Final Fantasy XIV has long allowed prospective players to indulge themselves in a free trial. However, the launch of Endwalker and continuing server queues have forced Square Enix to put an end to the game’s complimentary demos. The next question is rather obvious: When will FFXIV free trials come back?
When will Final Fantasy XIV free trial be available again?
Unfortunately, there is no word on when Final Fantasy XIV free trials will be available again. Since the game isn’t even currently accepting new players, it will probably be quite a while before free trials come back. Hopefully we’ll hear an update on the status by the end of January 2022.
The reason is that Square Enix is having trouble keeping up with user demand. Endwalker has proven so popular that the game’s servers are struggling to handle all of the players trying to connect. Free trial players were the first to go, being knocked down the queue priority to allow paying customers to play.
However, servers filled up so fast that Square Enix still can’t keep up. The studio is currently looking to expand servers, but is being held back due to supply shortages. In the meantime, the company has pulled the Starter and Complete editions of FFXIV from sale in order to avoid further congestion.
To put it simply, there’s not enough space on FFXIV servers for new players, let alone free trial players. Once Square Enix gets more servers, they’ll open the game back up to new sales and new players. Then, assuming there’s enough overhead to accommodate even more players, they may choose to bring free trials back.
The server shortage issue will need to be solved before FFXIV free trials are available again. There are a lot of variables involved, so there’s no firm date on when they’ll be back, if ever. For now, we’ll simply have to wait and see. With luck, we’ll hear more about it around the end of January when the team plans to give more details.
