Players of Final Fantasy XIV are being granted a temporary break from the game’s inactivity policy, which could result in the loss of player housing for those who fail to log in frequently. This policy adjustment comes in response to Hurricane Helene, which affected parts of the U.S. last week. Beginning October 2, the popular MMORPG has put a halt to the stipulation requiring players to log in every 45 days to maintain ownership of their homes.
This measure applies to all gamers accessing the Aether, Crystal, Dynamis, and Primal data centers, which represent the North American servers. If your property was at risk of being demolished prior to this policy shift, simply visiting or tending to your home will allow you to cancel the demolition process.
As of now, no end date for this reprieve has been announced. When Square Enix reactivates the log-in requirement, the counter will continue from its last recorded state; for instance, if you were on a 30-day threshold, it will pick back up at that point.
In a statement from the FFXIV development team, they expressed their sympathies for those impacted by Hurricane Helene. They conveyed their hopes for a swift recovery, urging affected players to return to the game as soon as possible.
Last week, Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 128 lives across six states, with over 2 million individuals without power. Such circumstances undoubtedly make logging into an MMO challenging.
This is not the first instance of Square Enix temporarily suspending the housing demolition timer. The company previously froze the requirement at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to the earthquake in the Noto Peninsula earlier this year. They also lifted the requirement when the latest expansion, Dawntrail, entered early access.
