An error in Final Fantasy XIV's new housing lottery system has left players losing bids even when they are the sole bidder. The lottery is part of the game's 6.1 update, and was intended to help distribute the new housing plots in FFXIV's Empyreum region fairly.
Final Fantasy XIV enjoyed a boom in popularity late last year when the Endwalker expansion was released. It brought an end to the decade-long story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark, added a plethora of new content, and made many quality-of-life improvements besides. New zones were also included in the 6.0 update, including Empyreum, Ishgard's residential district, paving the way for players to acquire new housing plots. Because of all this, Endwalker is considered by many to be the best expansion Final Fantasy XIV has had so far, and left players hotly anticipating this month's follow-up update.
However, the 6.1 update has now encountered a serious bug. The cyclical lottery system it introduced was meant to offer all players a fair chance to acquire any available housing plots. The entry period takes place over five days, after which the results are announced and players have the next four days to confirm their purchases if they won the lottery draw. However, Square Enix soon announced that things hadn't gone to plan. Player reports were coming in that the lottery results were actually indicating that no one had won a given plot. It seems that the system has failed to properly register any entries, a major glitch for Final Fantasy XIV which has left players who may well have made winning bids homeless.
Shortly after the initial announcement, Square Enix posted a follow-up statement from the game's Producer and Director, Naoki Yoshida. In this statement, Yoshida apologized for the problems, assuring players that "we understand that this is a major issue, and are prioritizing our investigation into the matter." He went on to explain that due to the lottery system being quite complicated behind the scenes, it will likely take some time to identify the source of the problem. As a result, the lottery system's intended cycle will be put on hold for the time being, and the initial run's results period will similarly be extended. In the meantime, players will just have to wait and see. Fortunately, the update's other additions, like the instant hit Adventure Plate system, seem to be unaffected by any major problems.
This glitch is undoubtedly a blow for Square Enix after the initial success of Endwalker. The lottery system was meant to help solve Final Fantasy XIV's long-running housing issues. Instead, its catastrophic failure has arguably made them worse, at least in the short term. Players have been left in a cloud of uncertainty over the ultimate fates of their bids, something which may go unresolved for some time to come.
On the other hand, the 6.1 update has successfully added a great deal of other content to the game, including new story quests and even NPC companions to aid solo players. Square Enix will undoubtedly be hoping that this will be enough to distract players from the lottery problem until a fix can be implemented, and Final Fantasy XIV's housing economy can continue unhindered.