Square Enix will shut down the Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 servers for Final Fantasy XI. PS2 and Xbox 360 players have until March 2016 to get their FFXI affairs in order. PC players, on the other hand, have nothing to worry about. Their servers will continue to run for the foreseeable future.
This news comes alongside the announcement of Final Fantasy XI’s final scenario, “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel.” It brings to a close the story of FFXI and will bring back characters from older storylines. The scenario will be released in three parts. The first will be released on May 2015, the second on August, and the third on November. “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel” will neither have a retail release nor a price. It is a free content update available for all FFXI players to download. After the final scenario, Square Enix will continue to maintain the PC servers with minor updates when necessary.
Final Fantasy XI started life back in 2002 for both the PC and PS2 (The Xbox 360 version was released in 2006). It received five expansion packs along with several add-ons in its lifetime. In 2008, it has a user base of 500,000 subscribers. Although FFXI was ultimately eclipsed by World of Warcraft, FFXI manages to pull off something almost no other MMO has been able to do: Maintain a subscription model.
