The new data center is open for new character creation and transfers.
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Alongside today's release of Patch 6.08, Square Enix also launched a new Oceania Data Center for Final Fantasy XIV. This new data center will allow for new character creation along with Home World Transfers starting on January 26, 2022.

Square Enix says that at the start, there will be five Worlds available to players. All Worlds will be designated as "New Worlds." This means that players who transfer to or create new characters on them will receive special bonuses, including the following items:
  • Free Home World Transfer for players transferring from another World
  • Double EXP for both newly created and transferred characters (up to Level 80)
  • Gold and Silver Chocobo Feathers exchangeable for special in-game rewards
  • And more
In celebration of this launch, Square Enix created a map of Australia and New Zealand in the style of the in-game world map of Hydaelyn. You can see that map at the top of this post if you somehow missed it while reading this sentence.

The studio says that this new data center is the "first part of a plan to expand global server capacity for the game and combat congestion in the face of continually growing player numbers." Remember that Final Fantasy XIV has seen a huge influx of players even before the latest expansion, Endwalker, was released at the end of last year.

The situation got to be so bad that Square Enix had to suspend the sale of the Starter Edition and Complete Edition of the game for a while. They also had to put a hold on the game's Free Trial for a while. It looks like those restrictions are being lifted for now, but could be re-enacted should they be needed. Square Enix is still also working on more server upgrades and expansions for North American, European, and Japanese Data Centers.