NORTH POLE — Santa Claus may be late starting his annual delivery run due to accidentally scheduling a Final Fantasy XIV raid on Christmas Eve, sources confirm.
“Everyone in my Free Company had availability on a weeknight,” said Santa. “That never happens. I just did not really consider that I had work expectations that night. I play as a healer and we’ve been trying to run The Omega Protocol for months now. I already bailed on a couple sessions earlier this year to watch the World Series. I can’t be ‘that guy’ who gets it moved again. I’ll try and get it done faster then cast Haste on the reindeer to try and make up for lost time.”
Santa’s wife says has had plenty of issues with her husband’s gaming getting in the way of his commitments.
“I have told him a million times what day Christmas is this year,” said Mrs. Claus. “We have a shared calendar in the kitchen that I have tried to get him to actually look at. If it’s not FFXIV, it’s another game. This oaf of a man didn’t do yard work once this year because he got hooked on Balatro. I have had to shovel all the snow myself and coordinate with the elves in constructing toys because Santa just has to get this current season’s exclusive loot in whatever game he is playing.”
Ryan Warburtin is a father of three in Ann Arbor. He says he is frustrated to learn that Santa is running behind but he understands as a fellow gamer his scheduling dilemma.
“Jason, Karen and little Polly are going to be upset if Santa does not get the gifts delivered on time,” said Warburtin. “But I get it. It’s hard to schedule gaming sessions with friends as you grow older and have more responsibilities. I’m still trying to figure out a time that works for me and fraternity brothers to play a single round of Helldivers. You take whatever you can get. Maybe Santa can just tweak who is on the naughty list to make faster deliveries. I’m an actuary and I think that if he shifts 20% of good kids to the naughty list he might be able to make up 7% of the lost time of an average FFXIV raid. That little jerk Kyle down the block keeps walking on my grass and maybe Santa forgetting him this year will be the wake up call for him to stop.”
At press time, Santa declined to comment on rumors that the raid will be pushed back another couple hours due to a guild member forgetting they had a work holiday party to attend.
