On the official Final Fantasy XIV blog, Square Enix announced that it will implement a process for FFXIV Steam users to link their Steam accounts to their Square Enix account. Starting sometime in early March 2022, those who log into the game via Steam will get a prompt to go through a one-time account link process. No definitive date has been given yet.
When linking accounts, the FFXIV license type between the Steam account and Square Enix account must match. The blog post made the distinction between full game licenses and free trials, but no clarification was given as to whether or not this affects licenses across regions.
Furthermore, the wording around the implementation of this measure is a bit confusing. It’s not entirely clear as to whether or not FFXIV Steam users will be required to link accounts in order to play the game. It does state that once the accounts are linked, both the Steam account and Square Enix account must match for the game to launch — and it must always be launch from Steam afterward.
The Lodestone blog post states that this change is, “[P]art of ongoing efforts to further enhance account security and bolster fraud prevention measures.”
The Square Enix account system is notorious for being convoluted as is, so much so that we made a guide on how to buy FFXIV. Hopefully, this new verification process for Steam users doesn’t cause any headaches, although we won’t hold our breath. But we will update this story if and when further clarification is given.
