A Look Back at Final Fantasy XI Marketing in 2004

15 May 2020
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For anyone that’s a regular reader of this site, you’re probably very aware of my history with Final Fantasy XI. For those that may be new however, let me simplify it: FFXI is a game that has had a significant impact on my life.

To that end, I’ve always found myself collecting whatever FFXI items I can. This includes a retail launch kit that was sent out to retail partners before the North American launch. As the game turns eighteen today (for its original, Japanese release) I thought it would be fun to take a look back and let people see some of the early marketing materials for the game.

Imagine walking into your favorite game store in early 2004 and seeing the above video playing on one of the TV’s and on the counter there’s a small pile of “take one of these” books talking about “The First Final Fantasy MMORPG.”

Final Fantasy XI helped serve as the flagship title for the PlayStation 2’s HDD- being the game that was bundled with it when it hit stores. Of course today, every console has the ability to store data on it with the increasing popularity of being able to download games. Back then however, the release of a hard drive for a video game console was a new concept and online gaming on consoles was in its infancy. It’s interesting to be able to take a look back and see just how far games have come.