Final Fantasy XIV Evercold launches February 23, 2027, with Zephyr, a new crossbow job

Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold comes out Tuesday, February 23, 2027, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam, Windows, and Mac. Square Enix set the date on October 31 at Fan Festival 2026 in Tokyo, where it also revealed Zephyr, the expansion's second new job. Pre-orders open Wednesday, November 4, at 4 a.m. ET (1 a.m. PT). Pre-ordering lets you start playing on Friday, February 19, at 4 a.m. ET, four days ahead of launch.

Square Enix had pointed to January 2027 ever since it announced Evercold, the sixth expansion for its online RPG, in April. Today's announcement moves it to February 23 without explaining why and calls the February 19 early access date tentative. It lists no prices either. Those will most likely appear when pre-orders open on November 4.

What Zephyr does

In Final Fantasy XIV, a job is the class that sets your character's weapon and role in a party: soaking up enemy hits as a tank, healing, or dealing damage. Zephyr deals damage from range with a weapon rather than magic. It fires a crossbow and is backed by Nephele, a bird-shaped companion. Square Enix hasn't shared its skills or the level where it unlocks.

Evercold's first new job, Bastion, was revealed in July. It is a tank that carries a pair of greatshields called skyltborg, so the expansion adds one job for the front line and one that fires from the back.

What pre-ordering gets you

A pre-order comes with three bonuses: early access on February 19, Halone's Earring, and the Wind-Up Köttr minion. While you wear the earring, defeated enemies give 30% more experience, so jobs level faster. The minion is a small companion that follows your character and does nothing in combat. Bonuses land on your account automatically, though some retailers hand out a code instead.

The Digital Collector's Edition adds three in-game items: the Valhallar Odin mount (mounts are what you ride to get around), the Entreat emote (a character animation), and Crystal Skyltborg, a weapon for Bastion. The physical Collector's Box holds an art box with Yoshitaka Amano artwork, a figure, a metal keychain, a mini Köttr plush, and a tapestry. It contains neither the game nor any in-game items.

How you buy depends on platform. For Windows and Mac, the Square Enix Store sells a limited Collector's Bundle that pairs the physical box with a Digital Collector's Edition code. On PlayStation, Xbox, Switch 2, and Steam, the box is sold on its own and the digital edition is pre-ordered through each platform's store.

If all you want is to play four days early, any pre-order covers it. The collector's versions add character items and physical goods, with no extra quests or zones on the list.

Combat, raids, and a bigger free trial

Evercold lets you switch between today's combat system, Reborn, and a new one, Evolved, which the official Evercold site says is designed to bring out each job's own identity. Square Enix hasn't said which actions change. A raid series (party fights against bosses) called Beyond the Lifestream also crosses over with Final Fantasy VII Remake, a series that wraps up with Final Fantasy VII Revelation, due in spring 2027.

For newcomers, the bigger change is the free trial. Square Enix says it now covers the base game, A Realm Reborn, plus the Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers expansions through patch 5.58, with no cap on playtime. Endwalker and Dawntrail, the two expansions that followed, aren't included, and Evercold is a separate purchase. As our guide to DLC, expansions, and season passes explains, an expansion builds on a game you need to own already.