Final Fantasy XI for PC coming in 2003

While details on the planned US release of Final Fantasy XI are still scant, the game had a strong presence at this year's Game Developers Conference. The Japanese version of the game was demoed at several booths, including ATI's and Nvidia's, and Square employees played the game on a live connection to a Japanese server. The graphics hardware companies were proudly exhibiting the PC game as a high-profile example of the DirectX 9 visual effects they encourage developers to incorporate into upcoming games.

Beyond saying that both the PS2 and PC versions of the game are scheduled to launch in the US this year, company representatives couldn't comment on US plans for the game, which currently has more than 200,000 subscribers in Japan. The Japanese PS2 version shipped early last year and the PC version shipped in November.