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Final Fantasy XI: Report: Shutting Down This Year?

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Comments

  • Rover64ddRover64dd Member Posts: 144

    pre-wow it was pretty good for awhile. besides the horrendous problems it had like a terrible at best login system and my server being 80% japanese. i learned hundreds of japanese words just to get into groups and stay for a few hours. still had massive lfg times. and then the games interface was crap. it was definetly dated when it came out wow didnt have much for competition. but my god ffxi addicts were addicts to the fullest extent of the word.

    Never take life too seriously youre never gonna make it out alive.

  • mrcalhoumrcalhou Member UncommonPosts: 1,444
    Originally posted by WSIMike


    This
    Seriously.
    I can't figure out if people are that gullible, or just that fascinated by the idea of "games being shut down" - it sure seems to permeate a lot of games' threads around here.
    FFXI *still* has a very healthy population and accounts for a large portion of SE's revenue.  FFS... even after 8 years in service, despite its "outdated tech", despite its "old-school" style gameplay... it still has a healthier population than many of the newer AAA MMOs manage to maintain a mere several months after their launch. It's been unshaken by WoW. They have yet to even do a single server merge... something brand-new MMOs are doing after a few months in service.
    And people seriously think SE's going to take it offline to "make way" for a brand-new, unproven MMO?
    /facepalm


    @MikeB - seriously... WTF were you even thinking posting that? You're helping an unsubstantiated rumor spread needlessly, among a sea of people including many who are downright giddy at the prospect of running around telling all their friends that a major title is "dying". And you feed them this kind of unfounded fodder?
    /double facepalm



     

    --------
    "Chemistry: 'We do stuff in lab that would be a felony in your garage.'"

    The most awesomest after school special T-shirt:
    Front: UNO Chemistry Club
    Back: /\OH --> Bad Decisions

  • rznkainrznkain Member Posts: 539

     Never enjoyed the game to begin with bought it when it came out I lasted maybe 2 weeks and started havin forced gropupin lost xp EQ1 flash backs and ran as quick as I could away from it.

  • braingame007braingame007 Member UncommonPosts: 98

    FFXI will not be shut down this year most likely, but I give it a 2 more year life cycle after FFXIV comes out and proves to be the major success it planned to be. FFXI is dying rapidly, Remora used to be a very high populated server, last time I was there I stood in town and didn't see a shout for over 10 minutes, then got a few shouts and then another 10 minutes passed by in silence, on a weekend night in Whitegate. That is unheard of, there are only a few servers that are really still kicking it, honestly I would say there is probably only about 30,000 subscribers, and when FFXIV comes out that number will drop a good 50% +

  • Rover64ddRover64dd Member Posts: 144

    I got the level 45 and couldnt continue in my all japanese server. the level blocks were about as stupid as bombing my hawaiin island.I spent about a month at 8 hours a day trying to find a raid or people that would assist and quit vowing never to come back and never did. But i had fun up untill then.

    Never take life too seriously youre never gonna make it out alive.

  • Esther-ChanEsther-Chan Member Posts: 288

    Honestly, it makes sense. They should just let current subscribers transfer over and offer them benefits based on how long they played, the levels of their classes, and their gear. Maybe give them a free month for being such dedicated players.

  • Rover64ddRover64dd Member Posts: 144

    I say leave a server up and let them manage their own. They shouldnt get any head start or advantage. A free month wouldnt be opposable

    Never take life too seriously youre never gonna make it out alive.

  • Esther-ChanEsther-Chan Member Posts: 288
    Originally posted by Rover64dd


    I say leave a server up and let them manage their own. They shouldnt get any head start or advantage. A free month wouldnt be opposable



    Moving all your support from FFXI to FFEleventiybillion just makes more sense. You got a huge crew of talented developers and shutting down the game completely may make a lot of long time players upset, but it makes a lot of sense. Though, I suppose it is like saying you should shut down Everquest because Everquest II came out.

  • Rover64ddRover64dd Member Posts: 144

    They can still make some money off ffxi players. As long as they arent taking a huge hit, and with very few servers up and probably an end to patching and player support it wont have much overhead.

