Big Final Fantasy 14 Event Today May Reveal New Expansion, And You Can Watch Live

During a Final Fantasy XIV producer livestream from last year, which outlined the wave of content we got for the 5.4 update, it was revealed that a major event is planned for February. Well, that's today, and it's called the FFXIV announcement showcase. While it was not explicitly stated what would be revealed during the event, it's likely to include the first reveal of FFXIV's next expansion.

The FFXIV Announcement Showcase will be a live broadcast taking place on February 5, 2021 (today) starting at 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET (February 6, 1:30 AM GST), and it will include live Japanese-to-English interpretation with English audio. You can watch the livestream via the official FFXIV YouTube or FFXIV Twitch channels. We've also included an embed of the stream below.

This event was initially supposed to be part of a larger 14-hour livestream in lieu of Fan Fest which had to be cancelled due to the global pandemic. However, we will also get a new Live Letter from the Producer stream later in the night at 10:00 PM PT, following the announcement showcase, to outline what's coming in patch 5.5 for FFXIV.

Not much has been said about the showcase itself, although you can expect it to be the opportunity for Square Enix to show off the upcoming expansion for FFXIV. The MMORPG has been on a schedule that delivers one expansion every two years and five major content updates in between that link story events across the expansions. The latest one, Shadowbringers, launched in July 2019 and was met with wide critical acclaim--for context, the reveal for it took place on November 2018. The previous two expansions, Stormblood and Heavensward, launched in 2017 and 2015, respectively.

Patch 5.4, which went live on December 8, continued the main story questline along with the whimscial instanced dungeon called Matoya's Relict. The update also included the last phase of the Eden raid series, and more in the Sorrow of Werlyt quests which pitted you against Emerald Weapon in a boss fight. Major changes also came to the Monk job as well as other features such as Triple Triad and Explorer mode for dungeons. Subsequent updates, such as patch 5.45 that landed this week, made changes and additions to the Ishgardian Restoration content and Bozjan Southern Front quests.

If you plan on getting into the game, be sure to use my FFXIV starter's guide as you jump into the extensive FFXIV free trial that includes the entire base game and first expansion. Stay tuned for our coverage of the FFXIV announcement showcase as well.