Roundup: Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2026 Tokyo Keynote
Square Enix revealed major new details about Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold during the Fan Festival 2026 keynote in Tokyo starting with the reveal of the expansion’s full trailer.
Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold will launch on Tuesday, February 23, 2027. Early access is scheduled to begin on Friday, February 19, 2027, for players who pre-order the expansion.
Pre-orders for Evercold and the previously announced Collector’s Box will begin on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. GMT (10:00 a.m. CET) in the EU Store and 10:00 a.m. PDT in the NA Store.
Naoki Yoshida also revealed Zephyr, the second of Evercold’s two new jobs. Zephyr is a physical ranged DPS that fights with crossbow shots while receiving support from Nephele, an avian familiar.
Zephyr joins Bastion, the previously revealed main tank job that uses the transforming Skyltborg weapon. Both new jobs will be playable exclusively in Evercold’s new Evolved combat mode.
Square Enix also teased a Valkyrie Profile collaboration by showing one of the bosses from the new dungeons.
A new trailer for the EVANGELION: Ghosts of Desire Alliance raid crossover was also revealed, alongside the announcement of new high-difficulty 8-player battles featuring select bosses from the alliance raid to create more challenging, savage-like eight-player encounters.
A new piece of artwork created by Tetsuya Nomura was revealed alongside information on the newest difficulty option for raid encounters. The “Fierce” difficulty will fall between Normal and Savage difficulties currently available and will provide another avenue for an even wider range of players to experience the content.
A sneak peek at the raid gear sets available during the first phase of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Series: Beyond the Lifestream raid series, featuring Turk-inspired glamour outfits.
An outline of the content from the keynote address can be found below:
New Job: Zephyr – a physical ranged DPS
New Areas in the Icebound Realm of the Fourth
New Raid Series: New artwork for Beyond the Lifestream - a crossover with the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake Series.
New EVANGELION - Ghosts of Desire Trailer
New 8-Player Battle Content – High-difficulty 8-player battles featuring reworked encounters with bosses from alliance raids.
New Raid Series Difficulty: Fierce – A new level of difficulty, between the Normal and Savage difficulties.
Evolved Combat Mode – A new way to play your Warrior of Light that highlights each job’s unique identity.
New Reward System: Seasons – Seasons bring a significant change to how item rewards are obtained, providing a higher level of freedom to play the way you want to play.
Improved Character Creation & Character Action Skins – Expanded character customization and Character Action Skins allow new ways to express your character's personality.
Miscellaneous Updates – Expanded housing features, PvP updates, a revamped companion chocobo system and much more beginning in Patch 8.1.
The keynote also announced that Final Fantasy XIV Online has surpassed 35 million registered accounts worldwide.
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About FINAL FANTASY XIV Online
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