Final Fantasy XIV is a popular MMORPG and many fans would love to attend a fan festival, but few have the chance – scammers take advantage of this.
Which festival is it about? The MMORPG Final Fantasy 14 regularly hosts fan festivals that take place every few years in North America, Europe, and Japan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the “Final Fantasy Fan Festival” event only took place once in 2021.
However, fans could not participate in the event that year in person, as it was held only digitally.
The last time the festival took place with in-person access for fans was in 2019. Fans have therefore been waiting for 4 years for the opportunity to participate in the event on-site again. This will finally be possible in 2023 and 2024, and accordingly, the tickets are in high demand.
The next fan festivals are in July 2023 in Las Vegas, in October 2023 in London, and in January 2024 in Tokyo. There is even a trailer for the events:
For more information about the fan festival, you can find it on the official website: fanfest.finalfantasyxiv.com.
Scalpers sell links for $1,000
What are the scalpers doing? Scalpers are after money and the highest possible profit, and tickets for the “Final Fantasy Fan Festival” 2023 and 2024 are limited. Only selected FFXIV players receive a link from Square Enix from which they can purchase a ticket for $199.99 if they are interested (via na.finalfantasyxiv.com).
Whoever does not receive a link cannot buy a ticket and consequently cannot participate in the event. Furthermore, the name of the person to whom it was sold officially will be printed on the ticket.
However, some players, scalpers, have seemingly received such a link and do not want to attend the festival. They are selling their link, under which the tickets can be purchased, at a high price to interested fans of the MMORPG.
The Twitter user john_is_dead shared a screenshot from Ebay, showing a seller asking for $950 for their link. With the link, players could get two tickets to the fan festival taking place in Las Vegas.
So if an FFXIV fan goes for this Ebay sale, they are not getting a ticket. They are just buying the opportunity to subsequently acquire a ticket for nearly $200 for $950.
With the 2014 release of Final Fantasy XIV on Steam, the popular franchise took the step into the world of MMORPGs and has since built a loyal community.
In February, the game had an average of 23,446 players according to SteamCharts, and MeinMMO’s expert for MMORPGs, Alexander Leitsch, counts Final Fantasy XIV among the 10 best MMORPGs on Steam in March 2023.
In his list, the title is even in a higher position than The Lord of the Rings Online and The Elder Scrolls Online: The 10 MMORPGs on Steam with the best ratings in March 2023
