A miracle thanks to the fans: Final Fantasy 11 was supposed to disappear, but players gave it a new life and the server will not be closed

Few people know, but Final Fantasy 11, which was first released on PS2 and PC back in 2002, could have gone down in history last year, and perhaps even shut down its servers. However, according to the current director of the game, Yoji Fujito, it was the undying support of loyal fans that saved the beloved MMORPG from oblivion.

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In an interview with Dengeki Online, Fujito said that even before the 20th anniversary of the game in 2022, Square Enix seriously considered the possibility of ending support for the PC version in 2024, after the completion of the Voracious Resurgence storyline.

"There was a real possibility that 2024 would be the year when updates would stop and the game would go into what is called maintenance mode, where only system maintenance would be performed," Fujito said.

The publisher even considered shutting the game down completely, given that the servers were reaching the end of their lifespan. However, players continued to log in to the game, which hasn't changed its monthly subscription fee of 12 since its launch in 2002, and showed the development team "tremendous support". This was the deciding factor in extending the life of Final Fantasy 11.

"We thought that if Voracious Resurgence ended and FFXI was clearly losing momentum, then maybe we should really get ready to end it," Fujito explained, "but that didn't happen. I took it as a sign that we should continue to support the game."

So, instead of closing the game that was once released on PS2, Square Enix announced a new batch of updates. Among them are a new high-level battlefield, gamepad configuration settings, a new morale indicator, the ability to change the character's race, and new content for the Limbus combat system.

Source: Automaton