Square Enix has officially rolled back long-standing restrictions on the Final Fantasy 14 Online Store, allowing players to once again gift a wide variety of cosmetic items to their friends. The change, which went into effect on April 2, effectively ends a four-year drought for many social features of the storefront. While certain items like weapons and costumes remained giftable in a limited capacity, the newly expanded list includes high-demand categories such as single-character mounts, minions, emotes, and fashion accessories.
The original restrictions were implemented in late 2022 following the launch of Patch 6.2 as a drastic measure to combat fraudulent credit card activity and the rise of third-party real-money trading (RMT). Previously, the store operated on a gift code system, which bad actors exploited by purchasing codes with stolen data and reselling them on gray-market sites. To solve this, Square Enix transitioned to a “Buy For A Friend” system that delivers items directly via the in-game Moogle Delivery Service, ensuring the transaction stays within the game’s ecosystem.
Under the updated policy, players can now send items like Hatching-Tide seasonal rewards, orchestrion rolls, and chocobo barding directly to anyone on their friends list. However, some safeguards remain in place to prevent further exploitation. Buyers must have been friends with the recipient for at least 72 hours before a gift can be sent, and account-wide mounts—those that unlock for every character on a service account—are still currently excluded from the gifting feature.
This quality-of-life update arrives during a particularly dense calendar for the MMORPG. With the Moogle Treasure Trove event currently underway and the North American FanFest scheduled for late April in Anaheim, the community is seeing a significant ramp-up in activity. These store changes provide a more streamlined way for the community to interact ahead of the massive Patch 7.5 update, “Trail to the Heavens,” which is slated to conclude the current narrative arc later this month.
