DDoS attacks hit FFXIV servers offline worldwide as Square investigates

Final Fantasy XIV has been the target of a global Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that has affected servers worldwide, leaving players frustrated and unable to properly play the game.

As announced in a dev blog post, DDoS attacks began at around 6AM PDT on March 6 and are causing difficulties in logging players in, as well as accessing and sending data from the servers. This attack is worldwide, affecting the Japanese, North American, European, and Oceanic data centers.

The devs have noted that they’re currently investigating the attacks and taking countermeasures to prevent this, and will be providing more information as the situation develops. Players have had a mixed reaction to the attacks, with some being understanding and joking about the situation with various memes, while others venting their frustrations on social media.

Final Fantasy XIV does have scheduled maintenance occurring today, having started at 6PM PDT, meaning the game is completely offline regardless of the attacks. However, it’s yet to be known if the DDoS attacks will continue to cause difficulties for the developers even after said maintenance.

The DDoS attacks have come in the wake of FFXIV director Naoki Yoshida announcing a further graphical update to the Dawntrail benchmark after players were unsatisfied. The updated benchmark is slated to be released on May 23 or slightly later in the same week.

Similarly, the attacks have also coincided with the announcement that content creator CDawgVA will be starting their own playthrough of Final Fantasy XIV, after reaching their $1 million goal on their Cyclethon.

Final Fantasy XIV’s Dawntrail will be released on June 28 for early access owners, with the main release launching on July 2, 2024.