When will PlayStation 4 support be stopped?

[Johners]

A fairly straightforward question, when will Square Enix stop supporting the PS4 for FFXIV? This isn't to throw shade at anybody still using a PS4 but is rather a legitimate question considering some people won't upgrade due to other priorities or simply can't afford it.

Square Enix committed to supporting the PS4 for the duration of Dawntrail during a live letter in early 2022 (source), before the expansion was formally announced. Yoshi-P also stated they'd be monitoring the stock situation. More than three years have passed since that PLL and we're over one years into an expansion in which a main feature, the graphics overhaul, is largely unavailable for PS4 users.

More importantly, the wider gaming industry is starting to end support for the PS4 (and Xbox One) with their gaming titles. Rust in May 2025 and The First Descendant in June 2025 are two games that are no longer playable on PS4. PUBG is ending PS4 support in November. If you're after a bigger fish, Genshin Impact is being delisted for new PS4 users in September 2025 before becoming unplayable on PS4 with a patch scheduled for early April 2026 (source).

As we're now three major patches into Dawntrail, eyes will start looking towards 8.0 and what comes next. We should get information on the first Fan Fest relatively soon plus the actual release date is likely no later than early 2027 (estimated from historical lengths of patches/expansions).

I know a few people still playing FFXIV on a PS4 (or somewhat equivalent PC hardware, although this already falls below the advertised minimum system requirements on Windows). This isn't the place to judge people's choice of hardware, but if support for the PS4 is going to end, it would be respectful to them so they can look at their options to upgrade.

[Eluvyel]

Yeah dude, poor PS4 can't handle such an ultra heavy and hyper demanding realistic taxing game like FFXIV

XIV on PS4 is largely CPU bottlenecked, or rather was before 7.0. Now the game is technically capable of even saturating a PS5 GPU at max output resolution and settings. Showing an inhouse single player game that is GPU bound isn't exactly the gotcha you think it is.

[DiaDeem]

Now the game is technically capable of even saturating a PS5 GPU

Yeah, nvm... you're actually right. They have some 2019 i7 as their recommended CPU for 1080p but that won't hold 60 even at that resolution.

Don't think they're optimizing that any time soon.

[Rinoa_353]

Yeah dude, poor PS4 can't handle such an ultra heavy and hyper demanding realistic taxing game like FFXIV

It won't soon when it only has 8 GB of shared RAM/VRAM when the average gaming PC today has 16 GB that's going to creep up to 32GB by the end of the decade as well as the newest generation of consoles. Plus, the snail speed HDD of the PS4 really suffers when trying to load into a zone during a hunt train where the marks are dead before you finish loading in. All PS5/XBOX Series have a SSD, so slow speeds are not a thing for those consoles. So I also believe the rumors that this is the final expansion for the PS4 and will be dropped by 8.0.

[Remolia]

Yeah dude, poor PS4 can't handle such an ultra heavy and hyper demanding realistic taxing game like FFXIV

with a bad code base like that, ofc it can't.

I had to buy X3D cpu to fix ffxiv performance. While Cpu on PS4 is barely exists at all.

[Themarvin]

eventually...

[Jeeqbit]

My expectation is they will probably end it with 8.0. But it's obviously going to depend on the stats as well. If the rest of the industry has already pressured gamers to get a PS5, then there's little point in SE putting effort into supporting it.

Got to also consider that 8.0 will likely be in 2027, so it's a long way away by which time a lot more may have migrated than currently.

[Johners]

Yeah dude, poor PS4 can't handle such an ultra heavy and hyper demanding realistic taxing game like FFXIV

An online game has completely different technical requirements than that of a single player game such as Horizon Zero Dawn. You're barely getting 30 FPS at the best of times in XIV, even on a PS4 Pro. Cities and larger pieces of group content border on being unplayable at this point. Other games have used overhauls of underlying systems to drop PS4 support, we're at that crossover point with XIV.

My expectation is they will probably end it with 8.0. But it's obviously going to depend on the stats as well. If the rest of the industry has already pressured gamers to get a PS5, then there's little point in SE putting effort into supporting it.

Got to also consider that 8.0 will likely be in 2027, so it's a long way away by which time a lot more may have migrated than currently.

I'm assuming that they'll be dropping PS4 support with the release of 8.0 but it would be fair to communicate that sooner rather than later. They realistically already know the answer, much like choosing to end Windows 10 support alongside Microsoft's own end of life schedule (although in this case the game will still likely run, you just won't get any assistance via support tickets).