Will we see Final Fantasy 8.0, or just a lot more Beastmaster?
The 2026 Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest kicks off soon, as Square Enix starts the process of shifting away from Dawntrail toward whatever comes next. The keynote starts at 10 a.m. PDT on Friday, April 24, and Square Enix says it’ll last a little more than two hours. You can watch it on the FFXIV YouTube channel (separate streams for Friday and Saturday) and the game’s official Twitch channel.
Here’s what that start time looks like elsewhere around the world.
- 1 p.m. Friday, April 24, EDT
- 2 p.m. Friday, April 24, BRT
- 6 p.m. Friday, April 24, BST
- 7 p.m. Friday, April 24, CEST
- 2 a.m. Saturday, April 25, JST
- 3 a.m. Saturday, April 25, AEST
FFXIV producer Naoki Yoshida will present the keynote, and this is usually the part of Fan Fest where Yoshida and his team make the biggest announcements about what’s next for the game. In 2023’s first Fan Fest, for example, Square Enix revealed the Dawntrail expansion. Dawntrail‘s 7.5 update — the expansion’s last major patch — goes live a few days after Fan Fest ends, so there’s quite a lot of speculation floating around about Yoshida revealing FFXIV 8.0 during this keynote.
Square Enix hasn’t made any announcements or teased 8.0 news, so whether it happens is up in the air. But you can probably expect more details about the game’s Beastmaster job, and news about what’s ahead in the rest of the 7.5 patch series. Most of what Square Enix announced for the patch, including a much-needed dye revamp and changes to outfit storage, is planned for after 7.5’s initial launch, and Yoshida only gave brief overviews during the team’s previous Live Letter stream.
The keynote is only Fan Fest’s first part. Square Enix is following it with several events in the 24 hours after that, including:
- An interview panel with Yoshida and FFXIV battle designer Hikaru Tamaki
- A cosplay showcase
- An hour-long concert with FFXIV pianist Keiko
- This season’s PvP championship
- A talk by FFXIV localization lead Michael-Christopher Koji Fox
The full schedule is on the Fan Fest Lodestone page. And as always, the convention will end with a performance from The Primals, FFXIV‘s rock band. (Koji Fox and sound director Masayoshi Soken are members.) All these events will be streamed on the FFXIV YouTube and Twitch channels.