Final Fantasy 11 shut down on consoles today after 14 years

Square Enix shut down the servers for Final Fantasy 11 on PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 this morning. Those who still play the 16-year-old multiplayer online game must now switch to the Windows PC version in order to continue, according to its website.

The shift to the PC version is free and will allow players to continue using their current characters. In an update about the server termination, Square Enix detailed how to make the transfer from one of the previous platforms to Windows.

Just over a year ago, the company announced it would terminate Final Fantasy 11's servers on consoles at the end of March 2016. As a last hurrah for devotees still logging in on the older hardware, Square Enix wrapped up its storyline over the course of three updates. It released the last of these in November, which doubled as the final addition to the game overall.

The first online title in Square Enix's role-playing game series, Final Fantasy 11 launched on PS2 and PC in Japan in May 2002. The PC version arrived stateside in 2003, before hitting PS2 the following spring and Xbox 360 in 2006. The game, which offered cross-console play and had more than 500,000 players at its peak, received five expansion packs and several add-ons over the years. It maintains a devout fanbase even after the more recent — and, at this point, more popular — MMO Final Fantasy 14 launched in 2013.

Square Enix continues to support the game, despite closing down the console servers and finishing out its plot: A mobile client, co-developed by Nexon, is scheduled to launch worldwide this year.