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. While the game has faced numerous Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks throughout 2024, evidence suggests this outage stemmed from a localized power issue, not a cyberattack.

Social media reports and Reddit discussions point to a transformer explosion in the Sacramento area, the location of the NA data centers. Users described hearing a loud popping sound consistent with such an event, followed by a power outage affecting the servers. Service was restored approximately one hour later. Square Enix acknowledged the issue on the Lodestone and confirmed an ongoing investigation.

The fact that European, Japanese, and Oceanic data centers remained unaffected supports the theory of a localized problem. Restoration was gradual, with Aether, Crystal, and Primal data centers returning online before Dynamis.

This latest incident adds to the ongoing challenges faced by Final Fantasy XIV, particularly concerning server stability. The game's ambitious 2025 plans, including the launch of a mobile version, are now further complicated by these persistent issues. The long-term consequences of these recurring server problems remain to be seen.