Final Fantasy 11is not allowing any more new players or player characters on its most popular world, Asura, in an attempt to combat server congestion. The blocking of new characters from theFinal Fantasy 11server is a bold move but one that shows the surprising popularity of the firstFinal FantasyMMORPG even after more than 23 years since its release.
Originally released for PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PC way back in May 2002,Final Fantasy 11took the historic RPG franchise in a bold new direction as a fully online experience, flipping its old turn-based, single-player format on its head by introducing the game as an MMORPG.Final Fantasy 11was shut down on consolesnearly a decade ago, at the end of March 2016, but it’s still fully playable on PC, though its six editions on Steam combined show an average of just 27.1 average concurrent players in the last 30 days.
Those Steam numbers clearly don’t convey the popularity the 23-year-old MMORPG is still enjoying, as the team overseeing its continued development and operations will be shutting down any chance of new characters on its most popular server starting on July 29. In amessage to players, game producer and director Yoji Fujito noted that server congestion on some worlds has caused someFinal Fantasy 11featuresto malfunction or behave unexpectedly, pointing to the incorrect display of system messages in Vana’Bout as one example. In response, the team will be disabling the ability of current players on Asura to create new characters, and players on other servers will no longer be able to send their characters to Asura using the World Transfer System or invite others through the Vana’Diel Adventurer Recruitment Program.
Final Fantasy 11 Takes First Steps in Fighting Server Overcrowding
Part of what keeps players coming back to the game is that its development team is still adding content more than two decades after its launch. Earlier this month, theCelestial Nights event returned toFinal Fantasy 11. It wrapped up on July 15 but gave players the chance to gain some new furniture items and provided a fun side story centered around Prince Yahiko and Princess Amdina.
In his message to players, Fujito noted that Asura is not the only server currently experiencing overcrowding issues, and if problems persist, similar changes may be applied to other worlds as well. That may be disappointing to some fans, but considering the director’s reveal earlier this year thatFinal Fantasy 11was nearly shut downin 2024, restricted worlds are objectively better than no game at all.
