Square Enix considered shutting down the original Final Fantasy MMO years ago, but the devs received "a lot of support" to keep it going

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Final Fantasy 11 owes plenty to its fans

Final Fantasy 11 Beastmaster
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Square Enix might have called quits on Final Fantasy 11 last year if it wasn't for the MMO's dedicated fan base.

That comes from producer and director Yoji Fujito, who has been speaking about what the future of the original Final Fantasy MMO might have looked like if things played out a bit differently.

Speaking to Dengeki Online, Fujito reveals that at one point prior to Final Fantasy XI’s 20th anniversary in 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," he shares (via Automaton).

Thankfully, that didn't happen as fans continued to invest time and money into Final Fantasy 11, with the dev team receiving "a lot of support" to keep it going for the long term. "We thought, if The Voracious Resurgence wrapped up and FF11 clearly started losing its momentum, then maybe we really should prepare to end it," Fujito explains. "But that didn’t happen. I took this as a sign that we should keep running the game."

Iain Harris
Iain Harris
News Editor, Games

I joined GamesRadar+ in May 2022 following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When I'm not running the news team on the games side, you'll find me putting News Editor duties to one side to play the hottest JRPG of 20 years ago or pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new cloak – the more colourful, the better.

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