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Final Fantasy XIV: Restoration of Service
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Square Enix has announced that service for both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV will be restored on Friday, March 25th. The team has reduced its power use to accommodate the needs of the two games' servers. As a result, both games will be brought online at that time. The team adds the caveat that game service may still be cut depending on the energy situation in Japan.
Operating the servers for these services makes up 11.6% of the total power consumed by our Tokyo office (based on February 2011 records). We have shut down our air conditioning system (8.8%) and enacted other power conservation measures, such as reducing lighting in our offices, to achieve over 10% in energy usage reductions. With these energy saving measures in place, we will be able to bring our servers back online and restore service to FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline on Mar. 25, 2011 4:00 (PDT). All other services, such as those offered on the PlayOnline website, that were temporarily suspended will also be restored at the same time. Please be aware, however, that we may once again be required to suspend services in the event that the power situation worsens.
We offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension of these services, and thank you for your understanding. As noted in our original notice regarding the suspension of these services, customers will not be charged any monthly fees for FINAL FANTASY XI throughout the April billing cycle.
We at the Square Enix group are trying to act in a proactive manner in order to provide support towards the relief and restoration efforts in the face of this unprecedented disaster while providing reliable service to our customers, and we thank you for your understanding and support.
Read more here.
Comments
I don't play either of these games, but I commend SE for doing this. It must be no small feat to reduce power from elsewhere so you can continue to provide service to your customers for these 2 games. Well played, SE.
I wish SE and everyone in Japan all the best, and send well wishes to everyone affected by the quake and tsunami.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
They just should have moved the servers somewhere else, they had plenty of time to. A good example of how NOT to run a business. If you run your business on computers, a good disaster recovery is a mandatory item. Guess they forgot about that.
Some of the talking heads in this company need to leave or be fired because of inexcusable lapses during the past year.
How are they screwing the customer? Fee's for april have been suspended (for what, a week's worth of down time?) They're doing what they need to do, and their communities/fans are being very supportive of these decisions. I'm surprised service is being brought back on this early.
Japans whole infrastructure from electricity to transit has been down because of greatest natural disaster since Thailands tsunami...and you guys are whining over two weeks of game downtime.
Indeed. If you look at every other computer-related business in Japan, ALL of them have had the good sense to move their servers out of the country rather than weather a two-week outtage. At this time of this announcement, SquareEnix is in fact the only Japanese business with any servers still residing in Japan. </sadlynecessarysarcasmtag>
And to continue with the same trend, players get to play for the duration of April for free.
I'm sorry, but I can't believe how disgusting some individuals can be.
An entire nation is on the brink of a near unrecoverable collapse and some of you can only bitch that they should have moved their servers.
What the hell is wrong with some of you?
SE shouldn't have to apologize. I"m glad to see they aren't abandoning their country, and doing their best to work through this tragedy.
It really is nothing new people have been saying this stuff the very day the servers went down. Some people are just natural born aholes...
I agree SE shouldn't have to apologize.
Moving servers would have been best solution imo. I am not playing FF (just saying). First because entire country have problems with power and if servers were in other country they wouldnt take one bit of so much japan needed energy. Another thing is that people running servers would be more far away from risks. Also players would be happy. I would say it is win-win thing to move servers.
I honestly can't believe what some of you guys are whining about. Did you forget these are just video games? People's families and suffering, and I'd be shocked and amazed if none of those employees had family that perished, if not themselves.
This really isn't the time to be upset because you can't play a video game. Have a little respect, and while you're at it maybe you should leave your computer chair and like...venture outside the house. Remind yourselves of what it's like to be human.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
There server where not distroyed. They took them down. I am sure they have a plan to run the servers on an other locations, but the change is that location would have been in Japan. Being in such a region I am sure they have anticipated earth-quakes and tsunamie's, but no-one anticipated such a dissaster as this.
Also running a business is more these days then just pleasing your consumers by having 100% uptime. You know the whole People Planet Product concept?
