On Tuesday of this week, Square shut down the Final Fantasy XI game servers in order to upgrade the game's software. Among the listed improvements to come about as a result of this procedure are a number of fixes which should improve gameplay noticeably. There will also be a number of balance adjustments made; the Auction system will be slightly revamped, and DEX bonuses altered somewhat. Additionally, bug fixes will be performed on both the black magic and treasure hunting systems.

Square's inaugural foray into the MMORPG market has met with decidedly mixed reviews; sales totals have been slightly lower than expected, and recently, a war of words broke out between Square's president, and Nintendo's new top man. Additionally, a variety of problems involving the PlayStation 2 hard drive and various ISPs in Japan have created further difficulty for gamers. There will be one final inconvenience for gamers before FFXI's new and improved form will be playable: it will be mandatory to re-create player accounts. Square has made assurances that there will be no additional charge for this process.