The upcoming North American Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival scheduled to take place in November has been officially cancelled amidst coronavirus woes, according to the latest Letter from the Producer post on FFXIV's forums.
The news was delivered in a post by Naoki Yoshida, the producer for Final Fantasy XIV:
We have received queries from many worried players, concerned with how the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will impact the North American Fan Festival. Allow me to explain the current situation.The North American Fan Festival was scheduled to be held in San Diego half a year from now in November, but after much deliberation we have made the difficult decision to cancel proceedings.Although we have been moving forward with various arrangements to adapt to the unfolding pandemic, we ultimately feel that we cannot guarantee the health and safety of the attendees, performers, or company staff members who would be present at the event. Thus it is with great regret that we arrive at this conclusion, and I offer my sincere apologies to all who were looking forward to enjoying the festivities."
Naoki Yoshida did mention that they are looking at early 2021 for a possible event in North America, as well as exploring other options to bring the event realized digitally. That said, currently both the Fan Festivals taking place in Japan in December and Europe in February are still in the works... for now.
Additionally, Naoki Yoshida announced that the upcoming Patch 5.3 that was originally slated for June 16 has been pushed back by more than a month due to the nature of work-at-home practices. This news comes as a dissapointment to many players since Patch 5.3 includes a new NieR Cross-Over and streamlined the Main Story Quests, but players can sympathize with the FFXIV's team to work-from-home amidst this pandemic - even going so far as to hold an in-game funeral for a player who passed away due to COVID-19
