Final Fantasy 14 Suspends Housing Demolition After Hurricane Helene Hits North America
Final Fantasy 14 has paused its automatic housing demolition across its North American servers in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact on multiple states in late September.
Typically, if a player doesn’t enter their in-game house for 45 days, Square Enix will reclaim the property, allowing other players to take the land. However, this timer is now suspended on the Aether, Crystal, Dynamis, and Primal data centers.
A statement on the Lodestone reads: “From all of us on the FF14 development and management team, our hearts go out to those who were affected late last month by Hurricane Helene in North America. Due to the damages and other factors, we have decided to temporarily suspend the automatic demolition of estates.”
The suspension went into effect on October 2. When Square Enix eventually resumes the auto-demolition process, the timer will pick up where it left off. For instance, if a player had 30 days of inactivity before the suspension, that count will remain when demolition returns.
Hurricane Helene has been one of the deadliest in recent U.S. history, with CNN reporting over 160 deaths across six states. Massive power outages and closed roads continue to plague affected areas, particularly in North Carolina and Tennessee, where access to clean water is a growing concern.
This is not the first time Square Enix has taken such action. In January, the Japanese servers saw housing demolition paused following the Noto earthquake. European servers experienced a similar suspension after the Türkiye-Syria earthquake in 2023, and the timer was globally halted during the pandemic.
