How unusual FFXIV’s approach to housing is becomes obvious when you compare it with its rivals. Where Square Enix chose a zero-sum economy, other virtual worlds made radically different choices.

In The Elder Scrolls Online, houses are self-service. Since 2017, the game has offered dozens of homes in all kinds of styles, open to everyone with no restrictions at all. Whatever the demand, the same property can be owned by thousands of players. Each house exists in a parallel dimension, visible only to its owner and their guests. An infinity of private spaces, but no impact on the community.

Black Desert Online took a similar approach. Its housing system is fully instanced: every building in town can be owned at the same time by everyone who wants it. No shortage, no competition, no speculative market.

Even World of Warcraft, long resistant to housing, is about to take the plunge with Midnight, its next expansion. Without ever naming FFXIV, Blizzard has made it clear it intends to avoid its rival’s pitfalls. A home for everyone, no lottery, no speculation, no mandatory upkeep.

So why does Final Fantasy XIV stubbornly stick to such a restrictive system? On the forums, the debate rages. Supporters of the current model argue that scarcity gives properties their value and creates genuinely lively neighbourhoods, where you bump into your neighbours and every house is unique. On the other hand, purely instanced housing could end up looking like a string of isolated bubbles, cut off from the game world.

A logic that echoes, strangely, today’s debates on urban planning. Should universal access to housing come first, even at the cost of the very idea of a neighbourhood? Or should limited shared spaces be kept, accepting the risk of exclusion and speculation?