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Final Fantasy XIV North American Servers Experience Major Outage: Power Outage, Not DDoS
A significant server outage impacting all four North American data centers of Final Fantasy XIV occurred on January 5th, shortly after 8:00 PM Eastern. Initial reports and player accounts on social media suggest the outage stemmed from a localized power failure in the Sacramento area, possibly due to a blown transformer. Service was restored within an hour.
This incident contrasts with the persistent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that plagued the game throughout 2024. DDoS attacks, which flood servers with false information, cause high latency and disconnections. While Square Enix employs mitigation strategies, these attacks remain a challenge. Players have sometimes used VPNs as a workaround.
The January 5th outage, however, appears unrelated to DDoS activity. Reddit users reported hearing a loud explosion or popping sound in Sacramento, consistent with a blown transformer, around the time of the outage. This corroborates the power outage theory. Square Enix acknowledged the issue on the Lodestone and is currently investigating the cause.
Impact and Recovery:
The outage was geographically limited; European, Japanese, and Oceanic data centers remained operational. Recovery was gradual, with Aether, Crystal, and Primal data centers returning to service before Dynamis.
Looking Ahead:
This latest server disruption adds another layer of complexity to Square Enix's ambitious plans for 2025, including the highly anticipated launch of Final Fantasy XIV Mobile. The long-term consequences of these recurring server issues remain to be seen.
