Tonight’s been quite the rollercoaster ride for Final Fantasy XIV fans, with Square Enix announcing that the newly revealed Endwalker expansion will conclude the long-running Tale of Gods Light and Dark storyline that has existed in some form since the early days of A Realm Reborn. A new Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival has been announced for later this year in celebration of all the upcoming content, though this one will be notably different from previous Fan Festivals due to the ongoing pandemic.

Towards the end of tonight’s special announcement showcase, Final Fantasy XIV game director Naoki Yoshida revealed that the next Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival will take place on May 15-16, 2021. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire event will be available to stream digitally for free, though fans can opt-in to put some money down in exchange for an 8-seater Lunar Whale mount. Not only is it Final Fantasy IV’s Lunar Whale, but it is also modeled after the original design from the legendary Yoshitaka Amano.

Details on the upcoming Fan Festival were on the lighter side, though Yoshi-P did confirm that there will still be concerts to enjoy alongside the usual content, which will likely include the reveal of the Endwalker expansion’s release date and 2nd new job. As almost an afterthought it was also announced that a few Final Fantasy IV character minions will also be purchasable once the Fan Festival kicks off since, y’know, players will be going to the moon.

Final Fantasy XIV is now available for PC and PS4, and will be releasing for PS5 at some point likely this year. The game’s Endwalker expansion will be releasing in Fall 2021.

Thoughts on the Fan Festival announcement? Plan on dropping some cash for the Lunar Whale mount? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!