Final Fantasy XI most profitable of series to date

A new expansion for a decade old MMORPG supplanted by one of its own sequels? Absolutely: Final fantasy XI is one of Square Enix's top financial performers.

Speaking at Vana Fest 2012, as translated from a Famitsu report by Andriasang, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada revealed Final Fantasy XI Online's importance to the publisher.

"Looking at profitability, it's the top of all past Final Fantasy games," he said.

Wada also revealed the startling tally of hours spent playing the MMORPG - over 200,000 years, and that's just currently active players, not lapsed accounts, apparently.

Final Fantasy XI first launched on PC and PS2 in 2002 in Japan, gradually trickling to other territories on both platforms before launching worldwide on Xbox 360 in 2006. It first generated a profit for Square Enix in late 2003.

Successor Final Fantasy XIV was not so lucky; it was panned on release, and will relaunch in early 2013 as version 2.0.