Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year!

Representing the development and operations teams for FINAL FANTASY XI, Hiromichi Tanaka, Nobuaki Koumoto, Kouichi Ogawa, and Sage Sundi convey their best wishes for the coming year.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Five years have passed since the beta test of FFXI, and this year is the twentieth anniversary of the original FINAL FANTASY. This means that one quarter of the history of FINAL FANTASY is also that of FFXI.

Twenty years ago, when FINAL FANTASY began as a small project with a staff of about ten people, nobody imagined it would become such a long-lasting series. FFXI's Vana'diel sprang from our desire to redefine the world we wanted to create in the beginning—one that we couldn't due to the limited capacity and technology available back then. And this world continues to grow...

All of us here will strive to make great advances in 2007. We sincerely thank you for your continued support of FINAL FANTASY and FFXI.

Hiromichi Tanaka Producer, FINAL FANTASY XI

Happy New Year!

FFXI has seen five new years since its Japanese beta test, and May of this year will herald the start of its sixth year of official service.

So much has changed these five years. Thanks to new incomers among our players, the operations staff, and the development team, Vana'diel continues to evolve each and every day.

We on the FFXI team try hard every day—whether uplifted by expressions of delight or bruised from harsh criticism—to make FFXI even more fun.

This year I'm confident that you'll enjoy many of the new gameplay elements we plan on delivering.

I truly hope that this year is a fine year for all our players, and that you continue to enjoy FFXI!

Nobuaki Koumoto General Director, FINAL FANTASY XI

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Thank you for playing FFXI.

In addition to continuous updates, last year we released the Treasures of Aht Urhgan. In it this expansion we included new content like Assault, Besieged, and Chocobo Raising. These were aimed at different kinds of players—from mid-level players who have broken the original level limit after completing the limit-breaking quest, to high-level players who have already reached maximum levels.

I sincerely apologize for dropping many of the features we had originally planned to implement, and for the delay in delivering some of the new content that was announced in the roadmap that we made public.

This year we will start implementing the remaining content, completing the missions of "Treasures of Aht Urhgan," and taking FFXI to new horizons. All of us here are committed to making sure FFXI is everlastingly enjoyable, and we invite you to look forward to the many coming developments.

Kouichi Ogawa Director, FINAL FANTASY XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan

Happy New Year!

For all of us on the operations team, 2006 was a tremendously busy year. We held a Fan Festival, began the beta test of the linkshell community, formed the special task force, and expanded our GM policies, which we recently released to the public.

This year, in addition to making system operations more robust, we're implementing several features we think you'll enjoy. We're also adding support for German and French in the European version, which will add even more momentum to the FINAL FANTASY XI community.

We in operations will continue to do our best all year, so we hope you keep enjoying FFXI!

Sage Sundi Global Online Producer