2026 FanFests

[Bonoki]

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

How cooked could this game even be?

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

[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.

[ItsKylos]

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.

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.

[MicahZerrshia]

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

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

[Jeeqbit]

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

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.

[ViinaS]

@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.

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.

[Kurando]

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.

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.

[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...

[Jeeqbit]

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...

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.

[brinn12]

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.

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.