Hello, this is Sicycre giving you the lowdown on the Shanghai Fan Festival that took place on August 10! We were lucky to receive updates from Project Manager A who was on site at the show to share a lot of details (and photos!) from the massive event!

...However, there was SO much they wanted to cover, so for this blog, they actually preferred it to be called the Stage Report! That said, let's focus on the stage shows!

On the day of, there was a hurricane reported around the Shanghai area, which stopped many flights and bullet trains. But that didn't stop the show! There were still over 6,000 Warriors of Light who had gathered from all over China!

When the clock hit 10:00 in their local time, the team opened with the full Shadowbringers trailer, complete with Chinese voice acting! Everyone's eyes were glued to the screens and would loudly cheer each time a familiar character made their appearance.

After the trailer, Yoshi-P stood in front of the audience to introduce some of the information regarding Shadowbringers.

And finally, they revealed the release date for China!

It will be released on Tuesday, October 15! Only two months to go!

Moving on to the developer panel, the team introduced Lead Item Designer Hayashi to talk about how items are developed for the game.

Cheers resounded throughout the hall when they revealed surprise peacock-themed outfits and mount!

As always, please look forward to them!

Next, Project Manager A shared a ton about the cosplay contest that featured many truly high-quality cosplays! From the 41 high-level cosplayers, the following four were chosen as winners:

The whole audience was charmed by the beautiful cosplays~!! ♡
And not just because Lakshmi was there, haha!
The team also took a commemorative photo at the end with all the cosplayers! There are so many people...!

We've posted photos of individual cosplayers at the end of this blog, so please take a look! Their craftsmanship is truly something to behold.

Next up, The Feast Regional Championship finals was held between the two teams that valiantly fought their way through to the preliminaries!

The raging battle concluded, and Team 给你两刀 was crowned the champions!
Congratulations to the victors!

Soon after, it was time for THE PRIMALS to perform their first ever concert in China!
The convention center's hype was at its absolute peak!

Yoshi-P also took to the stage and performed Amatsu Kaze once more. In fact, a player presented him with a very cool Byakko-themed umbrella, so he brought it with him for his performance! Thank you for the awesome gift!

The concert concluded with performances for the 5th anniversary celebration and a special ending.

The team showcased an anniversary cake, which was made quick work of on stage.

It's really amazing that the Chinese version of FFXIV has reached their 5th anniversary... time flies when you're having fun!
Though the Shanghai Fan Festival was held only for one day, the Warriors of Light of China were every bit as passionate about FFXIV as our Warriors of Light around the globe!

In the next blog, we'll be sure to check on Project Manager A's findings and go over the various activities and photo sessions in their Show Floor Report!

So now, for the final part of this exciting coverage, we proudly present all the individual cosplayers who entered the contest!

We'll see you in the next blog!

- Sicycre
Community Team