The FFXIV pizza emote controversy looks to be finally coming to an end, as Square Enix has released the eat pizza emote onto the MMO store two years after the GrubHub limited-time event saw many players buying meals only to be told they won’t be getting the emote.
As a new FFXIV player, what I’m dubbing the ‘Pizza Controversy’ was before my time. If you’re newer like me, it has nothing to do with Tataru liking pineapple on her disc of tomato, cheese, and bread, but instead focuses on a botched MMORPG GrubHub collaboration about an FFXIV eat pizza emote.
Back in 2021, if you ordered at least $15 worth of food from GrubHub and used the “ENDWALKER” promo code you could redeem the admittedly adorable eat pizza emote. It was a simple promo that ended up as anything but.
The FFXIV event did say free delivery of food (which was an adjacent promo to tie in that year’s The Game Awards) was limited to the first 20,000 orders, but players at the time were claiming that GrubHub was denying free /eatpizza codes too.
A trip with the Wayback Machine reveals that on the promo page on Thursday, December 23 2021 GrubHub says, “There was no limit to the number of customers who could receive the Eat Pizza emote during the promo period.” This is directly juxtaposed by the fine print right at the bottom of the archived webpage though, which reads “Limited supply available (expect high demand). Final Fantasy XIV Online ‘Eat Pizza’ emote item codes will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.”
If that’s left you with a head-scratcher don’t worry, two years ago everyone else was in the same boat, frantically calling GrubHub customer support for answers they would never get. As you’d expect, things went even more off the rails when people started selling the FFXIV eat pizza emote on eBay for around $200.
As of today (Monday, November 20) the era of pricey pizza is over, as Square Enix has released the emote on its store for $7. There’s even a new Pepperoni Pizza set for $5 too, but most of us will be interested in the controversial emote, that’s for sure.
While the $15 back in the day would have also got you a meal, I’m personally more up for paying less to ensure I have the emote itself, instead of taking a GrubHub gamble.
As someone who’s still on the critically acclaimed free trial, I’m not sure I can stomach (sorry) spending $7 on a virtual slice of ‘za, but I can see how it’s great to have the option two years later.
At least we can all eat some pizza while waiting for the FFXIV Dawntrail release date, while exploring which of the jobs and FFXIV classes we might want to give a try before then too.
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