Final Fantasy XIV has banned over 5000 players for real money trading

And you can take that to the bank

Square Enix has announced that it has taken steps to ban the accounts of over 5000 Final Fantasy XIV players, after the publisher discovered evidence that the owners of said accounts were engaged in real-money trading (RMT) and other “illicit activities” within its online RPG.

The account purge – which took place during the final week of February 2021 – was noted on the official Square Enix website in a very officious statement, also asking the FF XIV community for its help in the identifying and reporting of traders and in-game cheaters.

“Real money trading (RMT) and other illicit activities upset the balance of the game and, as such, are prohibited under the Terms of Service,” said the publisher. “Players who discover any confirmed cheats should, under no circumstances, exploit or disseminate such information. Instead, we ask that players file a report by using the in-game command [System Menu] > [Support Desk] > [Contact Us] > [Report Cheating].”

“In addition, any witnessed RMT advertisement can be reported by right clicking the character name in the chat log and selecting the menu [Report] > [Report RMT Activity].
The report will be processed automatically, and if determined to fall under RMT advertising, the reported character’s comments will be restricted. We will continue to take stringent disciplinary action against any accounts with confirmed involvement in RMT/illicit activity; players should take care to steer clear of any activity that violates the Terms of Service.”

Final Fantasy XIV launched on PC back in the fall of 2010 and is still going strong over a decade later, with an approximate 20 million players having logged in to the continent of Eorzea since the title’s launch. A brand new expansion, Endwalker, is currently in development at Square Enix, and is scheduled to launch in-game this fall.

Final Fantasy XIV bans over 5,000 players for using real money in-game [PCGamesN]