Square Enix Planned to End Final Fantasy 11 in 2024, But Player Interest Keeps It Alive

Recently, Square Enix celebrated the 23rd anniversary of Final Fantasy 11. They also announced updates for 2025, including a feature that allows players to change their character’s race, and new content aimed at solo players. It’s clear that the game is still going strong, despite Square Enix’s initial plans to shut it down in 2024. This was revealed by Yoji Fujito, the director and producer of Final Fantasy 11.

A Close Call with Shutdown

Fujito shared in an interview with Dengeki Online that (thanks Automaton-Media), before the game’s 20th anniversary in 2022, Square Enix had already started considering ending support for the game.

“There was a real possibility that 2024 would be the year updates would come to an end,” Fujito said. “The game would have shifted into a so-called maintenance mode, where only system upkeep would be performed.” The original idea was to wrap everything up after completing the storyline of The Voracious Resurgence. Furthermore, as the game’s servers were nearing the end of their life cycle, Square Enix even considered completely shutting down the game.

Player Support Saved the Game

However, as the 20th anniversary approached, the development team received a lot of support from players, who were vocal about not wanting Final Fantasy 11 to be shut down.

Fujito emphasized, “Players were still logging in and playing the MMORPG. We thought that if The Voracious Resurgence wrapped up and FFXI clearly started losing its momentum, then maybe we should really prepare to end it. But that didn’t happen. I took this as a sign that we should keep the game running.”

While Final Fantasy 11 may not have the massive player numbers it once had, it still remains a solid investment for Square Enix to keep going, despite the years it’s been around.