‘Final Fantasy XIV’ Mod Creator Shuts Down “Mare Synchronos” After Receiving “Legal Inquiry Concerning The Project”
Mare Synchronos was a mod that allowed players of Final Fantasy XIV to share the appearance of their modified characters in-game. The mod’s creators have now pulled the plug, after receiving a “legal inquiry.”
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On August 21st, user ‘Her Royal Floofness’ of the mod’s Discord server announced the news; spreading rapidly to Final Fantasy XIV communities across different platforms such as Reddit. “See the sun set, the day is ending,” Her Royal Floofness opened.
“With a heavy heart, I have to announce the end of Mare Synchronos as you know it. I’ve received a legal inquiry concerning the project. After reviewing my options with counsel, I’m winding it down,” the statement followed.
My Royal Floofness declared “effective immediately” the Discord server would be limited to general chat with slow mode, registration and bot services would be closed, and “the repositories for client, server, and api will also be removed as per this announcement.” All Patreon and Ko-Fi memberships would also be removed, and tiers disabled.
“The server will continue to run until Friday, August 22, 2025 6:00 AM, after that, the server will shut down, and the main repository will be removed as well. Enjoy your last doomsday party.” As said files were hosted on GitHub, it’s all but certain others now possess the files to revive the project if they so choose, and can avoid legal issues.
Her Royal Floofness insisted “please avoid speculation or harassment in any form of fashion towards anyone involved. I will not be sharing any legal details, and I ask that you don’t contact any third parties about this. Thank you for the past 3 years of Mare, I hope you enjoyed the ride.”
Flooflness closed the post promoting their Ko-Fi for a one time donation, highlighting it was “not a legal fund.”
For those unfamiliar, Mare Synchronos allowed players to use altered character models and animations beyond client-side. Should two players using the mod agree to each other’s invite links, they can see each other’s modded characters.
The most infamous element of the mod was it facilitating adult character models and animations, elevating ERP. Square Enix previously updated their guidelines in 2021, saying explicit conversations wouldn’t be punished if they were kept private.
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Mods of all kinds are also against Final Fantasy XIV‘s terms of service. By taking broad strokes, mods that alter gameplay or affect other players can be quashed, even if their creators lie about their capabilities. The unofficial stance appears to be that players are only punished if they are reported for blatantly cheating, or admit to using such mods in-game.
Despite this, players could signal to one-another they were using the mod by putting “Mare Lamentorum” in their profile ( an in-game location) or simply “Mare.”
The sudden announcement of the mod shutting down has sent shockwaves through the community, and was the last solid piece of information about what’s going on. There’s plenty of speculation as to why the mod was shut down, such as claims of being able to wear premium cosmetics, or due to the creators turning a profit from donations.
Others believed the mod finally became too well known for Square Enix to tolerate, no matter how much they knew the mod existed, or tried to turn a blind eye.
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YouTuber Mrhappy1227, who has played Final Fantasy XIV extensively, summarized, “So, from what I’m hearing a premiere plugin was brought down because the page for it had the SE trademark and the creator’s personal information while a server in Materia was congested with people shouting the access codes for a big party in cities?”
“If thats indeed the case, I think people forgot about the part where they said they’d look the other way if you didn’t talk about them. That definitely qualifies as talking about them lol”
On a related note, there’s technically no proof Square Enix was the one who sent the “legal inquiry.”
While the most likely candidate, others believe the take down was due to the increasing pressure for online platforms to age gate or outright remove adult content, and remove user privacy: the ongoing Mastercard/VISA assault against adult content on gaming stores, the UK’s Online Safety Act, and similar laws coming and proposed in Europe and the USA.
Cider Spider — a YouTuber attempting to get every achievement in Final Fantasy XIV — proposed Square Enix knew the mod existed. Not only could screenshots with modified characters give a false impression of what’s possible in the game, but Square Enix may have needed to act to prevent anyone from assuming they were complicit through non-action.
Another more pedestrian theory was due to the mod allegedly using player IDs. This is something the Playertrack and Playerscope mods used to enable stalking players across multiple characters. Square Enix threatened the creators with legal action and demanded them to be deleted.
Whatever the reason, a significant chunk of the game’s player base have been affected. Mare Synchronos reportedly featured around 20,000 to 25,000 active users. The Steam page for Final Fantasy XIV has also been hit by a wave of negative reviews since the mod was shut down — around 379 negative reviews, but also 164 positive reviews to counter it.
Based on discussions on the game’s official forums, in the replies to the game’s X posts, and beyond, it seem Mare Synchronos was divisive.
Some felt the Mare players had become too blatant and obnoxious, didn’t play the game’s real content, and inhibited the game’s roleplaying community (as Mare players demanded others use the mod as well). Nonetheless, others insist Mare had value in socializing and player-made events suitable for all.
Bad PR — justified or otherwise — couldn’t have come at a worse time for Square Enix. Their Q1 fiscal report reveals they have 15% less net sales year-on-year, almost 55% less profit year-on-year, and notably a 23% loss in MMO net sales and profit. This comes after the launch of the Dawntrail expansion for Final Fantasy XIV being divisive to players.
Major criticisms of that and recent updates includes a lackluster story, Jobs becoming too simplified and similar, a drought of new content, and what is introduced — such as the Occult Crescent — being repetitive and boring. Some players even championed the notion of Mare Synchronos players leaving, so lower player numbers would motivate Square Enix to improve the game.
Will this controversy truly be a death knell? Or just one of many cuts that could make or break the developers?
