Square Enix has pulled back the curtain on Evercold, the sixth expansion for Final Fantasy XIV Online, revealing a brand-new tank job, a Final Fantasy VII Remake crossover raid, and a Nintendo Switch 2 launch date during the Fan Festival 2026 in Berlin keynote on July 25, 2026. We've got the full breakdown below.
Evercold is set to launch in January 2027, kicking off the start of the Goddless Realms Saga story arc and taking the Warrior of Light into the world of the Fourth. Square Enix also dropped an extended teaser trailer offering a first glimpse at the adventures ahead.
Who is the Bastion, Evercold's new job?
During the keynote, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida revealed the first new job coming to Evercold: the Bastion, a main tank that wields a pair of greatshields known as skyltborg. A dedicated job trailer was shown off alongside the reveal, and honestly, a tank sporting two greatshields is exactly the kind of chonker, protective fantasy we love to see.
What new features are coming to Evercold?
Yoshida detailed a handful of new systems and quality-of-life changes arriving with the expansion:
Flexible narrative structure - changes to the main scenario, field, and game system that let players choose which area they complete first between various paths in the main scenario.
Auto Content Balancing - difficulty scaling and enemy levels adjust to the appropriate player level as you play through dungeons in your chosen order.
Character Action Skins - a feature that lets you assign alternate animations to personalize existing general actions such as Teleport and Warp, with support for additional skins like job actions arriving in future updates.
Expanded character customization - a greater range of color options with a new color picker, the ability to fine-tune features such as eyes and lips, new elements such as eye shadow, and more.
the Final Fantasy VII crossover raid
Joined on stage by Final Fantasy VII Remake series Director Naoki Hamaguchi, Yoshida revealed "Beyond the Lifestream," a new Final Fantasy VII-themed 8-player raid series that players will challenge in Evercold. According to Square Enix, both development teams are working closely together to create the new raid experience.
That's not the only crossover in the works, either. Following April's reveal of the EVANGELION - Ghosts of Desire alliance raid series, Yoshida unveiled a new teaser trailer and announced that acclaimed director and animator Mahiro Maeda will join the project as a special guest artist and designer. Maeda's career includes work on "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015) as a concept artist and designer, and "EVANGELION:3.0 +1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME" (2021), where he served as director, concept art director, storyboard artist, art setting designer, and key animator.
When does Final Fantasy XIV come to Nintendo Switch 2?
Final Fantasy XIV will launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, with pre-orders starting now on the Nintendo eShop. To ensure server stability, there will be an approximately one-month free subscription period on Nintendo Switch 2. The Free Trial, Starter Edition, Complete Edition, and Dawntrail will all be available at launch, meaning more players than ever can jump into the world of Eorzea.
Everything revealed at the Berlin keynote
Here's the full rundown of content shared during the keynote:
New Job: Bastion, a main tank wielding two greatshields known as skyltborg.
New Areas in the Icebound Realm of the Fourth: Naglfar, the Realmship of Water; Hringhorni, the Realmship of Fire; and Fargarth, a new city.
New Raid Series: Beyond the Lifestream, a crossover with the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.
New EVANGELION - Ghosts of Desire teaser trailer.
Chocobo Companion System Overhaul (Patch 8.1): Expansive updates to chocobo companions, including an overhaul of the chocobo raising system, plus the ability to call forth your chocobo to assist you in dungeons.
Nintendo Switch 2 Version: Available for pre-order now; the Free Trial, Starter Edition, Complete Edition, and Dawntrail launch on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.
Same-Region Player Matching (Patch 7.5x): Matchmaking will expand across entire physical data centers rather than being limited by logical data centers, beginning with Japan in mid-October and North America and Europe to follow.
New Gold Saucer Mini-game - Keybound Brawler: a Final Fantasy VII-themed typing mini-game for up to four players, arriving Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
What's in the Evercold Collector's Bundle?
Yoshida also revealed the Evercold Collector's Bundle, which includes a collection of physical items:
Evercold Special Art Box
Expertly Crafted Reaper Figure
Ethos Metal Keychain
Köttr Mini Plush
Tapestry of the Fourth
The bundle also includes the digital Collector's Edition, featuring three in-game items: the Crystal Skyltborg bastion weapon, Vallhallar Odin mount, and Entreat Crystal emote. Square Enix says more information regarding availability and pre-orders will be announced in the future.
What else is happening right now?
Before all the Evercold excitement, Patch 7.55 is releasing on Tuesday, July 28, bringing new Occult Crescent, Phantom Weapons, Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures, and Allied Society quests.
Square Enix also notes that Final Fantasy XIV now has more than 30 million total registered players. The Free Trial currently includes all content from A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers up through patch 5.58, with no limit on playtime.
Fan Festival 2026 in Berlin continues through Sunday, July 26, with stage content streaming live on Twitch and YouTube, and commemorative in-game items available at a discounted price until Wednesday, August 12, 2026. The piano and THE PRIMALS concerts are available as a paid stream until Sunday, August 16, 2026.
Square Enix today revealed brand-new information about Evercold, the sixth expansion for its critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV Online, set to launch in January 2027 alongside new playable content, a Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy crossover raid series, the Nintendo Switch 2 version release date and more.
What are you most hyped for - the Bastion tank job, the Final Fantasy VII crossover raid, or finally taking Eorzea on the go with Nintendo Switch 2? Let us know in the comments!
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