Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida has revealed the Dawntrail expansion release date — and joked he’s giving Elden Ring fans one week to play the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC before jumping back into the fantasy MMO.
Dawntrail launches July 2, with early access kicking off June 28 for those who pre-order. Shadow of the Erdtree launches a week earlier, on June 21. During a panel at PAX East, Yoshi-P joked that developer and publisher Square Enix had hoped to release the early access a week earlier, but… “Elden Ring DLC.”
To laughs from the crowd, Yoshi-P joked further: “We figured everybody would be interested in playing the Elden Ring DLC.” He then held up one finger, declaring: “I’ll give you one week!”
Yoshi-P continued: “So, I’ll give you one week to enjoy Elden Ring DLC and then just go into your summer vacation into Dawntrail.
“Just want to make it clear: it’s not because I want to play Elden Ring DLC and then play Dawntrail, although I am looking forward to it!”
While Dawntrail is dodging Edlen Ring’s DLC, it’s set its sights firmly on Final Fantasy 9, with a number of new references to the 2000 PSone RPG among various digital bonuses. During the same PAX East panel, Yoshi-P set tongues wagging by saying the reason for these Final Fantasy 9 references is a secret.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.