Massive Final Fantasy XIV server merge incoming

Square Enix have announced a round of server mergers for Final Fantasy XIV that'll bring the server count for the troubled MMO down from 18 to 10, almost halving the server count.

The server merge will happen on March 27th. Players can transfer their characters to a new world of their choosing between the 1st and 19th March - failure to do so by then will result in Square Enix picking a new world for you - which could potentially split players up from their friends. 

While the current worlds sport Final Fantasy-inspired names like Lindblum (named after Final Fantasy IX's steam-power obsessed kingdom) the new servers will merely be named "New World" 1 through 10, but will likely be renamed at a later date. French and German players are advised they pick New World 10, consolidating speakers of those languages.

More details on how it'll all go down can be found on The Lodestone. The server mergers and closures are all part of a larger plan to return the MMO, which suffered a disasterous launch, to profitability.

We spent some time chatting to the new Producer on the game tasked with the clean-up, Naoki Yoshida, back in October. He was clear that there's a lot of work to be done.

You can find tons of Media of Final Fantasy XIV over in the Media Vault.