Final Fantasy 11 is getting a massive free trial expansion, following FF14's lead

Final Fantasy 11 is expanding its free trial in a big way, letting players access far more content without ever paying a monthly subscription. Square Enix announced the change on the official FF11 site, which also confirmed that previously created trial characters — accounts that ran out of game time — can jump straight back in.

The expanded trial now includes access to the Limit Break questline, which is a meaningful addition. FF11 technically caps character levels at 50, but the Limit Break quests push that ceiling all the way up to 99, unlocking them in stages as you level up. Giving free trial players unlimited time to work through that progression is a substantial offer.

This mirrors what Final Fantasy 14 has been doing for years with its own free trial, which lets players run indefinitely through the base game and the Shadowbringers expansion — potentially hundreds of hours of content with no subscription required. That trial became something of an internet meme thanks to its sheer size, and FF11 is now following the same generous philosophy. FF11 is one of the oldest MMOs still in active operation, originally launching in 2002, and Square Enix has kept it running and updated well past the point most publishers would have pulled the plug.

The game has been in solid health lately. Back in March, FF11 saw such a surge of new players that Square had to temporarily pause character creation on its most populated server. According to auction house tracking data, the game still sits at around 88,000 active players — respectable numbers for a 20-plus-year-old MMO. With new MMOs few and far between, moves like this help keep the classics worth returning to.