Like many other companies in Japan, Square Enix and Konami have pledged to cut down on power use as the earthquake and tsunami crisis which hit eastern Japan earlier this month have put a serious strain on the country's resources. This involved temporarily pulling the plug on services like game servers for its persistent online RPGs like Metal Gear Online and in the case of Square Enix, Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV.
Today Square Enix announces they will be bringing Final Fantasy XI and XIV back online this Friday evening after the brief hiatus. What's more, FFXI players will not be billed for April; FFXIVremains free to play until Square Enix can decide how to make the game fun to play as well.
Interestingly, approximately 11.6 percent of Square Enix's total monthly power usage can be attributed to their MMORPGs and the Play Online services, if February's data was any indication. Yet the publisher still intends on cutting down on power usage, so that means cutting back around 11-12 percent elsewhere.
For the time being, Square Enix will be fully shutting down the office climate control and reducing interior lighting at its Tokyo branch to cut its power usage as much as possible. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and you know what tough means when you're forced to make a sacrifice for the sake of FFXIV's continued existence.
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