Final Fantasy 11, a 23-year-old MMORPG, is closing one of its servers due to it having too many active players. Despite the fact that the game is nearly a quarter of a century old, and has seen a spiritual successor in the form of Final Fantasy 14, Final Fantasy 11 still has a fairly sizable population of players of its own.
Final Fantasy 11 launched in Japan in 2002, and arrived in the western world in 2003. The MMORPG was extremely popular in its heyday, even with World of Warcraft joining the MMORPG scene in 2004. Somehow, these two MMORPGs are still ongoing, and now Final Fantasy 11 has had to make a change due to its significant player population.
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Final Fantasy 11 Announces Closure of Bahamut World
In a new update, Final Fantasy 11 has revealed that the Bahamut world will be shut to new players starting on October 9. Players will no longer be able to transfer their existing characters to Bahamut, either. This follows an identical move made in July, when Final Fantasy 11 had to close the Asura world, its most populated. Both of these worlds have been frozen in this manner due to overpopulation, which Final Fantasy 11 director Yoji Fujito has said can overwhelm server processes, leading to problems and lag.
Fujito also offered an update on the server population of Asura, explaining that the player population in the world has slightly decreased following the July closure. However, he added that the server load is largely unchanged, so the world will remain shuttered to new and transferring players. The team will be monitoring the servers and login numbers, and will presumably make changes as needed to combat server overpopulation. Final Fantasy 11 currently has 16 worlds, so there are still plenty for newcomers joining FF11 in 2025 to choose from.
Surprisingly, Final Fantasy 11 was nearly shut down not too long ago. Square Enix had considered moving the game into maintenance mode, with no further updates beyond minor bug fixes, or even shutting the game down entirely if player counts dwindled too much. However, SE decided against this move after players kept logging in, which has also led to new content and additions like a character race change service in FF11. Final Fantasy 14 subscribers have also been offered a chance to check out FF11 at a discount on occasion, which has likely drawn over some new players, especially with the release of the Final Fantasy 11-themed Raid series in Dawntrail.
- Released
- October 28, 2003
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Animated Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix, Sony Computer Entertainment
- Engine
- Luminous
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- MMORPG
