Temporary Suspension of the Services Due to an Earthquake

[Vyrr]

Due to the continuous earthquakes occurring in the eastern regions of Japan since Mar. 11, 2011, the power companies in Japan have encouraged everyone to cooperate by conserving as much energy as possible as it is feared there will not be enough power supply. Based on the current situation, we have decided to shut down the game servers temporarily, and therefore to suspend services of FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline temporarily.

The services will be temporarily suspended for at least a week starting on Mar. 13, 2011 3:00 (PDT). We will provide an update regarding the reinstatement of the service as additional information becomes available. In connection with the temporary suspension of services, players will not be billed for any PlayOnline service throughout the April billing cycle. Additional information regarding this matter will also be posted as it becomes available.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and thank you for your understanding of this unusual situations.

[Date & Time]
A week starting from Mar. 13, 2011 3:00 (PDT)

[Affected Service]
- FINAL FANTASY XIV
- FINAL FANTASY XI
- PlayOnline

* Additionally, the following services are currently unavailable:

- Friend List Plus
- FINAL FANTASY XI Linkshell Community Beta Version
- PlayOnline Friend List Application
- Community Site Link Registration: Owner Menu

* Please be advised that we will continue to operate the official websites, FINAL FANTASY XIV Lodestone, forums, and the SQUARE ENIX Support Center to be able provide our customers with updates on the current situation.
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[Reference]
An excerpt from the Caution posted on
TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY (TEPCO)’s home page:

A big earthquake occurred in the northern part of Japan at 2:46PM of March 11th 2011. Because TEPCO's facilities have been seriously damaged, power shortage may occur.
TEPCO appreciates customers' cooperation in reducing electricity usage by avoiding using unnecessary lighting and electrical equipment.
We are taking all measures to restore power, however, we expect extremely challenging situation in power supply for a while. We kindly ask our customers to cooperate with us in reducing usage of power.

[aethyr]

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news20551.shtml

Yay!



Mar. 22, 2011 04:30 [PDT] From: PlayOnline

Restoration of Game Services (Mar. 22)



"As part of power conservation measures enacted following the Tohoku earthquake, our game servers were shut down on Mar. 13, 2011 3:00 (PDT) and services for FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline (hereafter referred to as "these services") were temporarily suspended. We have determined a date for the restoration of these services, and would like to share this information with you.

Operating the servers for these services makes up 11.6% of the total power consumed by our Tokyo office (based on February 2011 records). We have shut down our air conditioning system (8.8%) and enacted other power conservation measures, such as reducing lighting in our offices, to achieve over 10% in energy usage reductions. With these energy saving measures in place, we will be able to bring our servers back online and restore service to FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline on Mar. 25, 2011 4:00 (PDT). All other services, such as those offered on the PlayOnline website, that were temporarily suspended will also be restored at the same time. Please be aware, however, that we may once again be required to suspend services in the event that the power situation worsens.

We offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension of these services, and thank you for your understanding. As noted in our original notice regarding the suspension of these services, customers will not be charged any monthly fees for FINAL FANTASY XI throughout the April billing cycle.

We at the Square Enix group are trying to act in a proactive manner in order to provide support towards the relief and restoration efforts in the face of this unprecedented disaster while providing reliable service to our customers, and we thank you for your understanding and support."

[Cooleko]

poor SE employee's "We have shut down our air conditioning system (8.8%) and enacted other power conservation measures, such as reducing lighting in our offices, to achieve over 10% in energy usage reductions" im sure they would rather no servers than no AC

[Hyan]

What does it mean at this time of year? They'll just need to work with their jackets on! Also pile all the pc's up in one room for effective heating solution.

This would be a murder at Summer lol.

[Kensaki]

It's pretty temperate in Tokyo at the moment, they don't need the A/C at all probably. But hey mentioning it makes the fanboys swoon at their sacrifice! =p

[sruon]

Servers always need A/C.

[Corrderio]

Wouldn't the servers have their own venting/cooling systems? Sorry if I'm getting wooshed, just exhausted and know jack crap about server hardware.

Either way, sooner the games are back up the better. Watching the forums is like a car crash, you want to look away but can't.

[Kensaki]

Yeah servers have their own cooling systems.

[dejet]

Wouldn't the servers have their own venting/cooling systems? Sorry if I'm getting wooshed, just exhausted and know jack crap about server hardware.

Either way, sooner the games are back up the better. Watching the forums is like a car crash*, you want to look away but can't.

lol I have no clue why I even come to this forum anymore, iv sorta turned to general and Tech a lot more(99% of the time) but I still find myself going into the FF11/14 forums to see drama for whatever reason even after quiting almost a year and a half back. 7 years playing >.> cant fully let go! lol

*Would have said train wreck, but car crash works all the same I guess.

[Corrderio]

Been playing too much TF2.

Either way, hopefully we get another letter soon from the producer. I'm dying to know how big of a setback we're talking about before the next patch is live.

[Kensaki]

Dejet I feel I should point you to the topic and say he is not talking about BG but the official forums lol.

[Sephiroth]

I'm expecting a new letter tomorrow afternoon or Friday, because new info always comes out as soon as I go away for a weekend when I'm unable to update my site.

[jwang]

Servers are mostly up now, just waiting on login server and we'll be in business.