Following the successful launch of the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers expansion, Square Enix has announced that existing users can play Final Fantasy XIV without a subscription for a limited period of time. So if you’ve played Final Fantasy XIV on PS4 or PC previously, now is as good a time as any to get back. Here’s everything you need to know.
Final Fantasy XIV free login campaign eligibility
- Users who have previously purchased and registered Final Fantasy XIV.
- All registered service accounts are set as inactive during the campaign period.
- Registered service account must have been inactive for at least thirty days.
Final Fantasy XIV free login campaign dates
You can play Final Fantasy XIV for free from Friday, August 9, 2019 at 1:00am to Friday, August 16, 2019 at 7:59am PDT. The free login period is six days including the day on which users first log in. This period ends on the sixth day at 11:59pm (local time).
Final Fantasy XIV: what you need to know before you play for free
- The free login period begins after logging in via the game launcher using your Square Enix user name and password.
- Including the day on which you first log in, the free login period lasts approximately six days. For example, players who log in on August 10, 2019 at 12:00am can play free of charge until August 15, 2019 at 11:59pm.
- Players who are logged in when their free login period expires will be forcibly logged out from the game.
- Players with multiple service accounts registered to a single Square Enix account cannot participate if at least one of the accounts is currently active.
- Service accounts that have been canceled or suspended due to a violation of the service agreement cannot participate.
- Players who purchase a subscription during their free login period will forfeit the remaining duration of said period.
- Players cannot log in using a platform on which their service accounts have not been registered.
- Players can log in using all platforms on which their service account has been registered.
- When attempting to participate in the free login campaign using a Square Enix account with multiple service accounts, the free login period will be valid only for the first service account selected upon logging in.
- Please note that you may be unable to participate in the free login campaign with more than one service account at a time. If you cannot log in using a second service account even after meeting all other requirements, we ask that you wait for the free login period to expire on your first service account and try again.
- Server maintenance may be carried out during the free login period. Please note that you will be unable to log in to the game during maintenance.
At a recent event, Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida explained why the long-running MMORPG isn’t on the Xbox One. It turns out that despite Microsoft’s vocal support for cross-platform play, its own policies are exceptionally draconian in certain ways particularly when it comes to games like Final Fantasy XIV. In an interview with WCCFTech, Yoshida explained that there’s no way for players across platforms to chat with one another and that there’s no feature in place to allow players to form a guild or a free company due to Microsoft’s rules which are geared towards benefitting shooters and battle royale titles rather than RPGs.
“Two months ago, I discussed with Phil Spencer. I have explained this before but we are prepared to do crossplay at any time. To play an MMORPG, there are 2 regulations for Microsoft which stand in the way of making crossplay feasible. Unless these regulations are rejected, there is no meaning. Simply speaking, the matching base FPS style game has no issues with those 2 regulations. If we had made an FPS game [had FF14 been one of those games], then we would already have crossplay,” Yoshida said before going into detail about what’s holding Final Fantasy XIV back from launching on the Xbox One.
“One of the regulations is that players with different platforms cannot chat with each other in-game. Then how do you play an MMO? The other regulation is you cannot make a community with plays on a different platform. You can’t form a guild, you can’t enter into a link shell, [and] no free company. So I would like to have Microsoft change their regulations,” Yoshida said. To him crossplay appears to be a feature that’s been pushed only for shooters and not genres like MMORPGs.
“And this is not limited to Microsoft but there are many players who only have crossplay experience with FPS games, especially with the business scene. For an MMORPG, a game which full communication is possible, regulations need to be created considering how massive an MMORPG is to have true crossplay,” he said. “Final Fantasy XIV will not release crossplay without making this clear because that would only hurt the players. I think we can only try to continue having our discussions with those parties [to communicate and relay what is needed].”
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is out now on PS4 and PC.