The Incident in Japan aside,( god rest the souls of the lost lives, or Ala or whatever you happen to belive, may they find peace with whatever awaits them. ) moving servers and routing new services is not as simple as a lets pack up and move operation it requiers a lot of time money and carful planning. Also considering a lot of their fan base is in Japan the servers were in an optimal location to provide service to its customers there. I am also sure they do have off-shore servers but propobly brought those down as well to save money and focus thier efforts on other matters. Additionally wtf do you know about running a business, and takeing a handful of college course work does not automaticlly quallify you to be a businesss owner or allow you to know how to make the most sound business deciscions. There is a lot a play that needs to be considered and the variables change from types of companies to the individual companines themselves. Unless you work or worked for SE you couldn't possibly know the options they had. Addtionally what time did they have to move the servers I seriously dout after the disater hit the first thing on there mind was serever transistion.
I dont want to be harsh on people but open your eyes to the world around you and try to consider (to use a clicqe) "the big picture" because there is a lot more going on then the face value of any sitiation. People not being able to see beyound thier own scope of reallity is what is causing problmes in the first place when it comes to getting along with one another. So do yourselves a favor and try to see the world from more than one narrow point of view.
We go trough life with many yet there is a time we must walk our path alone.
They are working without AC and on minimal power and yet still managing to get stuff done and they're actually going to put servers up this soon? Colour me impressed.
TBH I wouldn't care if they did charge for april and donate it to the quake fund.The people of japan are living a nightmare at the moment the LAST thing anyone should be concerned with is a silly pixel character.Give them a break as someone else said I am sure quite a few of them lost family during this have some sympathy.
Clearly you fail to see the total picture here is a good example.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp cut output at five more plants and Toyota Motor Corp delayed restarting assembly lines, as the global supply of parts and products began to feel the full impact of Japan's catastrophic earthquake.
Global electronics and autos companies have been hardest hit by the turmoil, but in an illustration of how the ripples are spreading, Rio Tinto, the world's No. 2 iron ore miner behind Brazil's Vale, warned the disruptions posed a threat to its expansion plans.
Miners are already facing longer waits for key equipment as companies ramp up exploration, making shutdowns at plants manufacturing heavy earth-moving equipment and electronics more likely to create additional pressures.
"I expect the Japanese situation to impact deliveries of Japanese-sourced equipment ... but so far we are OK," Mark Cutifani, chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti, told the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit on Tuesday.
More than 10 days after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and 10-meter tsunami struck the northeast of Japan, manufacturers are struggling to get back up to speed as factories grapple with power cuts, crippled infrastructure and a shortage of parts.
Companies from General Motors Co to Nokia Oyj are feeling the impact.
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, said all 12 Japanese assembly plants would remain closed until at least Saturday and it was not sure when they would reopen. Production lost between March 14-26 would be about 140,000 units.
Electronics giant Sony said five more of its plants, mostly in central and southern Japan and producing digital and video cameras, televisions and microphones, were hit by parts shortages and would close or cut output until the end of March.
"If the shortage of parts and materials supplied to these plants continues, we will consider necessary measures, including a temporary shift of production overseas," the maker of PlayStation games consoles said in a statement on Tuesday.
A sixth plant north of Tokyo was set to resume production on Tuesday, but it could be interrupted by rolling blackouts affecting some areas supplied by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), which operates the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.
Including two factories only partially restarted last week, 15 of Sony's 25 Japanese plants are affected. It has a total of 54 plants worldwide.
TECH CHAIN VULNERABLE
Japan's grip on the global electronics supply chain is causing particular concern. It produces around a fifth of the world's microchips and exported 7.2 trillion yen ($91.3 billion) worth of electronic parts last year, research from Mirae Asset Securities shows.
"There are a huge number of little bits of the high-tech food chain which are done nowhere but in Japan," said Sam Perry, senior investment manager of Pictet Japanese Equity Selection Fund. "Nobody else has the quality or the consistency, and in some cases the technology, to do it."
Following speculation it could face logistics problems getting key parts from Japanese suppliers, Apple Inc said it would roll out its newest iPad to 25 more markets this week, including France and the United Kingdom.
Apple launched the iPad 2 in the United States earlier this month and the recent wait time for one ordered online was four to five weeks.
Dell, which makes most of its revenue selling personal computers, said so far it sees no disruption to its supply chain but will look to additional component suppliers if necessary.
Rival Hewlett-Packard Co said it was still assessing the disaster's impact on its business.
"Vendors face uncertainty at the minute. The crisis in Japan is already impacting component prices and the importance of the Japan for the memory market will be a worry," Tim Coulling, PC analyst at Canalys, said.
"Though production has increasingly been outsourced to China, South Korea and other lower-cost markets, there are over 40 factories in Japan producing a significant proportion of the world's PC and smart phone components," Coulling added.
