As part of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote presentation, director and producer Naoki Yoshida revealed that the upcoming 24-player raid series will be a crossover with the iconic anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s called Ghosts of Desire and is part of the post-game content for the next expansion FFXIV Evercold, which launches in January 2027. You can see the FFXIV x Evangelion teaser below.
This crossover isn’t as unlikely as you may think. The creative mind behind NieR Automata, Yoko Taro, worked with the FFXIV team for the Shadowbringers raid series that brought NieR-themed content to the MMORPG. But he’s also doing the composition and screenplay for the new Evangelion anime series alongside Studio Khara (which is headed by Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno).
If you’re not familiar, 24-player raids (called Alliance Raids) are endgame content for FFXIV and roll out through updates between expansions. If this collab follows the same cadence as previous patches, Ghosts of Desire would come in three parts with its own story arc through Patch 8.1, 8.3, and 8.5. It’ll contain boss fights and dungeons themed around Evangelion, and will somehow exist in lore with FFXIV.
Fore more on what’s coming to the critically acclaimed MMORPG, check out my roundup of announcements from Fan Fest including the reveal of FFXIV Evercold.
