While there is a notable enough sentiment that old games are worse because they are old, so should therefore be either let to rot or to be remade so that they are “better,” I think this argument goes out the window when you look at something like Final Fantasy 11. That thing came out in 2022! And it launched on PS2 first! Yet here it is more than two decades later, still getting updates, and now, potentially, an entire new zone.

This week saw a new Freshly Picked Vana’diel, a semi-regularly held livestream from the Final Fantasy 11 team similar in nature to Final Fantasy 14’s Letter from the Producer streams that details upcoming additions or changes, that sort of thing. It was held in Japanese, which I don’t speak, but luckily some Redditors who do explained that the team is seemingly preparing for the ability to make new areas.

As mentioned, this was originally a PS2 game, the PC release came a short while after, and that fact also appears to be a problem for the FF11 team. Everything is still made using the original PS2 dev kits, which obviously will be massively outdated by this point. Judging from some of the comments, on-stream the team discussed that they’re working on plans in the event that these dev kits don’t work anymore so that they can make new equipment still, and in particular start making new areas again.

I may not have spent any time with Final Fantasy 11 myself, but it really can’t be understated how valuable it is that this 23 year old MMO is still going, let alone the fact it’s still getting new content. These spaces become second homes (or even a Second Life) for some people, and sure, we should strive to not be too beholden to our computers, but they are still realms of virtual existence that deserve to be maintained. A new area would be pretty significant as there hasn’t been a big new one since its 2015 expansion Seekers of Adoulin. Fingers crossed for those of you still playing!