Naoki Yoshida Addressed Final Fantasy XIV DDoS Attacks

While the Final Fantasy XIV Letter from the Producer Live LXXXI focus was on Dawntrail jobs, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida also took the time to address the FFXIV DDoS attacks. He went over what happened and the response on Square Enix’s part to address the issue.

Yoshida began with a summary of the situation, as Final Fantasy XIV suffered from DDoS attacks on May 6, 2024. He noted how it was the longest one since the game first launched in 2013. That’s also when he brought up that the teams at Square Enix work on rotations, so there are people around 24/7 to intercept such issues. He also mentioned how external vendors are consulted when these things happen. He also confirmed there was no critical damage from the latest attacks. Yoshida closed things out by thanking people for their patience and consideration during the attacks. He also committed to Square Enix continuing to let people know about these via social media as they happen, so players are aware of issues.

Here is the full statement from Naoki Yoshida regarding the Final Fantasy XIV DDoS attacks:

With the DDoS attacks, I believe this is the largest scale and length we’ve been seeing this sort of attack since the original Final Fantasy XIV. Of course, although it is the largest and the longest period we’ve been receiving these attacks, we do have a very talented infrastructure team in Square Enix and those  are specifically assigned to Final Fantasy XIV are working very hard to protect us on a 24-hour basis. They swap teams on a rotation. They’ve been working really hard to not only work internally, but they also have been working with global vendors to discuss about how we protect us from the attacks. Trying to switch strategies as needed. 

Of course, we do see some packets being lost, and there are instances where somewhere upwards of 1,000 to 2,000 people get disconnected at the same time. So we do apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused. But I am hopeful because we have not seen any sort of critical damage at this point, and so Square Enix will continue to work diligently to protect us from these DDoS attacks. 

It’s quite difficult. Attacks themselves are quite simple because it’s just basically computers that have been hacked throughout the world and these different packets come flying at our servers, but we are trying our best to apply the counter-measures needed. We are aware of the situation and are working hard to protect us against it. 

Of course, I think we have in the past informed you all on the [Final Fantasy XIV] social channels about the DDoS attacks, and so you may be aware of what this kind of situation entails. I really thank everybody for the comments saying, “hang in there” and encouraging words for us. Our staff members are working hard and I do hope that they will continue to persevere. 

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