In many parts of the world, new home ownership has turned from an expected rite of passage into a distant dream for young people, as the number of renters increases and house values increase at a much faster rate than wages are. Final Fantasy XIV, too, is facing a house shortage crisis–but developer Square Enix actually has a plan to deal with it within the MMO.
In a new post on the game’s website, producer and director Naoki Yoshida has discussed how an influx of new players following the release of a huge free trial has led to housing issues–and the solution isn’t, as it turns out, to suggest that a bunch of players should migrate over to a different MMO.
As of Patch 5.3 the game’s population has expanded massively, and because automatic housing demolition has been suspended, housing has “become increasingly scarce” in the game, Yoshida notes. “To all of our players, especially those who have newly begun their adventures in FFXIV, I apologize for the present lack of housing,” he says.
The plan is to improve data centers so that the game can introduce more housing plots, he says, although this work will take time due to the current COVID-19 restrictions that make shipments difficult. However, before this happens, the developer is “doing what it can to further optimize the servers” to allow for more plots.
Yoshida says that as of Patch 5.4, there will be more plots available for purchase. “We will make a follow-up announcement when we’ve finalized the time table for these additions, and have determined how many can be added,” he said, before apologizing again.
Meanwhile, in the US, real-life homelessness is on the rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. You can donate to the National Alliance to End Homelessness here.
If you’re keen on Final Fantasy XVI but haven’t dived deep yet, check out these two pieces from GameSpot’s biggest advocate for the game, Michael Higham:
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