Another Square-Enix MMORPG

Square-Enix recently issued a press release that confirmed that the company was in production of another MMORPG. This is of great interest to a number of Final Fantasy XI players since this might impact their game's future. Recently I've heard of delays in updates for FFXI such as the long expected upgrades to chocobo mounts. While the delays are supposed to be temporary I've already heard a couple bloggers start to make connections between the new game and a lack of development staff for FFXI.

Square Enix mostly followed in the footsteps of Everquest when designing Final Fantasy XI with the class/job system being the one exception. This explains why I often hear acclaim for the classes in the game and complaints about everything else. To my eyes it looks like Square-Enix is starting to listen to the complaints and might want to start over without using Everquest style game mechanics. I have no idea what style of game mechanics they might use in their new project. However, since development started about a year after World of Warcraft was released I can make a good guess. Then again they could surprise us and come up with new ideas.

Whatever decisions they make, this is not the end of Final Fantasy XI. As far as I know every MMO that hit over 200,000 subscriptions is still with us today. The worst thing that could happen to the game is content creation is slowed down as the company puts more effort into their new game. Look at Dark Age of Camelot whose parent company is in the middle of developing Warhammer Online. The game is still updated with changes and boasts around 100,000 subscriptions.

Plus its still not definite that Square-Enix is working on a MMORPG based on the Final Fantasy series. They might use another one of their popular licenses such as Dragon Quest or Kingdom Hearts. Hmmmm a Kingdom Hearts MMORPG, now that has potential.

Cesspit Article on Death of FFXI (exaggeration)

Square Enix Press Release