The FFXIV Evercold release date is Tuesday, February 23, 2027. Square Enix announced it during the Fan Festival 2026 in Tokyo keynote on October 31 (UTC). Players who pre-order get early access from Friday, February 19, 2027, and pre-orders open Wednesday, November 4, 2026, according to the official Final Fantasy XIV account.
That puts Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 8.0 expansion about a month after its original window. Square Enix had said “January 2027” since Evercold was announced at the Anaheim Fan Festival in April, and it repeated that window in its July update.
Table of Contents
FFXIV Evercold release date, early access and pre-order dates
| Milestone | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-orders open | Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | Pre-ordering is what qualifies you for early access |
| Early access | Friday, February 19, 2027 | Four days before launch |
| Full release | Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | Was “January 2027” until this keynote |
Square Enix has not yet posted unlock times by region, edition prices, or a date for the official benchmark. We’ll add them when it does.
Why was FFXIV Evercold delayed?
Producer and director Naoki Yoshida explained the move on stage. MMORPG.com reports he said the team had been “putting forth every effort” to ship at the end of January and was close to on schedule. However, it needed about three more weeks to reach the quality it wanted. Yoshida also said he made the call “personally”. Shacknews described the change as a slight delay from the January window.
This isn’t new for the series: Endwalker also slipped by two weeks before its December 2021 launch.
Evercold pre-orders and the Collector’s Bundle
Pre-orders start November 4. Square Enix has not posted the editions or prices yet. On October 27 the official account said only that an “FFXIV Collector’s Bundle” was “coming SOON”. Yoshida first showed the Collector’s Bundle in July. According to Square Enix’s announcement, it includes:
- Physical items: the Evercold Special Art Box, a Reaper figure, an Ethos metal keychain, a Köttr mini plush and the Tapestry of the Fourth.
- Digital Collector’s Edition items: the Crystal Skyltborg Bastion weapon, the Vallhallar Odin mount and the Entreat Crystal emote.
Before you pre-order, it’s worth securing your Square Enix account. Our guide to locking down an FFXIV account covers Square Enix’s October warning about break-ins.
Zephyr, Evercold's new physical ranged DPS job, fights with a crossbow and a bird familiar. Image: Square Enix
What else the Tokyo keynote confirmed
- Zephyr, the second new job: a physical ranged DPS that fights with crossbow shots and an avian familiar. It joins Bastion, the greatshield tank revealed earlier. FullCleared reports that both jobs start at level 90 and only work in the new Evolved Mode.
- Gauntlet of Power: a new four-player dungeon boss rush with up to five randomized bosses. Players vote after each fight whether to continue, and party matching is open to levels 51 to 110.
- Alliance raids in two parts: Evercold’s alliance raids will be split into two separate duties, and they add a new high-difficulty eight-player mode.
- Seasonal and raid gear: Seasonal Gear is earned with points from everyday content and upgraded through a new Fierce difficulty. Raid Gear still comes from eight-player Savage raids.
- New places and faces: Sessrymnir, the Realmship of Earth, and Skiðblaðnir, the Realmship of Wind. There’s also a second player town, Hjartadunur, and a new allied society, the fylgjur. The key characters are Visna, Baldr, Lagertha and Halmarut.
- A mount perk: owning the SDS Fenrir, Garland GL-IS or Hardy-Daytona raises the base speed of all your mounts by one level.
Gauntlet of Power is a four-player boss rush with up to five randomized bosses. Image: Square Enix
Square Enix’s Zephyr reveal trailer shows the crossbow and bird familiar in action:
Which platforms is Evercold on?
Evercold comes to every current version of Final Fantasy XIV: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Windows and Steam), Mac and Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch 2 version launched on August 4, so this will be its first expansion launch. Square Enix has said PS4 support continues through Evercold, though it estimates that PS4 support will end after Patch 8.3.
What’s next
Patch 7.58 maintenance on Tuesday, November 10 ends Crystalline Conflict Season 21. Before that, pre-orders open on November 4. Fan Festival 2026 in Tokyo continues with a second day of streams, so more Evercold details may follow. We’re tracking them on our live gaming news page. Evercold now lands two days before Ys VIII on Switch 2 (February 25, 2027). It also joins other big games that have slipped into 2027, like The Duskbloods.
Sources: Final Fantasy XIV (official, Bluesky), Evercold official site, MMORPG.com, Shacknews, FullCleared, Gematsu (April), Gematsu (July).
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Featured image: Square Enix
