Square Enix considered ending FF11 in 2024, but player interest was high enough to keep it alive even after 20+ years

[Lulcielid]

Square Enix considered ending Final Fantasy 11 in 2024, but player interest was high enough to keep it alive even after 20+ years - AUTOMATON WEST

According to Final Fantasy 11 producer and director Yoji Fujito, the MMORPG could have ended support or even shut down completely.

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Square Enix recently celebrated Final Fantasy XI’s 23rd anniversary by announcing big updates planned for 2025 and beyond. Among other tweaks and additions, the MMORPG will be getting a much-requested character race change feature, as well as adjustments meant to make solo-play more comfortable. Although these announcements paint an optimistic picture of the game’s future, FFXI producer and director Yoji Fujito says that in another timeline, the game could have ended in 2024.

Speaking to Dengeki Online, Fujito reveals that at one point prior to Final Fantasy XI’s 20th anniversary (2022), Square Enix considered ending support for it as a living game. “There was a real possibility that 2024 would be the year updates would come to an end, with the game shifting into a so-called maintenance mode, where only system upkeep would be performed.” The original idea was for things to wrap up after The Voracious Resurgence storyline was completed. Furthermore, as FFXI’s was reaching its server lifetime at the time, Fujito says that they even considered completely shutting down the game.

However, as the title’s 20th anniversary approached, the dev team received “a lot of support” from players requesting for FFXI to be continued in the long term. Above all, Fujito emphasizes, players were still logging in and playing the MMORPG. “We thought, if The Voracious Resurgence wrapped up and FFXI clearly started losing its momentum, then maybe we really should prepare to end it. But that didn’t happen. I took this as a sign that we should keep running the game.”

Thanks to player interest still being high enough after 20 years, the team decided to update FFXI’s infrastructure and keep supporting it as a living game. Fujito took over Akihiko Matsui’s role as producer, and the (currently rather small) dev team was reorganized to work on new content and updates on a priority basis.

 

[ForceStealer]

That's cool, I am still stunned that it remains a full-priced subscription, though. I feel like it should be included with a XIV sub, personally. Even if for a dollar or two per month upcharge, but I feel like either would really boost activity in the game.
But I guess if they think enough people are still willing to shell out for it

 

[Theozilla]

I wonder if it will be possible to eventually create an offline-version for at least archival purposes? Even if its not general public accessible. I'd hate to see FFXI just completely disappear entirely like FFXIV 1.0.

 

[Elkazor]

I started playing 11 only a few years ago, and I still haven't gotten too far in the story as it can be a lot to figure out at first. Glad they decided to keep it going so folks like me can experience it.

It is a mainline title after all, it should be archived in some way. It's definitely the mainline title that gets talked about the least out of all of them. Something to make it more accessible would be great

 

[Lulcielid]

Speaking of high interest, the game has hit its highest active character amount (111K+) in over a decade.

Final Fantasy 11 hits highest active character amount (111k+) in over a decade.

Thought this was a cool story: Final Fantasy XI is in the middle of its annual anniversary celebration and hit 110k+. Character count in XI can be accurately measured by the amount of players using the Auction House, a third party website that tracks in-game auction house transactions. This...

www.resetera.com

 

[Cthulhu]

The fuck? It sounds like the mild reception of XIV's latest expansion plus its XI crossover may have attracted more players.