It’s no coincidence that the latest addition to Final Fantasy XIV Online, Dawntrail, includes references to the ninth installment of the franchise.

Naoki Yoshida, aka Yoshi-P, was on hand at PAX East to announce several pre-order and digital bonuses for Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, the MMO’s latest expansion. However, the audience also noticed that a surprising number of things referenced Final Fantasy IX, and he said that this was for a secret reason. So Square Enix is definitely working on a Final Fantasy IX Remake, as it showed up in the big GeForce Now database leak for 2021 along with other titles (Final Fantasy VII Remake PC port, Chrono Cross Remaster, Kingdom Hearts 4).

Final Fantasy IX Remake hasn’t even been announced yet, but Giant Bomb editor Jeff Grubb claimed last year that the project exists and will happen, and we also recently heard that it won’t have the same budget as the Final Fantasy VII Remake. FF IX was released in 2000 for the PS1 and directed by Hiroyuki Ito (who later directed Final Fantasy XII), it was released as a PS1 Classic title for PS3 and PSP in 2011, supported on PS Vita in 2012, and released on mobile and PC in 2016, followed by PlayStation 4 in 2017 and Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2019.

Yoshi-P also joked about the release date of the add-on (available for early access on June 28, and available to everyone on July 2). He joked that he thinks everyone will be interested in the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree (coming on June 21 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One), and that everyone will get it a week before Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is released.

The only question now is when Square Enix will announce Final Fantasy IX Remake.

Source: VGC, VGC

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail releases on July 2nd (early access June 28th)

CE also revealed pic.twitter.com/jHsKi8Nzsd

— Wario64 (@Wario64) March 23, 2024

He just calls out the Elden Ring DLC lmao pic.twitter.com/nvO5tJdkYa

— Kaiyoko 💫 (@KaiyokoStar) March 23, 2024