FFXIV Stage Schedule for North America Fanfest 2026!

Key Takeaways

• Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold was revealed at the Anaheim keynote as version 8.0, launching January 2027; the saga is called Godless Realms and takes place on the Fourth reflection.
• Nintendo Switch 2 support launches separately in August 2026, ahead of Evercold.
• Two new jobs were confirmed. A Tank and a Physical Ranged DPS. With names still under wraps; all 21 existing jobs get a dual-playstyle system.
• The Allagan Tomestone system is retiring in 8.0 in favour of a weekly progression structure, and the next Alliance Raid series is a Studio khara / Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover called Ghosts of Desire.
• The Stage & Stream Schedule ran across Friday April 24 and Saturday April 25, 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center, in PDT.
• Every stage event streamed free worldwide on YouTube and Twitch except the two paid concerts, Keiko's Piano Concert and THE PRIMALS Live.

What follows is the recap a player who missed the weekend wants: the news in order, the schedule with hosts and times, and where the next reveals will land.

The Evercold Reveal

The Day 1 keynote opened at 10:00 a.m. PDT and ran until 12:15 p.m., with Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida announcing the next expansion roughly 90 minutes in. The reveal was a ~4.5 minute teaser. Cross-outlet coverage from RPGFan, Windows Central, Icy Veins, Dot Esports, and Anime News Network all paraphrased it the same way.

• Expansion name: Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold (version 8.0).
• Release window: January 2027. No exact day pinned during the keynote.
• New saga: Godless Realms, set on the Fourth, one of the 13 reflections of the Source.
• Premise hook: a Calamity of Ice. Frozen-mid-wave oceans, skyscraper-sized ice crystals, a world halted in motion.
• Two new jobs: a Tank and a Physical Ranged DPS, names not announced. Speculation around Geomancer / Corsair / Chemist / Beastlord is unconfirmed; Yoshida flagged the reveals for the Berlin or Tokyo Fanfests.
• Job overhaul: every one of the 21 live jobs gets a dual-playstyle option. Players pick a deeper rotation or a simplified one without losing the ability to clear Savage and Ultimate.
• Tomestone retirement: the Allagan Tomestone weekly cap goes away. A new weekly progression structure replaces it.
• Ghosts of Desire: the new Alliance Raid series is a Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover under direct supervision of Studio khara.
• Switch 2: Final Fantasy XIV launches on Nintendo Switch 2 in August 2026, ahead of Evercold.

If Evercold lands in January 2027, the live-service content shipped this year stays end-game until then, including the 7.51 Dancing Mad Ultimate and the 7.55 Occult Crescent: North Horn instance. Players who want to be at level cap on launch day can reach level 100 before Evercold rather than scrambling in December.

With that visual in mind, the next section keeps the walkthrough moving.

Day 1 Schedule (Friday, April 24)

All times are PDT (Pacific Daylight Time). April 24-25 falls inside US daylight saving, so the Lodestone's "Pacific Time" label resolves to PDT for both event days. Day 1 ran a single stage from morning through the evening concert.

• 10:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Keynote. Yoshida announces "the latest updates." English / Japanese. The Evercold reveal happened in this block.
• 12:15 p.m. – 12:30 p.m., Welcome Ceremony. Development & Operations teams greet attendees, hosted by Matt Hilton. English / Japanese.
• 1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m., The Roulette Game Show. NA Community team host Aya Montoya. English only. Guests: CrystAAHHL, CuriousJoi, Jesse Cox, Mrhappy1227.
• 2:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m., Development Panel. Yoshida and Battle System Designer Hikaru Tamaki. English / Japanese. This was a two-hour slot, not the one-hour window early preview coverage listed.
• 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., Glamoured to Life, Cosplay Walk. Hosts Aya Montoya and Sarah Vargas. English only.
• 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Piano Concert by Keiko. Paid stream only.

The Welcome Ceremony, the Roulette Game Show, the Development Panel, and the Cosplay Walk all streamed free; only Keiko's set required a paid ticket archive.

Day 2 Schedule (Saturday, April 25)

Day 2 packed the on-stage content tighter, with the Crystalline Conflict regional final in the morning and THE PRIMALS closing out the night.

• 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Crystalline Conflict Regional Championship 2026 NA. Four semifinalist teams. English only.
• 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. — "From Tacos to Tenders: Serving up the Lyrics of FFXIV" with Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. English only.
• 3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. — "A /random Q&A with Yoshida." Player-submitted questions. English / Japanese.
• 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. — THE PRIMALS Live with Sound Director Masayoshi Soken. Paid stream only.

