Only 60.984 out of every 132 people have played FFXI
No big shocks here, but a fun bit of trivia. Recently, Famitsu surveyed people who purchased Final Fantasy XIII and asked them what other Final Fantasy titles they have played in the past. The winner appears to be Final Fantasy X with 67.4% of respondents indicating they played it. Final Fantasy 1-6 are bundled together and have 65.9%, which the article says includes any and all ports/remakes, so it’s hard to tell if people jumped in during the NES/SNES eras or simply picked up a title on the DS. 8.3% of respondents, or about 10 people, put Final Fantasy XIII as their first foray into the series.
The article mentions that Final Fantasy XI pulled in relatively smaller numbers, and it does look a bit like a black sheep among its family of titles. Seeing as there were only 132 responses to the survey, it’s hard to count this as a knock against it, but it does serve as another indication that XI simply hasn’t been very accessible, even to established fans of the series.