Final Fantasy XIV Producer and Director, Naoki Yoshida, has provided an update on the impact COVID-19 has had on development.
Yoshida cites several reasons for this impact, 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.
- Delays 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.
He continues, explaining that patch 5.3 will be delayed due to these reason. The team does not know yet how long the delay will be, whether two to three weeks, or up to a month. Servers will be maintained from home, while GM support may take longer to respond. Bug fixes may be difficult to implement due to the situation as well,
“In some cases, we may have difficulty implementing bug fixes or maintenance for issues that occur. If that happens, we will post a notification of the issue, and implement the fix as soon as we are able, so we ask for your patience in the meantime.”
Yoshida assures that the team is doing fine while ending on a hopeful note,
“While many of us worldwide remain inside our homes, we should remember to let joy and laughter fill them?because in times like these, it’s especially important to find happiness where you can.”
