While Final Fantasy XIV may be the hot MMO in the present, Final Fantasy XI still has its fanbase and has received content throughout the years ever since its launch back in 2002.

Only now Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XI producer Akihiko Matsui will be replaced by Yoji Fujito. The former had been producer since August 1, 2012 and has worked on other major titles for Square Enix, then known as Squaresoft, such as Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.

Fujito has also worked with Square Enix for decades with credits on a multitude of titles ranging from Parasite Eve II to Einhänder and more.

“Our community is the source of the magic that truly sets FFXI apart from other games. And more than anything else, I enjoy hearing from you about your adventures.” Matsui said. “I will continue to support FFXI moving forward and hope you’ll keep weaving your own tales in Vana’diel”.

During this announcement, Yoji Fujito also expressed the future plans going forward for Final Fantasy XI. There are three major aspects they aim to work on in 2023. They include: Ambuscade updates, Prime Weapon reforging, and Master Trials.

However, he also revealed that the team will be downsizing as well. The primary reason behind this are his concerns of holding back the full time developers that are a part of the team.

As the game was made using very old technology, members have been allowed to move to other development teams to continue to grow their skills.

He admits that this downscaling will have an impact of future updates for the game – future updates will become “quite compact” as they focus on medium and long term goals.

Fujito also stated they plan on replacing the backend hardware for the game. This will cause maintenances to take longer than before, but should aid in long term stability.

While all this news may be concerning for those hoping the game continues to be supported, they also stated that live events for the game are planned to be held and new merchandise is expected to release.

Coming from this, Square Enix does plan on continuing to support the game for some time to come, which they have stated before.

Final Fantasy XI is available for PC (via Steam and their website).