Final Fantasy 14 Servers Experience Major Issues

Summary

• Final Fantasy 14's recent server outage in North America was likely caused by a power outage, not a DDoS attack.
• Players experienced server disconnects affecting all four NA Data Centers.
• Square Enix is currently investigating the matter.

On January 5, Final Fantasy 14 players in North America encountered a significant server outage when all four Data Centers went offline shortly after 8:00 PM Eastern. Social media reports from the Final Fantasy 14 community suggest that the outage was triggered by a power disruption in the Sacramento area, caused by a transformer malfunction. The servers were restored within an hour of the initial reports.

This incident marks another chapter in the ongoing saga of technical challenges faced by Final Fantasy 14's servers. Throughout 2024, the game has been repeatedly targeted by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which flood servers with false data, causing high latency and server disconnects. Despite Square Enix's efforts to mitigate these attacks, they remain a persistent issue. Players have found that using a virtual private network (VPN) can help stabilize their connection during such attacks.

However, the latest server outage was unrelated to these DDoS attacks. According to discussions on the r/ffxiv subreddit, users reported hearing a loud explosion or popping sound in Sacramento, where the North American Data Centers are located. This sound was identified as a blown power transformer, likely causing the power outage that affected the servers. The outage was reported shortly after 8:00 PM Eastern and resolved within an hour. Square Enix confirmed the issue on the Lodestone and announced an ongoing investigation.

Final Fantasy 14's North American Data Centers Return From Major Outage

The server outage was confined to North America, with the Europe, Japan, and Oceanic data centers remaining unaffected, reinforcing the belief that it was a localized issue. At the time of writing, the Aether, Crystal, and Primal Data Centers were gradually coming back online, while the newest addition, the Dynamis Data Center, was still inaccessible.

As Final Fantasy 14 looks forward to ambitious plans for 2025, including the launch of Final Fantasy 14 Mobile, these server issues represent another hurdle the game must navigate. The full impact of these ongoing technical challenges remains to be seen.