Final Fantasy XIV Hits Switch 2 on 4 August, Taking Half Its Storage

Final Fantasy XIV Online will launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on Tuesday 4 August, Square Enix has confirmed, bringing the long-running MMORPG to Nintendo’s newest console with a download large enough to consume almost half of its built-in storage.

The date was announced at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in Berlin, held at Messe Berlin on 25 and 26 July. Game director Naoki Yoshida, widely known as Yoshi-P, confirmed the Switch 2 release on stage while dressed in the full regalia of the game’s new job class. Pre-orders opened on the Nintendo eShop the same day.

For UK players, the Starter Edition is listed at £11.99. The Complete Edition costs £44.99, with a pre-order price of £31.49, while the Complete Collector’s Edition is listed at £87.99 and reduced to £61.59 for pre-orders. Dawntrail is also sold separately for £36.99, with its Collector’s Edition priced at £49.99. A Free Trial will be available on Switch 2 from launch.

A 117.2GB download for one game

The immediate issue for prospective players is storage. According to the Nintendo eShop listing cited by IGN, Final Fantasy XIV requires 117.2GB of space on Switch 2. That is close to half of the console’s standard 256GB internal memory, before factoring in other downloads, save data or future updates.

Square Enix’s MMO now takes the record for the largest download for a single Switch 2 game. It overtakes Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, previously the largest individual game on the platform at 91.8GB, by more than 25GB. The Kingdom Hearts Collection has a larger estimated 131GB listing, but that package comprises three games.

The size is down to the breadth of the package: the Switch 2 version includes assets for Final Fantasy XIV and its five expansions, Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, Endwalker and Dawntrail. The base game and Complete Edition share the same storage requirement. The quoted 117.2GB does not include the next expansion, Evercold, which is due in January 2027.

• Final Fantasy XIV on Switch 2 requires 117.2GB of storage.
• The console has 256GB of standard internal memory.
• The game is the platform’s largest single-game download to date.

Extra costs remain after the free month

Square Enix says there will be an approximately one-month period without subscription charges when the game goes on sale, intended to help the developer ensure server stability. That gives newcomers a useful window to test the Switch 2 version, alongside the Free Trial, without immediately adding a monthly fee to the game purchase.

After that period, Final Fantasy XIV’s usual subscription model applies. Nintendo Switch Online is not required to play, but existing Final Fantasy XIV players should pay close attention to the platform rules: they must buy the Switch 2 version and take out a separate Switch 2 subscription. Players with remaining game time on other platforms can obtain the Switch 2 subscription at half price, according to Square Enix. UK monthly pricing for that subscription has not been confirmed.

The Switch 2 edition also introduces FFXIV Coins, a currency exclusive to the platform. These will be bought through the Nintendo eShop and can be used for game time, optional cosmetic items and other services.

30fps target, with busy towns a caveat

Yoshida has said the Switch 2 version targets a stable 30 frames per second, half the frame rate of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S editions. He also acknowledged that densely populated town areas may fall below that target, because rendering dozens or hundreds of player characters creates CPU pressure.

There is one potentially useful control concession for an MMO built around menus and hotbars. The port supports the Joy-Con 2 optical sensor as a mouse replacement, offering a cursor-based input option without connecting separate hardware.

What UK buyers should plan for

The low £11.99 entry price makes the Starter Edition an accessible route into Final Fantasy XIV, but it does not tell the whole cost story. Anyone with a crowded Switch 2 library may need to remove installed games or add storage before downloading it. Switch 2 supports only microSD Express cards for expandable game storage, and even a 128GB SanDisk microSD Express card is priced at roughly £39.98 on Amazon in the UK.

That makes Final Fantasy XIV a significant test of Switch 2 storage economics as much as a welcome new platform for Square Enix’s MMO. With Evercold scheduled for January, players planning to make Nintendo’s console their main home for Eorzea may want to leave more room than the launch download alone suggests.