What was the reason given for closing console versions of ffxi?

[Alhanelem]

I know they are stopping updates, that doesn't warrant closure of console versions however. Was a specific reason given?

Lack of available working development tools.

This also affects the PC version and what kind of updates they can deliver.

The devs have explicitly said that that the supply of PS2 development hardware (the base platform on which the game was developed before it gets ported out to the other platforms) is dwindling, and they have some of the last functioning PS2 dev kits in existence. When those fail, they're hosed, so they want to wind things down before they end up promising more things they can't deliver.

Any console player can find a PC for probably less than what they originally paid for an xbox 360 or ps2 and it will run the game just fine, and you can use your existing account with the platform since the'yre making the client software freely available.

On top of that, the hard drives in PS2s are getting very old and many that aren't already could be on the brink of failiure.