April 28^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. today announced the newest expansion to its fast-growing massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Final Fantasy XI, titled “Chains of Promathia.” With a community of 500,000 players and 1.2 million active characters from Japan and North America combined, this Final Fantasy XI expansion promises to bring more exciting adventures for all levels of gamers. Chains of Promathia is scheduled for release this fall in both Japan and North America.

The first cross-platform, cross-continent MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI, allows gamers to connect to the same exact world regardless of whether they are playing on a personal computer (PC) or PlayStation 2 and whether they are playing in North America or Japan. In Japan, Final Fantasy XI for the PlayStation 2 and for Windows were released in May and November 2002, respectively. Approximately a year later in October 2003, Final Fantasy XI for Windows launched in North America, followed by the PlayStation 2 version in March 2004. This first online title in the world-renowned series has quickly become one of most popular MMORPGs to date.