Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold launches on Tuesday, February 23, 2027. Early access opens four days earlier, on Friday, February 19, for anyone who pre-orders from Wednesday, November 4. Square Enix put the date on screen during the Fan Festival 2026 keynote in Tokyo tonight, and the expansion’s own site had been saying “January 2027” until now, so the fifth expansion is landing about a month later than the window players had.
Watch the short YouTubeThe other headline from the keynote is Zephyr, the second new job. It is a physical ranged DPS that, in Square Enix’s words, “fells their quarry through a combination of crossbow shots and support from an avian familiar.” The reveal trailer shows a hooded, blue-robed character firing a crossbow while a bird dives on targets and sweeps around the arena, and producer and director Naoki Yoshida walked on stage in the job’s outfit to present it.
February 19 early access, February 23 launch, pre-orders from November 4
The three dates, as posted by the official Final Fantasy XIV account:
- Pre-orders open Wednesday, November 4, 2026. Pre-ordering is what qualifies you for early access.
- Early access begins Friday, February 19, 2027.
- Evercold releases Tuesday, February 23, 2027 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Windows, Mac and Steam.
Editions and prices had not been announced when this was written. We will add them once Square Enix posts the pre-order details. Updated at 23:20 ET with the alliance raid, mount and Adventurer Activities reveals, and at 00:35 ET with Gauntlet of Power, Fierce difficulty, gear tracks and the Patch 8.1 housing changes.
Zephyr joins Bastion as Evercold’s second new job
Zephyr pairs a crossbow with a bird. In the 84-second reveal trailer, the familiar flies ahead of the player, dives on enemies in green and gold bursts, and perches on the Zephyr’s arm between fights. The job’s look is wintry blue and white robes with a feathered cowl, matching the frozen world the expansion is set in. Square Enix has not yet published the job’s action list or its starting level.
Bastion, the first new job, was revealed at the Berlin Fan Festival in July. It is a main tank that wields a pair of greatshields called skyltborg, and it is built for the new Evolved Mode, the job-focused battle system Evercold introduces alongside the existing combat, which is being renamed Reborn Mode. Zephyr is the physical ranged DPS slot the official site had listed as “a second new job” without a name since the expansion was announced.
Five Realmships, a second town called Hjartadunur, and the fylgjur
The rest of the keynote so far has been world-building for the Fourth, the ice-locked reflection the Warrior of Light travels to after a new threat called the Solstice appears. The official account posted the reveals as they happened:
- Key characters: Visna, a pink-haired character with cat-like ears; Baldr, with red and white hair and a long green jacket; Lagertha, a silver-haired, pointed-eared figure; and Halmarut, shown holding Calyx. Square Enix is keeping it vague on which of them are friend or foe.
- The Realmships: five massive airships of the Fourth, each tied to an element. The keynote showed the Realmship of Earth, Sessrymnir, and the Realmship of Wind, Skiðblaðnir, in short videos, adding to the Realmship of Water, Naglfar, and the Realmship of Fire, Hringhorni, already on the expansion site.
- A second player town: Hjartadunur, following Fargarth, the new city announced earlier this year.
- A new allied society: the fylgjur, shown as four figures in large black wizard hats with only two purple eyes visible and three wheels where their legs should be.
Those sit on top of what the official Evercold site already lists: the level cap rising from 100 to 110, the alliance raid series “EVANGELION – Ghosts of Desire,” the eight-player raid series “Beyond the Lifestream,” a new Ultimate, a new difficulty tier between Normal and Savage, a Seasons system for rewards and item level, a reworked chocobo raising system, and a main scenario that at one point lets you pick the order you tackle certain areas in.
Alliance raids split in two, a mount speed bonus, and Adventurer Activities
Later in the keynote Square Enix moved on to systems, and three of them change how the everyday game runs. The official account posted each one as it was shown:
- Alliance raids are split into two parts. Each 24-player raid’s run is cut in half, and the halves become separate duties, which the studio pitches as “quick and easy to try.” A new high-difficulty eight-player mode is being added alongside it.
- Owning one fast mount speeds up all of them. If you have any one of the SDS Fenrir, the Garland GL-IS or the Hardy-Daytona, the base movement speed of every mount you own goes up by one level.
- Adventurer Activities is a new interface styled as a home base, with a side menu for Rewards, Seasonal Gear, Raid Gear and Missions and an activity level that unlocks rewards along a timeline. It is where the Seasons system from the expansion site appears to live.
Gauntlet of Power, Fierce difficulty, and housing changes in Patch 8.1
The back half of the keynote kept adding systems. The headline ones, again from the official account’s live posts:
- Gauntlet of Power is a new four-player boss rush: up to five randomized dungeon bosses in a row, with the party voting after each fight on whether to continue. Party matching covers levels 51 to 110 with auto content balancing, and a full preview is promised for a future Letter from the Producer Live.
- Fierce is the new raid difficulty, sitting above Savage. For the eight-player series it arrives one week after Savage opens, on the Patch 8.05 timeline, after Chapter 1 begins in Patch 8.01.
- Two gear tracks. Seasonal Gear is for everyday players, earned by playing content and raising your activity level, with item level upgrades through Fierce. Raid Gear comes from eight-player Savage raids and can be boosted, with Materia slots unlocked through Savage content and crafting materials.
- Housing changes start in Patch 8.1: customizable interior dimensions, so a large floorplan can fit inside a small house, a new housing interface with midair furnishing placement, and more plots.
- New dungeons were teased in a short video that included a village inside a volcano and an underwater area.
The last Fan Festival before launch
Tokyo is the third and final Fan Festival of the Evercold cycle, after Las Vegas and Berlin, and the keynote traditionally carries the date and the second job. It did both inside the first twenty minutes. With pre-orders five days away and early access just under sixteen weeks out, the remaining questions are the editions, the Collector’s Edition contents and the benchmark, and Square Enix usually answers those in the Lodestone post that follows the stream.
