As announced at Fan Festival 2026 in Berlin, starting Tuesday, 13 October 2026, following the 24 hour maintenance period on Monday, 12 October, same-region player matching will be available for the Japan data center.

Matchmaking and party recruitment have thus far been limited to players on the same logical data center. However, with the introduction of same-region player matching, the scope will expand to cover all those on the same physical data center. This means that all players within the same physical data center will be eligible for matchmaking and party recruitment, regardless of their current world.

Once same-region player matching has been confirmed to operate stably on the Japan data center, it will be rolled out in turn to other data centers.

Further information can be found below on the purpose and impact of same-region player matching.

Data Center Structure

To better understand same-region player matching, it is useful to start with the structure of FFXIV’s data centers.

Diagram of the Data Centers

* See the current data center structure.

Physical Data Centers (Physical DC)
The physical DCs (represented in blue on the diagram) are located in four regions: Japan, North America, Europe, and Oceania. The closer your place of residence is to the physical DC, the less likely you are to experience network lag; as such, players typically choose the physical DC located closest to their residence.

Logical Data Centers (Logical DC)
Each physical DC contains one to four logical DCs (represented in green on the diagram).

Worlds
Each logical DC contains five to eight Worlds (represented in grey on the diagram).

Impact of Same-region Player Matching

Purpose of Same-region Player Matching

Once maintenance ends on Tuesday, 13 October and same-region player matching is introduced, features that were restricted to the same logical DC will become usable across all logical DCs in the same physical DC (the same region), i.e. across Elemental, Gaia, Mana and Meteor.

There will be no change to features only accessible on your Home World, or those that already operated across the same physical DC.

* The blacklist/mute list will not be affected.
* Updated on Wednesday, 16 September 2026 at 11:00 (GMT) / 21:00 (AEST)

Travelling to Worlds on Other Physical Data Centers

After the update, you will be able to play on another logical data center via the “Visit Another World Server” feature, rather than having to use “Data Center Travel.” This removes the need to travel via your Home World.

A dropdown menu will be added to the window displayed after selecting the “Visit Another World Server” option at the aetheryte in Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Ul’dah. This menu will allow you to select the logical DC and world you wish to travel to.

Going forward, the rules for what can and cannot be carried out on a world in another logical DC will be the same as those currently in place for the World Visit system. View more information on the World Visit system.

The Data Center Travel system will no longer allow travel between logical DCs in Japan, but it will still allow travel from the Japan DC to the Oceania DC.

Duplicated Names of Cross-world linkshells, PvP Teams and Fellowships

As cross-world linkshells, PvP Teams and Fellowships will be available regardless of current logical DC, they will be consolidated into a single database. As a result of this merge, it is possible that some names will be duplicated.

Please note that once maintenance on Tuesday, 13 October is complete, any duplicated names may have a number appended to differentiate them.

* This will not affect the names of characters, retainers, Free Companies and linkshells, which are distinct for each world.

Organizing Cross-world Linkshells When Belonging to 9 or More Channels

Cross-world linkshells will be merged into a single database per each physical DC, instead of being split between logical DCs. Players may join up to 8 at once per physical DC (region). However, if a player previously joined a cross-world linkshell after using data center travel, resulting in their total number reaching 9 or more, the linkshells which exceed the limit will not be immediately erased.

Please note, however, that these linkshells will be deactivated, and you will not be able to send or receive messages from them. They may be reactivated by using the “Organize CWLS” function introduced in Patch 7.5 to leave or disband cross-world linkshells. For example, you may wish to consider merging any linkshells with the same members that were created for different DCs.
* The "Organize CWLS" button will only display when the cross-world linkshells you belong to have exceeded the maximum number of active channels.