Many events have been cancelled over the past few months due to COVID-19, including E3 and Gamescom, and Final Fantasy XIV’s North American 2020 Fan Fest is the latest to be impacted by the current outbreak. It was going to be the fourth NA fan festival, and this marks the first time one of these events has been cancelled.

In a forum post titled “Letter from the Producer, LXIII”, Producer & Director Naoki Yoshida gives the reasoning behind the event’s cancellation, and discusses the possibility of a replacement NA event next year.

He states that, despite “moving forward with various arrangements to adapt to the unfolding pandemic”, it was not possible to “guarantee the health and safety of the attendees, performers, or company staff members who would be present at the event”. This mirrors statements given by organizers of other gaming events, showing that many companies are still unsure on how the COVID-19 pandemic will progress over the coming year.

Despite the cancellation of this year’s event, there is still hope for a future NA Fan Fest. Yoshida assures fans that the team is examining “possible dates, cities, and venues for a festival in the first half of 2021.” As it is unclear what restrictions might be in place for events that take place next year, he says that the team are also “looking into alternative ways to realize the event digitally”.

Naturally, the Japanese and European fan festivals may be affected as well. In particular, the Japanese event’s planned release date is only a month later than the now cancelled American fan fest, so its future is uncertain.

Alongside the cancellation of NA FFXIV Fan Fest 2020, patch 5.3 for the MMORPG is receiving yet another delay. Having already been pushed back to June 16th, the patch will again be delayed “more than a month at the very least”. This is due to the development team being at “around 85-90% capability”. Staff have been working from home during most of patch 5.3’s development, leading to issues related to this new working environment.

According to Yoshida, the team is “pushing to keep that delay as short as possible”, so there’s a chance that the patch will be completed for a July release. Patch 5.3 will be bringing new story content for Shadowbringers, the next Nier: Automata raid, and a much requested rework of the old 2.0-2.5 story content.

Source: Square Enix