There are a lot of live service games that fail and flounder, some barely even getting a chance to stand on their own before being shuttered. Concord, XDefiant, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, heck even Hyenas that never even reached its launch date… But this inconsistent or lacking player base does not apply to Final Fantasy XI.
Despite originally launching as far back as 2002 in some regions, the MMORPG still has such an active and lively fanbase that Square Enix can’t close the game down. This was confirmed in an interview with Dengeki Online (thanks, Automaton), where producer and director Yoji Fujito notes that the game was supposed to have been shut down in 2024, but the sheer number of fans prevented this fate.
“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.”
Fujito continues, “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.”
The question now shifts to how long the game can continue to operate for, as currently it’s one of the longest-running MMORPGs in operation.