Final Fantasy 14’s latest unofficial census is a surprising uptick, and shows I’m not the only one getting sucked back into the MMO again

After taking a wee half-year break from Final Fantasy 14, I have been (for better and worse) deep in the no-life trenches since December. I’ve been sucked straight back into the world of bunny girls and perpetual Limsa Lominsa drama—the kind I dutifully observe from the sidelines, of course. Looks like I’m not the only one waking their Warriors of Light up from an extended nap, either. At least, if this unofficial census is anything to go by.

It comes courtesy of LuckyBancho, who’s been running the census for a hot sec now. Like I say, it’s unofficial—pulling data from The Lodestone to determine which characters are ‘active’ through means like newly registered minions and mounts or changes in HP and experience—so it’s not to be taken as gospel. But it’s still decent enough for a broad view of how the game is doing.

As it turns out, it seems like it’s doing pretty well! At least, significantly better than the census conducted back in November of last year. It estimates that we’re around 110,000 active characters up from three months ago for a pretty healthy-looking 930,000 Warriors of Light runnin’ around. Roughly 60,000 of those are new characters, while the number of returning players (those who were inactive but are now considered active) is estimated to be around 210,000—that’s an 80,000 increase from the previous census.