Final Fantasy XIV broke records in player numbers with the expansions Shadowbringers and Endwalker. However, the new one Dawntrail is suffering from player attrition, and it seems the veterans are the ones dropping off right now.
What are the current player numbers? According to the latest census from the blog Lucky Bancho, the player numbers for Final Fantasy XIV have once again decreased. The total number of active characters is currently 948,098, which is over 46,000 fewer than in March 2025. At that time, the overall total globally dropped below 1,000,000 for the first time since 2021.
What stands out particularly is that while there are rising numbers of new and returning players, it appears the veterans are leaving: While there were still over 890,000 long-term characters active during Patch 6.2 in Endwalker, there are now only about 740,000 at Patch 7.2. And the differences between Patches 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2 are significant, too.
It is actually completely normal for Final Fantasy XIV that player numbers decline during the patches. However, the departures of veterans have been significantly lower in all previous expansions.
The numbers reveal: The largest player decline in 8 years
Where do the numbers come from? Square Enix does not publish official numbers regarding players or characters. However, the Steam player numbers via SteamDB are available. There, the game recorded an all-time peak of 95,150 concurrent players about 3.5 years ago.
Lucky Bancho uses publicly available data from the official community site, the Lodestone, for its statistics. You can check what exactly they analyze to calculate their numbers beneath.
This is how Lucky Bancho categorizes the data
- Maximum level is 70 or higher (excluding exactly 70) OR the job is a job that cannot be unlocked in the Free Trial OR the character belongs to a Free Company (FC).
- HP, level, and experience points have changed since the last survey (16.03.).
- The number of companions (Minions) and mounts has changed since the last survey.
- New characters that were not present in the previous survey.
- Characters with public profile, Minions, and Mounts in the Lodestone.
- Owns at least one mount.
- Characters that leveled a job with a Jumping Potion at the time of data collection (indicated by main weapons with item level 390 at level 70, IL530 at level 80 or IL660 at level 90) are excluded.
Based on this data, the player numbers for Final Fantasy XIV currently look like this:
The numbers are not official, but they likely come quite close to the actual number of players. It is important to note though, that these numbers are based on characters. Per service account, between 8 and 40 can be owned. Therefore, the actual number of people playing is probably lower, as many Warriors of Light can be played by one person over time.
Unlike in previous expansions, in Dawntrail, it is primarily the veterans who are leaving the game in larger numbers: Patch 7.0, the release of the expansion, boasted around 1,020,000 long-term players (Lucky Bancho). In the subsequent update 7.1, the number already fell by 170,000 to 830,000 characters (Lucky Bancho). In March, there were only 760,000 players (Lucky Bancho), while now, after Patch 7.2, there are only 740,000.
Looking at the current bar chart, it becomes clear that these losses are the largest in a long time.
The great story MMORPG is losing exactly that: The good story
Why are players leaving? There are several reasons for the current player attrition. Very prominently, the main story, which was highly celebrated until 6.0 and that every MMORPG player must complete to a certain extent, has seen a drop in quality. Streamer Zepla also counts this as a reason.
Additionally, there is a strong focus on adapting most content of the multiplayer game for single-player. As a result, the MMORPG has become lonely and group content has been neglected in development.
The latest and long-awaited new field excursion Occult Crescent, a rather large traditional MMO content, has disappointed players again. Criticism came mainly for the unpredictable grind for the new relic weapons and the associated RNG factor.
In contrast, the new 8-man raid has received praise, not just for the mechanics but also for the music: The new raid in Final Fantasy XIV is live – The community says: “The best standard raid in this game”.
Unfortunately, a single raid series is probably not enough to excite a large part of the players. Dawntrail’s story does not currently reach the heights of Shadowbringers or Endwalker, which drove the strong player increase starting in 2019. Too much RNG may also ruin the fun for even the hardest grind fans. In fact, it has already come to the point where the director and producer of the MMORPG apologized in the last stream: The head of Final Fantasy XIV admits that they have become too comfortable – this is supposed to change in the MMORPG now.
