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

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).

Expanding further, Fujito says that the original idea was to wrap things up after The Voracious Resurgence storyline came to a close in 2024. On top of that, the producer recalls that the thought of shutting Final Fantasy 11 down entirely was also floated as the MMO was reaching its server lifetime.

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."

And so, Final Fantasy 11 lives on. Alongside an ongoing collaboration with MMO sibling Final Fantasy 14, FF11 is also getting various tweaks and adjustments that include making it more friendlier to play solo and the ability to change your race and gender. With fans continuing to show up and support the game, hopefully FF11 has plenty of life in it yet.

Discord's creator is such a Final Fantasy 11 fan he essentially created the entire platform just to talk to friends while playing the MMO.