Square Enix has locked a second server away from new Final Fantasy 11 players after a surprise influx of new players of the 23-year-old MMORPG. While the MMO’s successor, Final Fantasy 14, remains extremely popular, the original FF online game is hitting unforeseen levels of popularity.
Earlier this year, Square Enix locked away the game’s most popular server, Asura, away from new players as the influx of players caused “unexpected issues” for long-time players. At the time, the game’s third producer, Yoji Fujito, revealed the “overall player popular has been trending upward recently”.
As it turns out, locking away the game’s biggest server away from new players just caused players to move towards the game’s second-biggest option: the Bahumut server. Since July, new players have filled the server to the point where it will also be locked away from newbies, as explained in a new statement.
Fujito revealed that the influx of new players is causing major issues for existing players as player populations continue to rise. As a result, players will not be able to join the server as of October 9th with a new character and they also will not be able to transfer their character to the server. Additionally, Asura will remain closed for newcomers.
“While we are pleased to see these Worlds bustling with activity, having too many concurrent users can overwhelm server processes on that World, which affects server responsiveness and increases the likelihood of other related issues,” the producer explained.
Square Enix has not announced an increase in available servers for its 23-year-old MMORPG due to its increasing player count, likely as the rise in players appears to be temporary. With the rise in players likely tied to the Final Fantasy 14 crossover, a number of fans have tried the older, still-supported MMO as a result.
For more Final Fantasy coverage, read about the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade and how the team made the game look so damn good.