Final Fantasy XIV customers refunded for unstable servers

Sony has refunded players who have downloaded Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn from the PlayStation Network due to a multitude of errors being experienced in the popular MMO by SquareEnix.

The problems started at launch as over 300000 players flooded the servers causing mass failure across all territories. When the problems continued, SquareEnix were forced to implement login restrictions to counteract the strain in a vain attempt to reduce login problems.

The game’s director Naoki Yoshida was quick to apologize in the Official Forums and explains how he underestimated the sheer volume of people eager to play, due to the failure of the original FFXIV.

As many of you know, this is the second launch for Final Fantasy XIV–something unprecedented in the MMORPG market. Considering the outcome of our first launch, our sales estimates for this one were decidedly conservative, as we believed that there would be a more gradual rise in users over the opening weeks and months.

Instead, to our pleasant surprise, we experienced tremendous support from a great number of players who were eager to get into the game from day one. To ensure that these players, once logged in, were able to play in a stable environment, we were required to implement login restrictions which kept server population near maximum capacity without exceeding those numbers.

Customers effected by this will see a full refund appearing in their virtual PlayStation Store wallet, entitlements reset and the game reappearing in their download list. As of writing, this refund applies to digital downloads only.