Square Enix Restricts Final Fantasy XIV "Open" Beta

The bugs that delayed the original launch of the Final Fantasy XIV beta have been straightened out, but now it faces a whole new problem.

Being too popular might not seem like that bad a problem to have, but that's the challenge that's facing Square-Enix and its open beta for Final Fantasy XIV. The company got the beta up and running yesterday, after "critical bugs" caused last minute delays, only to find that its servers couldn't handle the volume of users.

As a temporary solution, Square-Enix is limiting the number of beta registration codes it hands out. On the FFXIV account page it says that the system was experiencing congestion, and that technical staff were monitoring the situation and trying hard to resolve it. Registration is currently completly suspended, with the site suggesting that players should wait until registration re-opens and try their luck again.

It seems there are still a few kinks to straighten out before the game goes live later this month, but testing servers to see how they hold up to stress is one of the things that open betas are for. Better that this gets discovered now, rather than later when it's much harder to do anything about it. Final Fantasy XIV is released for PC on September 30th, and on PS3 in March 2011.

Soource: Eurogamer