In an announcement on Square Enix’s website, the developers said they have decided to delay Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker’s release date by two weeks, and Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida has blamed himself. In a message to players, Yoshida said “I am incredibly sorry to share this so close to launch, but I have decided to postpone the release of Endwalker.”
The release was originally scheduled for Tuesday, November 23, 2021, and has now been moved to Tuesday, December 7, 2021. Yoshida continued his statement saying, “There are several reasons for the postponement, but as I’m the one overseeing all aspects of the title as the head of the project, the responsibility falls solely on me. Allow me to convey my sincerest apologies to our players, our Warriors of Light around the world who have been looking so forward to the release of Endwalker. I am truly sorry.”
Yoshida blamed his “selfishness” for the two-week delay stating, “The biggest factor behind the release date change was my selfishness as the game’s director.” Endwalker is set to be the biggest expansion pack “in the history of FFXIV.” The delay seems to be due to the director aiming for perfection, explaining, “Unfortunately, the consequence of this was that we ended up in a situation where we cut into the time required for final quality assurance checks due to this time spent on additional improvements.”
Endwalker brings the story of Hydarlyn and Zodiark to a close and uncovers “truths long concealed” as players are taken on a journey to ward off the “encroaching doom.” Never before seen jobs, sage and reaper will be part of the expansion with “updates to the battle system” and “new actions for existing jobs”, as well as a “raised level cap.” Early access for the Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker, will now begin Friday, December 3, 2021, and the official release is just four days later on December 7.
