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Final Fantasy XI to End PS2/Xbox 360 Service, Add 2 Smartphone Games

Square Enix's announced in its Vana'diel Project press conference for Final Fantasy XI on Thursday that the game's final chapter scenario will be made available through three major updates in May, August, and November. The final "ultimate" scenario will assemble the main characters from the past. However, the service for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will end in March 2016. The Windows version will still be available after that date.

Square Enix also announced Final Fantasy XI's smartphone game client as well as a new smartphone game spinoff, Final Fantasy Grandmasters. In partnership with Nexon, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI's smartphone game client will be an easier-to-play version of the original title, but will still include Job Commands, Skillchains, Linkshells, a guild system, and many of the other original basic features. However, the smartphone version will have new touchscreen-based commands and new “dynamic events” as Square Enix aims to usher in the era of "massively multi-player mobile role-playing games."

Vana'diel Project's new iOS and Android free-to-play smartphone game spinoff, Final Fantasy Grandmasters will allow the players to explore Final Fantasy XI's world of Vana'diel along with friends in a "full-fledged" RPG. The game will include monsters and abilities from the original Final Fantasy XI's game, as well as collectible equipment. A beta test will start in Japan next month.

[Via Siliconera (link 2, link 3)]