During the keynote of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2026 in Japan, Square Enix revealed the release date and more details about the upcoming expansion, dubbed Evercold.
We learn that the expansion launches on February 23, 2027, with early access for those who pre-order starting on February 19. It’s a bit later compared to the targeted January release window.
Pre-orders start on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.
Incidentally, the traditional Benchmark will be released in December, and it’ll include the new character customization option.
We also get the reveal of the second new job, and it’s the ranged DPS named Zephyr.
Like the Bastion, it’ll only have the new Evolved battle mode, and its main arm is the crossbow. It’ll start at level 90, with the job quest located in Gridania.
If you’re wondering, the arcane bird familiar is named “Nephele.”
You can see the Zephyr in action below.
We also get the reveal of the Realmship of Earth, dubbed Sessrymnir.
The second realmship introduced today is Skiðblaðnir, the Realmship of Wind.
Next, we take a look at more areas, including the second player town, named Hjartadunur.
An interesting system that will be introduced with version 8.0 will let you automatically remount after speaking to an NPC or interacting with a gathering mode.
The mounts that currently grant improved speed will automatically grant that speed increase to all of your mounts as long as you own one.
The new difficulty mode between Normal and Savage has been given a name, and it’s “Fierce.”
Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Alliance Raids are going to undergo a change. They will be split into two different duties to make them easier to complete in less time.
After you complete the first half, you’ll be matched for the second. After you complete both, you can pick whichever half you want.
New ways to obtain loot are also being considered, and while the developers aren’t ready to share them, “the days of casting lots over and over are over.”
We also get the announcement of Savage versions of the Alliance Raids with only 8 players. They will include 2 unique battle stages, and they will be on par with Savage Turn 3-level mechanics.
The rewards will be raid gear upgrade materials. This will start with the new Alliance Ride, Evangelion: Ghost of Desire.
Updating older alliance raids with the new concepts is being considered for future patches.
Another reveal is a new kind of battle content coming with Evercold, the Gauntlet of Power. Different from instanced dungeons, the auto-balancing system will keep everyone at their current level and with their current actions and rotation.
It’s a boss rush level in which you face up to 5 bosses. After each, you vote whether to continue or to end there. The bosses are randomly selected from a pool of over 200.
You can start playing this mode at level 51 after having completed the main scenario of Stormblood. It’s great for leveling new jobs.
After each boss, the party votes whether to continue or to stop there.
Evercold will bring two different types of gear: Seasonal Gear earned with activity points and Raid Gear.
Speaking of Seasonal Gear, you will progressively earn items that can unlock the gear you want for all of your jobs. This is done via a new interface.
Item level for this gear can be raised once per season via optimization items. Each piece of gear will have 2 materia slots.
During even patches, you get these optimization items via the new Fierce 8-player raids (one item a week).
During the odd patches, you can get 1 piece per week via trials, including normal. In Fierce raids, you’ll be able to get unlimited items during odd patches.
Raid gear will be for high-end players, and it’s obtained by completing savage 8-player raids. Raid coffers will drop for each individual party member.
If you’d like to learn more about the expansion, you can check out the details from the first Fan Festival in the United States and what we learned during the second Fan Festival in Germany.
