The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the gaming industry in many ways, but for Final Fantasy 14 fans, they will have to wait an extra two months for the release of the next update. Patch 5.3, "Reflections in Crystal," was originally scheduled to be released early this spring, but due to quarantine in Japan, Square Enix developers will now be working from home. Reflections in Crystal" is scheduled to be delivered on August 11. In an interview with game director and producer Naoki Yoshida last week, he explained that given FF14's tight update schedule, this has led to a rather large delay. The good news, however, is that further delays for the next update are unlikely.

"If you compare our current productivity to before the pandemic, I think we are trying to achieve about 90 to 95 percent efficiency with our current setup," Yoshida explained. As for the timeline for future patches, "I believe we can proceed largely on schedule with a three-and-a-half month cycle. However, the QA team, which has to do extensive testing, may be affected a bit because of the guidelines that have been introduced to reduce social distance. So we expect to be back to where we have always been and we are in a good position in that regard. So I don't think we have much to worry about as far as the patch cycle itself."

While the usual game delays associated with the coronavirus result in having to wait a bit longer to play, in the case of FF14 it can be especially frustrating for players. New updates bring players additional features, dungeons, raids, and activities, all of which have been delayed for two months, meaning that many veterans have been left twiddling their thumbs. Yoshida acknowledged this, but said that the team does not expect to catch up to the original schedule and will only move the original plan forward to accommodate the two-month delay.

"We actually lost money there," Yoshida said." I worry that if we think about trying to catch up every two patches or whatever, we may be reducing what we can bring to the table."

"We also don't want to sacrifice major patch updates because that would not only affect the story, but would also reduce the quality of the rest of the content itself."

According to Yoshida, patch 5.3 will be a big one that will satisfy those who want to do more with their MMO. The patch will also add a raid set in the world of Nier, designed by Yokoo Tarou: The patch will also add a raid set in the world of Nier: Automata, designed by Yokoo Tarou. For those who have not yet played FF14, the free trial will be greatly expanded to include everything up to the second expansion, "Stormblood."

Patch 5.3, "Reflections in Crystal," will begin on August 11.