating BA.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

Probably some truth in that. I expected to see a few streamers/influencers talking about the whole 'Forked Tower' debacle, but so far have seen very little about it in that respect.

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Most of them either strongly dislike it like we do, enjoy some parts of it and cleared but don't want to do it again until something's fixed, or they have the "popular person benefit" and are blissfully unaware what the normal player has to do to get in. (The last bit isn't super common though, but an attempt to watch State of the Realm to see what the opinion was there left me baffled)

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

I wouldn't have said anything about it if it weren't a major concern considering we have people who have positions of power being arrested by masked men who act like a gestapo. That's what's spine-chilling here...

Also Mawlzy, I'll try to temper my expectations on that - but it'd be nice if SE didn't fumble the bag so hard like they did last Fanfest because I still remember the fiasco that had people packed like sardines in the place with not enough amenities to go around. Same with the merchandise.

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That's what I'm really worried about even though I'm an American citizen but ICE has been targeting people like me for my skin color (I'm Latina) and some have already been detained without any warrants and more. They have even dismissed REAL ID compliant ID's and have said they were fake recently. I have never imagined this would happen to the US in my lifetime....



Otherwise, I hope SE is able to be ready this time and maybe have it at the Dulles Expo Center in Northern VA? It would be a much milder place climate wise and it's so close to mass transit and Dulles International Airport. They have many conventions there too for decades now.