Dawntrail marks a turning point for Final Fantasy XIV as it kicks off the next decade of content for the wildly popular online game. 2023’s two Fan Fest events in Las Vegas and London revealed the Dawntrail expansion and gave us a slew of details on new jobs, dungeons, graphical updates, and more. Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest in Tokyo promises to be the biggest event yet and will likely give us some meaty insights into Dawntrail — including a potential release date reveal. If you’re hoping to tune in and catch Fan Fest Tokyo’s opening keynote, here’s everything you need to know.
When Is the FFXIV Fan Fest Tokyo Keynote?
Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest Tokyo is a two-day event that takes place on January 7-8, kicking off with the keynote at 10 am JST. Of course, the time difference means that fans in the West will want to tune in on January 6 at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.
The keynote is where the bulk of the new info is delivered, but there are other streams and events throughout the two days as well. We’ll cover what you want to watch, but for full details head to the Fan Fest Tokyo official website.
How to Watch the FFXIV Fan Fest Tokyo Keynote
You can watch the Fan Fest Tokyo keynote for free through Final Fantasy XIV’s YouTube and Twitch accounts. The keynote and Live Letter at Fan Fest typically have an English translation, as that’s where the bulk of announcements on Dawntrail will happen. Just like past Fan Fests, the keynote should last roughly one hour.
There are two paid events you can stream as well: the piano concert and the Primals rock performance. To view these you simply need to purchase a ticket for $25, and you’ll have access when the events take place. Purchasing a ticket will also give you access to an archive of the concerts until February 6, 2024.
If you’re hoping to watch some of the other panels, they won’t have an official English translation, but there is an option. The Final Fantasy XIV subreddit has a Discord channel, and members will be providing unofficial translations of segments outside the keynote and Live Letter. While the keynote will cover Dawntrail, Live Letters is a recurring broadcast where producer Naoki Yoshida and other members of the development team go in-depth on the details of the next patch.
Dawntrail’s Second Job and Other Announcements to Expect
Considering this is the last Fan Fest before the release of Dawntrail, we’ll likely see a blowout of news and information. The first thing that’s likely to happen is a firm release date for Dawntrail or, at the very least, a release month. Director Naoki Yoshida previously said the team was targeting “early Summer.” In tandem with that, it seems likely that this Fan Fest gives Final Fantasy XIV a release date on Xbox consoles, as the date has been listed as “mid-January” ever since the announcement in July 2023. That could potentially give the game a big boost in player count, so Square Enix could announce new servers or data center upgrades as well.
Other than that, there are a few things that seem incredibly possible. We should see the second new job for Dawntrail, in addition to the Viper job shown off at London Fan Fest. This means we’ll also get the final version of the CG trailer like Square Enix has done for the last three expansions. There’s been speculation that Dawntrail’s second job is going to be a DPS caster, something along the lines of Pictomancer from Final Fantasy VI, which uses painting and drawings to attack.
We could potentially see new info and maybe even some footage of Final Fantasy XIV’s first graphical update, which is planned to be implemented at the launch of 7.0. Last year’s Fan Vest in Las Vegas gave us a small glimpse of updated character models and increased vegetation, but it’s likely Square Enix will show off a good amount of footage this time around, maybe even some combat or dungeons that include the graphics update.
Past all that may be set to receive more general info on the story of Dawntrail, including new looks at areas, dungeons, bosses, and characters. Yoshida previously said that Danwtrail will split the Scions into two opposing factions, so we could receive more info on that. We could also see the announcement of a new limited mode, as a previous Fan Fest announced the Fall Guys collaboration. Of course, it’s also reasonable to expect a few surprises in the mix.