    Never take life too seriously youre never gonna make it out alive.

  • miconamicona Member UncommonPosts: 677
    Originally posted by Kost

    Originally posted by fanita


    It makes sense to shut down final fantasy 11 at the launch of 14, I mean who is going to stay behind and play 11? I suppose a few might but not enough to keep it profitable.

     

    Players who have played since launch, have multiple level 75 jobs and a have accomplished a great deal ingame are not likely to leave at all.

    It is far more likely they will keep the FFXI account subbed and then purchase and sub to FFXIV along with it. The amount of time invested in this game by veteran players pretty much guarantees that, I've never met anyone who had played for any substantial amount of time and would just up and quit for another game.

    FFXI players are some of the most loyal, dedicated players around.

    As an old FFXI player i pretty agree with this statement

  • EtraEtra Member UncommonPosts: 164

    Sigh. I really wish people would read other interviews regarding this before making comments on why it would be "good" for FFXI to shut down.

    As it was said many times before, FFXI is meant to co-exist with FFXIV. To put it simply, SE has stated they are keeping FFXI for the hardcore, while FFXIV is for the casual crowd. Another quick and easy to understand aspect: SE chose not to use the traditional Final Fantasy jobs because they are being used in FFXI (The game FFXIV is supposed to co-exist with.)

    There's more, but this should obviously be sufficient.

    Also, the blog post would have been pulled if it was true or false. If it was true, SE does not need the current subs for FFXI to plummet. If it was false... same thing, really.

  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    I don't believe it at all,however it does make business sense.Square Enix is a HUGE developer,they would rather move employees into new ventures rather than support an older game.

    Now if I was running Square Enix,witch i am not lol,i would admit to the public that the game will remain open but not be supported anymore.I would also migrate and flood servers,so that every serve would have a constant around 5000,so that way many servers could be shut down.

    IMO FFXI will fall badly in subs when FXIV is released,probably as low as 50k,is it worth it to keep servers running?I guess only Square knows that answer.That would mean folding most of the servers,you would only need 3 or 4 servers to continue with 50k subs.then if they no longer support the game,what would be a fair subscription cost?Personally i feel Square has exhausted every idea they could come up with in FFXI,further content would be extremely diluted.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • PaviliciousPavilicious Member Posts: 3

    As logical as this sounds, I think FFXIV hype might have the "nostalgia" effect on the die hard fans.



    I remember when Diablo 3 was starting to get hyped. Diablo II:Lord of Destruction was #1 played video game on Xfire.

    With the multi-console community still managing to hold their own, I think there is still profit to be made.

  • GamerAeonGamerAeon Member Posts: 567

    Probably gonna have their hands full with the side and Main MMOs

    *points to the game list* Click on Fantasy Earth Zero

    but FFXI --> FFXIV makes perfect sense to me

  • PortiaBellPortiaBell Member Posts: 27

     IF  SE does decide to shut down FFXI, it would imply (imho) that FFXIV is more of a huge expansion than an entirely new game. With such huge similarities I am not sure why they had to change the names of the races/etc . Either way, as long as they fix the few things wrong with XI and keep the good, I know I will be on board! I'm done trying to find an MMO to hold me over, I'm just console gaming until it releases.

  • erigeerige Member Posts: 7

     It might be refering to the fact that SE said they would stop development on FFXI when FFXIV came out. I will have to find out where they said that give me 10 min. 

  • erigeerige Member Posts: 7

     there we go.

     

    Q: What happens to FFXI now that we're moving to FFXIV? Are you going to phase it out or continue to publish new content for XI? How will the development team be split?

    A: The development for FFXIV started four or five years ago with primary ideas. Development started a few years ago, while FFXI was still being supported. FFXI will continue to be supported. There is another year of content planned. There are no plans in the near future to stop development on FFXI.

     

    So might be just refering to the fact that they decided not to continue development, and not add new content. 

