Last week marked the D.I.C.E. 2023 Summit, an event meant for luminaries of the interactive entertainment industry to get together. At the event, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) once again put on the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. While the winners list was mostly a sweep of Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarok, Final Fantasy XIV took home the Online Game of the Year award.
As part of the honor, FFXIV creative director and producer Naoki Yoshida offered a pre-recorded acceptance speech. The speech was posted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences on its official Twitter account.
Congratulations to #FFXIV #Endwalker for winning Online Game of the Year at the 26th Annual #DICEAwards! @FF_XIV_EN pic.twitter.com/GqHJeIr8p7
— Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (@Official_AIAS) February 24, 2023
“This year marks our 10th anniversary since FFXIV was relaunched as version 2.0 with A Realm Reborn,” said Yoshida in the speech. “In celebration of this milestone, we hope to kick it up a notch and bring plenty of excitement both in and out of the game, starting with hosting our Fan Festival events, where we’re able to meet with you all in person.”
As Yoshida mentioned, Square Enix just launched the ticket system for the first FFXIV Fan Festival for 2023, taking place in Las Vegas. Players with a valid North American account needed to sign up for the ticket lottery last week. The chosen players will get the opportunity to purchase tickets to the event, taking place on July 28-29. The next event, Fan Festival UK, is taking place in London on October 21-21, 2023, while Fan Festival Japan will take place in Tokyo on January 7-8, 2024.
Square Enix tends to reveal the shape of the next expansion over the course of the Fan Festival events. At the very least, we’ll know a bit about the next expansion in July. The team also has to finish off the post-Endwalker patch cycle, including Patch 6.4 and Patch 6.5. It’s likely whatever is next will drop in early 2024.
