PS2 Limitations...

[Volkai]

The trouble here is the amount of work that would be required to mitigate or neutralize the impact of 'PS2 Limitations'.

Basically we would need a new FFXI Install for PS2 to get past the existing limitation of how much PS2 HDD space is assigned to FFXI, and it would have to be universally adopted by all PS2 players. For this to happen, SE would likely have to send the new install data out to all PS2 players for free, because they would have to discontinue updates to the existing PS2 install data. If they charged money for this new install data, there would be an uproar. If they didn't send it to most or all current PS2 players, there would be an uproar. And by 'uproar' I mean 'lost subscriptions'.

In short, currently it's a money losing, bad press gaining proposition no matter how you look at it.

The only way SE could do this without losing money is if they make a new install disc and sell it, and to get away with that, the PS2-playing population would likely have to be a small enough percentage as to not justify the cost of making that new install disc.

Sony requiring a HD-update wouldn't be a problem. Need I remind you that most PC players are already playing the game in more than 1280x720? The PS3's main core is 3.2 GHz, I think it'd do just fine.

The problem with this is the amount of work -- and more to the point, the number of hours of billable labor -- that it would require to convert all of FFXI to HD. It's prohibitively expensive.

Get rid of PS2 please.

SE isn't going to do that either, because a sizeable enough portion of the existing player base still plays on PS2. This is more the case in Japan than the US (and it was never released on PS2 in the EU) but that doesn't change the fact that overall it's still the case.