Final Fantasy XIV unveils Evercold expansion and Switch 2 launch at Anaheim Fan Festival

What’s happening

Square Enix used the keynote of its Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2026 in Anaheim, California, on April 24 to reveal Evercold, the long-running online role-playing game’s next major expansion. Producer and director Naoki Yoshida — known to the player base as “Yoshi-P” — confirmed that Evercold will be version 8.0 of the game and is scheduled for release in January 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X/S.

The announcement was the centerpiece of a multi-day convention that runs April 24–25 and is being livestreamed worldwide. The official video on the Final Fantasy XIV YouTube channel, which the keynote audio is drawn from, has already drawn more than 800,000 views and combines Yoshida’s Japanese-language presentation with English-language passages from longtime localization lead Michael-Christopher Koji Fox.

Alongside the new expansion, Square Enix also confirmed a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game arriving in August 2026, an alliance raid crossover with the anime franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion, and an expansion of the game’s free trial. Together, the announcements amount to one of the largest single-day reveals for the title since its 2013 relaunch.

Background

Final Fantasy XIV first launched in 2010, was taken offline after a troubled debut, and was relaunched in 2013 as A Realm Reborn under Yoshida’s direction. Since then it has shipped five paid expansions: Heavensward (2015), Stormblood (2017), Shadowbringers (2019), Endwalker (2021) and Dawntrail (2024). Evercold will be the sixth expansion and the first to start a new multi-year story arc since Endwalker closed out the original “Hydaelyn and Zodiark” saga.

Fan Festival is Square Enix’s traveling player convention, held roughly once per expansion cycle in three cities. The Anaheim event is the first of three planned for this cycle, with follow-up shows scheduled for Berlin on July 25–26, 2026, and Tokyo on October 31–November 1, 2026, according to the official Fan Festival website. Each event typically reveals additional details about jobs, story and release plans.

The keynote was delivered by Yoshida in Japanese and translated live for the English-speaking audience. Coverage outlets including Gematsu, RPG Site, MMORPG.com and Anime News Network reported the announcements in real time and have published their own write-ups that broadly agree on the major details.

What independent sources confirm

The expansion’s full English title is Evercold; the Japanese subtitle translates as “Wanderer of the Silver.” The story will begin a new narrative arc that Square Enix is calling the Godless Realms Saga, and the action moves to a parallel world known in the series’ lore as “the Fourth,” one of several surviving reflections of the original Source world. According to RPG Site and Gematsu, players will explore a region that has been overtaken by spreading ice, with Yoshida promising new cities, dungeons, trials, a raid series and an Ultimate raid.

Two entirely new jobs are planned for launch — a tank and a physical ranged damage dealer — and the level cap will rise from 100 to 110, as reported by Gematsu and Siliconera. Square Enix is also overhauling the combat system for the 21 existing jobs, introducing a choice between “Reborn Mode,” which preserves current rotations, and “Evolved Mode,” which simplifies inputs and reworks abilities; new jobs introduced from 8.0 onward will only support Evolved Mode. Yoshida said both modes will be balanced for all content.

The keynote also confirmed Evangelion: Ghosts of Desire, an alliance raid series developed in collaboration with khara, Inc., the studio behind the Evangelion franchise. MMORPG.com notes that the project ties in with the 30th anniversary of the original anime series. On hardware, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XIV will arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 in August 2026, with an early-access period beforehand and a separate monthly subscription that will be discounted by 50% for current subscribers, according to Gematsu. Finally, the game’s free trial expands on April 28, 2026, to include the Shadowbringers expansion and content through patch 5.58, multiple outlets reported.

What’s still unclear

Square Enix has not yet announced a precise release day in January 2027, nor has it confirmed pricing for the expansion or its collector’s edition. The names and full ability sets of the two new jobs were not disclosed at the keynote, and the new playable race teased during the presentation — described by attendees and outlets such as MMORPG.com as a small, cat-like people — has not been officially named or detailed.

Yoshida also flagged that PlayStation 4 support may face technical limitations around patch 8.3, but did not commit to an end-of-support date. Additional specifics on the Evangelion crossover, the Switch 2 version’s exact August launch date, and pricing of the new Switch 2 subscription tier are expected at the Berlin and Tokyo Fan Festivals later this year.