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Final Fantasy XI will be switching producers, Square Enix announced. Yoji Fujito will be taking over from Akihiko Matsui, who has been the game’s producer since 2012. Fujito served as the game’s lead director since 2016.
Matsui confirmed in the announcement that he had been considering moving on from his role as the Final Fantasy XI producer during the game’s 20th anniversary events. Part of this was an uncertainty of where to take the game after completing a previously announced three-year plan. Matsui had also been working from a lot of proposals from Fujito, which meant it made sense to him to pass the torch to him.
Fujito’s plans as producer include incorporating new tech into the game along with smaller updates. This will include a major replacement of backend hardware, which will result in an extended maintenance period.
However, Fujito was quick to reassure players that Final Fantasy XI is here to stay, following fears that the game is on the verge of closure. He also stated that he intends to answer fan questions in a future Freshly Picked Vana’diel broadcast. Players outside Japan will also get this information through a separate digest.
Final Fantasy XI is available for PCs. Previous versions for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 are no longer supported.
