The official Twitch Channel of Final Fantasy XIV has been streaming live from a farm in London for a few days now. The audience is particularly taken with a rooster that now officially bears the name of a villain from the MMORPG.
What kind of stream is this? On August 23, the update 6.2 goes live in FFXIV, bringing many new content. This includes the island paradise, which is a kind of “Animal Crossing” content specifically designed for the MMORPG.
Players will explore an uninhabited island, build buildings, catch animals, and plant vegetables. Naoki Yoshida, the head of FFXIV, emphasized in interviews that this is relaxed content that everyone can experience at their own pace.
To hype the community for the island paradise, the official Twitch Channel of FFXIV started a stream directly from the city farm “Mudchute Park and Farm”, located in London. And fans quickly found their favorite among the animals shown.
Zenos, the rooster
This is Zenos: For the stream, the FFXIV team set up various decorations around the farm and placed several cameras in the enclosures, switching between them. They are located, for example, in the accommodations of goats, rabbits, donkeys, or also chickens.
Among these chickens is a rooster that immediately caught the attention of fans. For some reason, the chat decided that this rooster is definitely Zenos, one of the main antagonists of FFXIV (cover image).
He was originally introduced in the Stormblood expansion and accompanied players until the end of Endwalker, which concluded the ongoing story of the MMORPG. Accordingly, Zenos is one of the favorite characters of many players.
When the camera now jumped to the chicken coop and showed the rooster, the chat exploded with “Zenos” calls and expressions of love. Over time, many other animals also received names of NPCs, but none were as popular as the rooster.
This is how the community reacts: Zenos’s popularity skyrocketed within a few days, and shortly after the original start of the stream, the first fan arts of the Zenos rooster appeared on social media and Reddit.
The drawings received thousands of likes and were celebrated, with voices expressing a wish for a Zenos rooster as a companion.
In the chat, there was also speculation and argument about the breed of the rooster until the official Twitter account of Mudchute Farm clarified that it is indeed a “Barbu de Watermael” rooster. This is a dwarf chicken breed from Belgium that was bred in the early 20th century.
The adoration of the Zenos rooster peaked on August 16 when the farm announced on Twitter that the bird has been renamed and is now officially also called Zenos in real life. The post received over 8,000 likes on Twitter and the associated Reddit thread almost 4,000 upvotes.
The news was received with enthusiasm by fans:
- “We’ve done it. Guys, we’ve done it.” – @_EgoCollective
- “This is the second best thing that has happened to me this year. I’m so happy.” – @ZenosCollector
- “Please tell him that I love him and he is doing a great job!” – @nateharmonica
- “Now we just need a Zenos rooster companion, just like we got Gestahl in dog companion format.” – @MiguelArrior
If you want to see Zenos, the rooster, you can still do so on the official Twitch Channel of FFXIV. The farm stream will last until August 23, the release date of the new update 6.2.
Until then, Mudchute Farm will surely also collect a lot of donations from the enthusiastic Zenos fans for their animals.
During another action from the FFXIV team, a rabbit temporarily took over the MMORPG’s Twitter account:
Cute rabbit temporarily takes over Final Fantasy XIV’s Twitter – Fans plead: “Don’t leave us!”
