Keybound Brawler controversy
Earlier this year, Final Fantasy XIV announced that it would feature several crossover events with Square Enix’s other golden goose IP, the Final Fantasy VII remake project. In addition to featuring a raid series themed around the remake trilogy, the MMO would also add a new minigame to Gold Saucer which, like its FF7 counterpart, is a place where Eorzeans can gamble gil and partake in other leisurely, less world-savey pursuits. But though the minigame, called Keybound Brawler, isn’t out yet, it’s already pissing people off.
A test of your (typing) reflexes!
Keybound Brawler will be landing in the Manderville Gold Saucer on October 28, and the first iteration of the event will be a special collaboration with the FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE series! ⌨️ https://t.co/5yNsdKqbV1 pic.twitter.com/JR3Yujh8Hr — FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) October 21, 2026
Keybound Brawler is a typing game ala Typing Of The Dead which requires the use of a keyboard to complete. However, FFXIV has a rather large console player base and it seems like there’s quite a few of them who don’t keep a keyboard in arm’s reach. It’s a simple, relatively cheap fix, sure, but it’s the principle, you see. On social media and the game’s subreddit, console players are upset at having to buy or otherwise procure a keyboard to experience part of a game they’ve been playing just fine with a simple controller for over a decade—especially since the game just launched on the Switch 2, opening up a whole new avenue of console players.
But Keybound Brawler’s worst offense is in its gender-locked rewards. In the first iteration of the minigame, players can win costumes that can dress up Warriors of Light as either Barret or Tifa, but only male characters can wear Barret’s clothes and females only Tifa’s. Naturally, in the community for which “glamour is the endgame,” this ain’t going over well.
deeply disappointing that the gear is genderlocked. what about that promise to stop genderlocking cosmetics. i was going to resub for this event but i just cant be bothered if y’all still cant keep your word
— twink death ☁️💫 (@catboyfriencl) October 21, 2026
The curious restriction flies in the face of previous moves Square Enix has made with clothing and gender. Way back in 2020, game director Naoki Yoshida announced that the gender restriction on the game’s wedding outfits would be removed. Before the Endwalker expansion, Square Enix did it again, removing the gender restriction on maid outfits which is the morally correct thing to do right before making male Viera a character option. It’s odd, then, to see Square Enix go back to such restrictions for something that would generate as much player interest as this.
Please unlock the glams for both genders, I want to dress my Clive Rosfield alt in the Tifa glam just like Ben Starr XD
— The_One_True_Clive_Rosfield (@CliveRosfield44) October 21, 2026
I mean c’mon!