Final Fantasy XIV kicked off its North American Fan Festival with the global premiere of its next expansion, Evercold, which is slated to release in January 2027.
As seen in the teaser trailer, the expansion will take players to a new Shard known as the Fourth, which is being ravaged by an encroaching ice. Director and producer Naoki Yoshida shared further Evercold screenshots and concept art through his keynote presentation, which notably showed locations that were not yet affected by that ice—with the expansion under heavy development, more will be shown at subsequent events this year.
Among the concepts was a new feline NPC race which, judging by the attendees’ reactions, has immediately become a fan favourite, and must be protected.
Text in the teaser trailer called players to “Go forth. Discover. Unite the stars unto one.” Despite the explosive connotations, Yoshida did not further elaborate during his presentation, but the teaser shows the player’s character arriving in a new realm with Estinien and Alphinaud; also notable, the player character changed from the Viper class from Dawntrail into the Reaper class from Endwalker by the teaser’s dramatic conclusion.
Like previous expansions, Evercold will feature two additional job classes, though we do not yet know what they will be called. One will be a Tank (judging by Yoshida’s tradition of wearing hints to upcoming classes, it may be related to the rarely-seen character of Rhitahtyn) and one will be a physical ranged DPS; both will be original additions based on Final Fantasy XIV and not derived from other games in the series. Alongside the new classes, the level cap will be raised to 110.
Yoshida’s address largely discussed changes to the game’s design philosophy which will take effect in Evercold (and some even before). The changes speak to a shift in perspective—Yoshida claimed that neither the players, the developers, the industry, nor the game itself is the same as it was when A Realm Reborn launched, and the game needs to evolve and grow to keep up with its players’ needs.
A mock-up of a prospective user interface update showed a much more modern take on the character screen, looking more natural than the boxy approach Final Fantasy XIV has used for over a decade. Yoshida claims the game is shifting from a daily focus to a weekly focus, meaning players can decide if they want to spread their regular tasks over the course of a week, or cram it all into the weekend.
This will also see an adjustment to the way equipment Item Levels (iLvl) are handled. As of Evercold, iLvl will reflect the player’s highest iLvls, meaning players can more easily swap jobs instead of needing to grind up their gear for each individual class.
Character creation options will expand considerably as well, allowing players to tweak hair, eye, and skin tone colors freely instead of relying on presets—though despite translator and Localization Lead Michael-Christopher Koji Fox’s jokes, there will not be a “butt slider.”
Before Evercold, restrictions on player matching will be considerably changed. Final Fantasy XIV players will be able to freely match up with players across their entire Data Center instead of just their World, without dramatic measures like swapping data centers to find their friends. A long-requested Party Finder feature will help facilitate this as well.
As of Evercold, the regular classes currently in the game—all those up through Dawntrail—will have two modes which can be toggled at anytime outside of combat: Reborn Mode and Evolved Mode. Reborn, as in A Realm Reborn, is the game as it has been played since that era. Evolved, however, will have different rotations and fewer inputs. Yoshida cut off comparisons to Street Fighter 6’s Modern control scheme, which was largely panned by fans; Evolved Mode’s focus is to allow more individuality without watering down the experience. (Evercold’s classes, and all future ones, will only have Evolved mode.)
The next Alliance Raid series earned an excited reaction from the audience in attendance, as it was announced that Final Fantasy XIV is collaborating with the beloved anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Creative Studio 3 is developing the raid with supervision and heavy involvement from series creator Hideaki Anno. Yoshida is a self-described “Evangelion otaku” and feels the pressure to do right by this very unexpected crossover.
Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu helped close out the keynote with the announcement of a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy XIV, which Yoshida briefly showed playing in handheld mode. Nintendo players won’t need to wait until Evercold to embark on the journey—the Nintendo version is planned for release in August after a month of early access to test stability, thought they will need a separate subscription. (Existing Warriors of Light with game time on another platform will be able to pay half price for the Nintendo subscription.)
And a long-loved meme will need to be updated, as the Final Fantasy XIV Free Trial is being expanded to include Shadowbringers.
Final Fantasy XIV’s North American Fan Festival continues through Saturday, with more details on Evercold to follow at the European event in Berlin this July, and at the Japanese even in Tokyo at the end of October.
