FFXIV Director Reveals PS4 Sunset Plan, Expected to Last Until Patch 8.3

During a keynote at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida announced that the PlayStation 4 version of FFXIV will be phased out over the next few years. The upcoming expansion, Evercold (launching January 2027 alongside Patch 8.0), will still be fully supported on PS4, along with some post-launch updates. Yoshida stated, "We currently believe we'll probably be okay up until about [Patch] 8.3," which is expected in early 2028.

Yoshida noted that despite collaboration with Sony's engineers allowing for more optimization than expected, "it will soon be impossible to physically contain all of FFXIV on the PS4 hard drive." The nearly 13-year-old console has struggled to keep up with the game's growth and the visual overhaul from Dawntrail (Patch 7.0) in 2024. While PC system requirements won't change soon, Yoshida advised PS4 players, "You got two years to save up for a PlayStation 5!"

In a roundtable interview, Yoshida clarified his comments: "Perhaps it was the way I explained it that may have caused a little bit of confusion. While we are going to fully support Evercold and Patch 8.0, we did ask for perhaps considering transitioning to PS5." He dismissed rumors about ending PS4 service due to a Switch 2 version, saying, "That is not the case." The transition is purely due to hardware limitations: "It's the size of the game that is the hurdle right now. We are reaching the point where the game is getting so big that the hardware itself will not be able to handle it."

Yoshida emphasized, "Not right away, but we want people to slowly consider transitioning to the PS5. We're not saying that we are going to cease support for the PS4 – that's another point that we want to emphasize." Despite the PS5's price increase since launch and rising PC component costs, it may be time to retire the aging PS4. For more on FFXIV, check out details on the Switch 2 version, the Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover raid, and everything about Evercold.