Final Fantasy 14 Servers Experience Major Issues

Final Fantasy XIV North American Servers Suffer Major Outage: Power Outage, Not DDoS

A significant server outage impacting all four North American data centers of Final Fantasy XIV occurred on January 5th, shortly after 8:00 PM Eastern. Initial reports and player accounts on social media suggest the cause was a local power outage in Sacramento, likely due to a blown transformer. Service was restored within an hour.

This incident differs from the numerous distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that plagued the game throughout 2024. DDoS attacks, which flood servers with false information, resulted in high latency and disconnections. While Square Enix employs mitigation strategies, completely preventing DDoS attacks remains a challenge. Players often utilize VPNs to mitigate the effects of these attacks.

However, evidence points towards a localized power failure as the culprit in this recent outage. Reddit users reported hearing a loud explosion or popping sound in Sacramento, consistent with a blown transformer, shortly before the server disruption. The timing aligns with the reported outage, further supporting this theory. Square Enix acknowledged the issue on the Lodestone and confirmed an ongoing investigation.

Impact and Recovery:

The outage was geographically limited to North America; European, Japanese, and Oceanic data centers remained operational. Recovery was gradual, with Aether, Crystal, and Primal Data Centers returning to service first. The Dynamis Data Center, the newest addition, experienced a longer period of inaccessibility.

This latest setback adds to the challenges faced by Final Fantasy XIV, especially given its ambitious plans for 2025, including the highly anticipated mobile release. The long-term consequences of these recurring server issues remain to be seen.