Final Fantasy 11 Nearly Ended—Until the Fans Said 'No'

It’s a shock when you find out that one of the Final Fantasy games could have just… not existed anymore. They’ve become such a gaming mainstay that it would feel weird not to see a Roman numeral-labeled entry pop up every few years. But as it turns out, one entry almost didn’t make it this far.

Final Fantasy 11—the original MMO in the franchise—was nearly sent to that great big “maintenance mode” in the sky. But thanks to a loyal fanbase and some very vocal support, the plug never got pulled.

The Almost-Ultimate Decision

Producer and director Yoji Fujito revealed that Final Fantasy 11 was dangerously close to shutting down live development. Ahead of the game’s 20th anniversary in 2022, Square Enix had internally discussed ending all major support and transitioning it to maintenance-only status.

“There was a real possibility that 2024 would have been the year updates would come to an end, with the game shifting to a so-called maintenance mode, where only system upkeep would be performed,” Fujito explained.

Translation: no new content, no new quests, no seasonal fun. Just servers kept alive for those still logging in.

But what Square Enix didn’t expect was that Final Fantasy 11 fans weren’t ready to let go.

Fan Support Changed Everything

Originally, devs planned to wrap things up after The Voracious Resurgence—a content arc meant to be a swan song of sorts. But the story ended, and the fans… didn’t leave.

“We thought, if The Voracious Resurgence wrapped up and Final Fantasy 11 clearly started losing momentum, then maybe we really should prepare to end it,” Fujito said. “But that didn’t happen. I took this as a sign that we should keep the game running.”

So they did. And they still are.

Final Thoughts

The story of Final Fantasy 11 surviving by sheer fan determination proves one thing: community matters. You can have a technically solid game (cough Redfall), but without an active, supportive player base? It won’t last. On the flip side, even a two-decade-old MMO can keep running strong if its fans refuse to let go.

Game devs take note—never underestimate the power of your audience. They might just save your game from disappearing into history.