Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold will launch Tuesday, February 23, 2027, not in January as first planned. Director Naoki Yoshida made the delay call himself, announced at Fan Festival Tokyo. Pre-orders open November 4, 2026, and give early access from Friday, February 19, 2027.
Square Enix set the January 2027 window when it revealed the expansion at the Anaheim Fan Fest in April, IGN reported. CGMagazine reported that despite the team’s best efforts, Yoshida personally chose to push the launch back.
Pre-Orders on November 4 Unlock the February 19 Start
Players who pre-order can start four days before the February 23 launch, The Escapist reported. PCGamesN reported that the purchase brings a Wind-Up Köttr minion and Halone’s Earring, an item that boosts experience.
- November 4, 2026: pre-orders open.
- February 19, 2027: early access for pre-orderers.
- February 23, 2027: full launch.
- December: a benchmark for the new character creation options is planned, per The Escapist.
One outlet disagrees. Final Weapon gives February 23 as the release date, with early access beginning four days earlier. Most other outlets, including Shacknews, say early access begins on February 19, with the full release on February 23.
Outlets Disagree on Whether the Delay Is Three Weeks or Four
IGN said the delay was described as only four weeks. The Escapist, citing MMORPG.com, said the team was barely on track for January and needed roughly three more weeks to reach its quality bar. The sources don’t reconcile the figures, and they give no reason for the slip beyond quality.
The Escapist, citing PCGamesN, also reported that Yoshida bowed in apology on stage. Keynote lines carried by Nova Crystallis and PCGamesN include We put forth every effort to get this done at the end of January,
and a statement that the move aims to deliver on the many promises made as the team nears the finish line.
The material does not name the speaker of those lines.
Delay Leaves Two New Jobs and a 110 Cap Intact
No source reports content cut. Evercold adds two jobs, the tank Bastion and the physical ranged DPS Zephyr, which uses a crossbow and an avian familiar, and raises the level cap from 100 to 110, per GoNintendo and The Escapist.
Under a new battle system, players can toggle between Reborn Mode, which is built on the current combat system, and Evolved Mode, which is meant to emphasize what makes each job unique. Progression changes from daily to weekly, CGMagazine said, and Duty Support will fill empty party slots with computer-controlled characters.
Two raid series are planned. CGMagazine put the Final Fantasy VII crossover, Beyond the Lifestream,
at patch 8.0.1 and the Evangelion: Ghosts of Desire series at 8.1. Nova Crystallis lists normal mode in 8.01 and Savage mode in 8.05. The outlets’ patch numbering differs.
Keynote Details Reveal How Raids, Loot and Story Will Work
The Final Fantasy VII collaboration will run for three parts, and the team in Creative Studio I is giving the content its full support. The first tier is titled Fated Collision.
Yoshida said it has already been balanced and is almost ready. It is an eight-player series and introduces a new difficulty level called Fierce. Yoshida also showed original art by Tetsuya Nomura featuring Cloud, Sephiroth and the Warrior of Light.
Alliance raids will be split into two separate duties to ease the time burden. Each half pays out its own rewards, so a player chasing a specific drop only needs to run that half.
Loot is changing too. Savage Raids remain the source of high-end gear, but personal loot arrives, with a trade-in item guaranteed to every participant. Because every floor of the Raid is linked to particular slots, you’ll still have to clear all of them to finish your loadout. Yoshida pledged that the days of casting lots [for loot items] over and over, are over.
On the story side, players can tackle certain areas in the order they choose after a set point in the main scenario. Yoshida said not to worry about missing anything important, since it ties into later parts of the game. Seasons, he promised, are not paid season passes but a way of tracking progress across updates.
Auto-move is still a work in progress, but at launch players will be able to re-mount automatically after talking to an NPC that dismounts them, with certain exceptions. PvP gets a Hall of the Novice
in patch 8.1, along with a system to reduce taunting.
Switch 2 Gets Its First Expansion, With a Collector’s Box Catch
The new date applies to every version: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, The Escapist said. The Switch 2 version launched August 4, 2026, so Evercold is its first expansion. It needs its own subscription, though not Nintendo Switch Online, and Final Weapon said that subscription is 50% off for active subscribers on other platforms. Anime News Network said the game has passed 35 million registered accounts.
Buyers of physical goods should read the fine print. The Collector’s Bundle is sold in limited quantities, only through the Square Enix Store. The standalone Collector’s Box holds physical items only, with no expansion, in-game items or pre-order bonuses, The Escapist said. The sources give no bundle price.
The physical items in the bundle consist of the Evercold Special Art Box, Expertly Crafted Reaper Figure, Ethos Metal Keychain, Köttr Mini Plush, and Tapestry of the Fourth. The digital Collector’s Edition features three in-game items: the Crystal Skyltborg bastion weapon, Valhallar Odin mount, and Entreat Crystal emote.
Sources Leave Pre-Order Terms and Switch 2 Parity Unanswered
The sources don’t say whether pre-order or subscription terms change with the new date, or whether the Switch 2 version will match other platforms at launch. The next fixed date is November 4, when pre-orders open.