Final Fantasy XIV players threw themselves in the early access of Endwalker, the latest expansion to hit the acclaimed MMORPG, over this weekend. However, that experience was highly frustrating due to a series of issues, mainly long queues to actually get into the game.

　　The game's developers have now spoken about the problems through none other than Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida. In an open letter to fans, he apologized for all these issues and revealed that Square Enix has agreed to provide seven days of free game time as a form of compensation.

　　■ Regarding the congestion situation

　　Currently, all Worlds across all regions have been hitting the login cap for extremely long periods of time, and the progression of login queues is being slowed dramatically. Across the FFXIV service as a whole, the number of simultaneous logins has reached the hardware limit, and as a result, logging in has required an extremely long time, especially during “peak hours” when we tend to see increased player activity. For this, I am truly sorry.

　　■ Regarding game time compensation due to congestion

　　Considering that we are asking players to wait in queues for extremely long periods of time and the ongoing situation making it difficult to play normally, we have decided that during the official release of Endwalker on December 7, we will be granting 7 days of free game time to all players who own the full version of the game and have an active subscription. This also includes players who are currently playing on the 30-day free play period included when registering the full version of the game and those with multiple accounts.

　　Furthermore, we may give additional free game time depending on further developments on the congestion situation. The timing at which the free game time will be provided, as well as any additional extensions, will be announced at a later time. We truly appreciate your cooperation and patience regarding the congestion situation.

　　Our Kai tried Endwalker ahead of launch; you can check out his hands-on preview over here.