The Crystalline Conflict regional final is the stage block PvP-curious raiders should rewind first. If watching the title match nudged you back into PvP Series progression, tune up for Crystalline Conflict with current-season rank carries while the meta is fresh.

📌 Heads up: the early-preview blogs listed this fight as "Crystine Conflict." That is a typo of Crystalline Conflict, the PvP arena mode that shipped in Patch 6.1.

With that visual in mind, the next section keeps the walkthrough moving.

Free Livestream vs. Paid Concerts

Square Enix opened the entire on-stage program for free worldwide co-streaming, with two exceptions:

• Keiko Piano Concert (Day 1, 7 p.m.) — paid only.
• THE PRIMALS Live (Day 2, 7 p.m.) — paid only.

Free archives sit on the official YouTube channels and the Square Enix Twitch hub. Paid-stream ticket holders can rewatch the concerts during the archive window. Co-streamers were specifically warned against running the keynote on YouTube because of Content ID risk on bundled trailer music; Twitch co-streams of the keynote were fine.

✏️ If you skipped the keynote: the official Square Enix YouTube channel reposted a clean cut of the Evercold reveal trailer separately, which is the version to share rather than a co-streamer's archive — fewer Content ID strikes downstream.

That guidance in hand, the article moves on.

Crystalline Conflict NA Regional Championship

Four semifinalist teams played for the 2026 NA regional Crystalline Conflict title on Day 2 morning. The full match VOD lives on the official channels alongside the free Day 2 archive. For viewers new to the mode: Crystalline Conflict is the 5v5 PvP format introduced in Patch 6.1, with its own ranked season structure separate from the Frontline Series.

What's Next: Berlin and Tokyo

Anaheim is the first of three Fanfests in the 2026 series. The other two confirmed dates:

• Berlin: Messe Berlin, hub27, July 25-26, 2026.
• Tokyo: Makuhari Messe, October 31 – November 1, 2026 (series finale).

The two Evercold job names should land at Berlin in July, with Tokyo closing the cycle and the launch-window trailer typically airing at the final Fanfest. Anything material on the names, the level cap, or the Allagan Tomestone replacement system is most likely on the Berlin agenda.

⚠️ Cautious framing: the launch window is "January 2027." That has historically meant late January in past expansions. Do not promise raid statics a fixed date until Square Enix gives one.

That guidance in hand, the article moves on.

FAQ

When does Evercold launch?

January 2027. Square Enix did not give an exact day at the Anaheim keynote. Berlin (July 25-26) and Tokyo (October 31 – November 1) are the remaining Fanfests this year, and an exact date typically lands at the final Fanfest of a pre-launch cycle.

What are the two new jobs?

One Tank and one Physical Ranged DPS. The names were not announced at Anaheim. Yoshida confirmed that name reveals will wait for later Fanfests, with Berlin in July the most likely venue for at least one of them.

Will Final Fantasy XIV come to Nintendo Switch 2?

Yes — the Switch 2 launch is confirmed for August 2026, ahead of Evercold. This is a port of the live service, not an Evercold-tied promotional release.

Did the keynote announce Korean or Chinese versions?

No. Early aggregator coverage referenced KR/CN version speculation; that did not come from the Anaheim keynote. The platform announcement from this Fanfest is Switch 2; the publisher/regional announcement is the Studio khara Evangelion crossover.

What happened with Allagan Tomestones?

Yoshida confirmed the weekly Tomestone cap structure is retiring with Evercold. A new weekly progression system is replacing it. Specifics were not shown at Anaheim, with deeper detail expected at Berlin.

Where can I watch the free archive?

The free worldwide archive lives on the official Square Enix YouTube channels (Day 1 at sqex.to/sw04o, Day 2 at sqex.to/xDc45) and the Square Enix Twitch hub (sqex.to/htj). The two paid concerts — Keiko and THE PRIMALS — are paid-ticket-only and not part of the free archive.

Who hosted the Welcome Ceremony?

Matt Hilton hosted the Welcome Ceremony with the Development and Operations teams. The Day 1 community-driven blocks — Roulette Game Show and Cosplay Walk — were hosted by Aya Montoya, with Sarah Vargas co-hosting the Cosplay Walk.

Maintained by WowCarry's FFXIV team. Last reviewed 2026-05-18 against the Lodestone Stage & Stream Schedule (post 3fbb8a7b).