FFXIV Dawntrail Early Access and FFIX Pre-order Bonus Explained

Square Enix announced that people can pre-order the FFXIV Dawntrail expansion at 9am PT/12pm ET on March 26, 2024, with early access and a FFIX bonus available to those who do. The other Final Fantasy IX references coming to Final Fantasy XIV will be in the Collector’s Edition.

Both versions of the FFXIV Dawntrail expansion will be available to pre-order on March 25, 2024. The standard one will cost $39.99, and the collector’s edition will be $214.99. The Square Enix Online Store will have both. In each case, you only get a digital copy of the expansion. 

Buying either of these ahead of launch grants a player early access to FFXIV Dawntrail. If you do so on the PS4, PS5, or Xbox Series X, you don’t need to register your code. However, people who buy a Windows or Mac version need to head to Mog Station to input your code to tie it to the account. Once done, someone can start playing the expansion at 2am PT/5am ET on June 28, 2024. That is four days ahead of its July 2, 2024 launch.

As for the FFXIV FFIX items, there are a few ways to get them. A pre-order for either version gets you the Wind-up Zidane Minion. He appears alongside the Azeyma’s Earrings that is a reference to The Warden from The Twelve in the MMO. If you buy the collector’s edition, you also get a Wind-up Garnet Minion and a Ark Mount of eidolon she uses in Final Fantasy IX. While the one image of it only showed its “ark” form, the video Square Enix released shows how it can transform into its robot form.

Here’s a gallery of images Square Enix shared with us showing how the new minions and other bonuses will look:

Final Fantasy XIV is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the Dawntrail expansion will arrive on July 2, 2024.