The Final Fantasy 14 patch 5.3 update, which was planned for a mid-June release, has been delayed due to the recent state of emergency order in Japan. Director Naoki Yoshida says it’s unclear at this time whether the patch will be delayed a few weeks or a month.
In a blog post on the official Final Fantasy 14 website, Yoshida announced that because of the recent state of emergency developers have been ordered to work from home. This, in turn, has put the development timeline for the next big FF14 patch into question.
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Patch 5.3 was supposed to be the next major update in the Shadowbringers content cycle. While Square Enix didn’t officially reveal what would be a part of the update, many players were expecting the next chapter in the Alliance Raid cycle which is a collaboration with Nier: Automata and its director Yoko Taro.
In his message, Yoshida detailed exactly what has been delayed by the work from home order including, “Delayed delivery of graphical assets due to the lockdown of cities in East Asia, North America, and Europe. Delayed voice recording due to the lockdown of cities in Europe. Delayed to development tasks performed by Tokyo staff due to work-from-home/shelter-in-place limitations. Production and QA teams operating well below normal capacity due to work-from-home/shelter-in-place limitations.”
“We are terribly sorry for the disappointment this may cause our players, as we know you look forward to new patches. However, it is also important to prioritize the physical and mental health of our development team, without whom we would never be able to release the quality updates and features you expect from FFXIV[.]”
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Alongside the 5.3 patch delay, Yoshida says that players can expect longer than usual responses from the support desk, and a slowed implementation for bug fixes both as a result of the work-from-home orders.
This is the newest game delay as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Other major releases like The Last of Us Part 2 were also delayed because of the pandemic. Check out IGN’s Final Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers review for more coverage.
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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. He mains a Monk on Final Fantasy 14.
Source: IGN.com Final Fantasy 14 5.3 Patch Delayed Due to Coronavirus