     

  • EffedupEffedup Member Posts: 35

    Why the hell would SE cancel FFXI when it's now to the point where it's like pure profit for them?  I'm sure the servers are long paid for, and now that the game is ramping down as far as development goes, the only overhead SE will have is a bare bones "maintenance" crew to keep things from falling apart completely.  Eventually FFXI will end, but I am sure there will be much more evidence then some random rumor when it will actually come to pass.  I mean, they have 20+ servers to merge before they even think about cutting it off completely.  Personally, I kinda wish they'd get on with that (although most endgame shells would probably heartily disagree) but most servers could use a population boost for lower end stuff.

    If anything, they're probably going to be using FFXI's revenue to subsidize FFXIV for a while.  Hell, FFXIV could completely flop for all we know.  All in all, dumping a proven money maker with a dedicated subscriber base for an unknown would be a completely retarded business decision.  Not that SE hasn't done that in the past (*cough* PS2 Limitations *cough*) but canceling FFXI would be, like, spectacularly retarded.

  • AlberelAlberel Member Posts: 1,121

    The post on that blog doesn't even say they're shutting the game down. All it says is that it's going to 'end' which is just referring to the launch of XIV rendering XI obsolete. SE have already stated multiple times that XI is not shutting down.

  • LexinLexin Member UncommonPosts: 701

     If this is true SE will be in a ****storm with FFXI players. Honestly I would never buy another SE product if the game I play is still going strong and they just cut the cord. If FFXIV is going to be what pretty much every game since WOW is then I would much rather stick with FFXI then move on. I have played it since PS2 launch and judging by the amount of people I still see on(believe I'm on one of the lowest populated servers) they could keep the game open for another 2 years+ the only thing that will make it lose players as of now is no more content being added. 

    image

  • alakramalakram Member UncommonPosts: 2,301

    It makes sense, if the only game competing with your new shiny game is your old game, why not shutting it down and forcing everybody to buy your new one. I dont think its a good idea from a players perspective, in fact I think its a bad idea, but from the suits perspective, it makes perfect sense.



  • golembanegolembane Member UncommonPosts: 102

    Yes, I do think FF11's population is going to have a large population drop. Yes, I do think they'll cut down to 3-4 servers, possibly less to try and keep the population at least looking capable of completing content. Yes, I do think FF11 will be placed on the back burner and will see very few content patches, and little to zero expansions after FF14 is released.

    I do not however think that SE would be willing to take down an IP like FF11 that is almost all profit. SE is still a company, and a fairly brainy group of folks who are looking out for their pocket books.

    The real question will be is if FF14 actually lives up to hype at release. Thus far I can not remember any company who came out with a 2nd MMO that almost failed out of the gate, or did fail. EQ2, WAR, AoC, AC2 all 'successors' to the previous names, and while after a time, they did get much better, they were almost all wiped away in horrible word of mouth (AC2 was the only one to actually die due to it's slow ability to turn around) for one reason or another. Even Lineage 2's population barely scratched that of Lineage 1, although still a large following. That will be really what will decide how much support FF11 will continue to garner once FF14 is released.

    Now I have heard the rumor of the one year of content past the release of FF14, then at that point the FF11 servers would come down, that seemed pretty reasonable as that would give SE the average time to see just how successful FF14 really is. This new one really seemed to try and turn up the clock a bit more then I would believe even for a rumor.

  • Dave08Dave08 Member UncommonPosts: 67

    Seems like SE is going for the Wow crowd with FFXIV.  I've tried Wow and the Wow clones, and if I wanted them, I'd be playing them.  I'd hope there could be room for both still. 

    I'll try FFXIV, and I hope I'm wrong about it being more geared to Wow types.  I hope it does have the same appeal FFXI has, but if it doesn't, I'd hate to lose FFXI.  I enjoy it now as much as I ever did, perhaps more.

     

  • BlackWatchBlackWatch Member UncommonPosts: 972

    Tried to play FF again recently.  After just 8 days, my account was banned.  Not sure what for.  I think I logged in like 2-3 times total, didn't get into any combat or quests, didn't even level.  Just funny, funny stuff there. 

    image

  • DCUOFANDCUOFAN Member Posts: 5

    I loved FFXI, played it since '04 and when WoW came out i tried that but didn't enjoy as much as FFXI.

    truly sad to see it go, the story and the places stuck with me. met alot of great people playing FFXI.

    dcuo-unlimited.com

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