Fujifilm Holdings, the largest producer of triacetyl cellulose film used in making LCD panels, said its main factories are all west of Tokyo and were not directly affected. It has other facilities in northeast Japan, but said any disruptions were unlikely to damage its earnings.
Konica Minolta, the second-largest maker of the LCD film, said its three factories in the Tokyo region had been affected by the rolling power cuts. Company officials declined to specify what these factories produce.
Camera and copier maker Canon Inc, which has suspended all its domestic camera production until at least Thursday, said a lack of gasoline was affecting distribution and stopping staff getting to work in areas such as the island of Kyushu, where train services are minimal.
Nikon, which makes cameras and precision equipment, said it expected to resume production at all its north Japan plants by the end of March, but warned power cuts and shortages of parts could make a return to full production difficult.
Renesas Electronics Corp, the world's No. 5 chipmaker, restarted operations on Saturday at a semiconductor plant in Yamagata prefecture, in northwest Japan, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday -- leaving output suspended at six of the firm's 22 factories in Japan.
RIPPLES SPREAD
Hitachi Construction, Japan's No. 2 maker of earth-moving equipment, said five plants in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo, closed after the quake. Three have partially reopened, but there is no timetable for re-opening the others.
Tsunami damage to the nearest port means Hitachi is shipping some products from Yokohama, near Tokyo.
Carmakers are also struggling to get production lines restarted, with Honda Motor Co extending its production suspension until Sunday from Thursday.
A fifth of the company's leading Japan-based suppliers affected by the earthquake have said it will take "more than a week" to recover, Honda said late on Monday.
In a sign of some return to normality, Japan's top three steelmakers saw some progress in restoring production.
Nippon Steel Corp said output at the three blast furnaces at its mainstay plant in eastern Japan had recovered to pre-quake levels, while JFE Steel Corp said two blast furnaces at its 10 million tons-a-year plant near Tokyo were now operating normally.
(Additional reporting by Junko Fujita and Nathan Layne in Tokyo, James Regan in Perth, Tarmo Virki in Helsinki, Robert MacMillan in Bangalore, Noel Randewich in San Francisco and Clara Ferreira-Marques in London; Writing by Lincoln Feast and Alexander Smith;
I think this gets the message accross.
Old
Commendable! Good for you SE!
I just wanted to respond to the second poster, your a jerk. I'm sorry that SE is based in japan and that their services as well are based in Japan, just as Blizzard's services are based in one place in the US. And just as NCSoft, Arenanet, Nexon, Trion, Funcom, and others all are located in a single spot because that's how it has to be done. There is always a central place where the company works out of, it's how thing have to be run. Not to mention the earthquake happened at night and the citizens of japan were only given 11 minutes warning of the Tsunami. People need to stop trashing SE for something they couldn't help. What exactly have any of you incensensitive folk done but sit on your butts all day consuming soda/beer after soda/beer and playing the games these comapnies work so hard to make. I was surprised SE said they were going to restore services while cutting off all the ammenities that make the work place bearable. Just be thankful that SE is sacrificing much needed time to recoup for you. That's all.
Honestly, some people are so self-involved it's disturbing. A asteroid could have hit Japan and we'd still be listening to someone whining about how SE should have been more prepared.
What is happening in Japan is considered to be the worst disaster of our time. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but during events of this magnitude, video game servers are not a priority.
As others have said, I'm actually surprised they plan on restoring service so soon.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
YAY i can play again
...well friday 
.
Guess it shows just how much i like FFXI,i can't play anything else at all,all other games just bore me to death.
Of course we wish the JPN people the best of future luck,i couldn't believe some of the videos i saw of that disaster,like the rolling black water creeping through the city.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I've kept my mouth shut the entire time this crisis has gone on out of fear i may say something to make me look like a bafoon, fourtunatley alot of people beat me to the punch on that. I hope that the japanese people recover from this tragic series of events, and as far as the state of XI, XIV, or SE in general, it's completely secondary to the rest.
Played:FFXI, WoW, LOTR,EQ. Playing:FFXIV.
Looking Forward To:DCU, SWTOR.
Retarded post, If the servers are hosted in places other than japan or korea which has significantly better network infrastructure than any country's overall network infrastructure, global servers will probably suck so bad your balls will sweat playing online games