Square Enix confirmed that by the end of 2003, they had a total of over 500,000 members using their PlayOnline services. It all began in May 2002 for Final Fantasy XI on the PS2 (Japan). The services then gathered more people when Square released FFXI for the PC in November 2002 (Japan). Soon enough, the company had gathered over 300,000 members. In October 2003, Square Enix brought the Final Fantasy XI world to North America and thus the number shot up to 500,000 by the end of 2003. Now with FFXI (PS2) expected to release in North America by March 2004, it is only time before that total increases to an even larger number. Square Enix's main strategy is to stay "Multi-Platform", "Multi-National", and "Multi-Content". Thus, they are presumably going to take their future online titles, like Ambrosia Odyssey and Front Mission Online, in the same direction as Final Fantasy XI. On a final note, Square Enix confirmed that a total of over one million characters were created for their Final Fantasy XI game.

In related news, Famitsu took a survey to find out the biggest publishers of 2003 and Square Enix came in second on the list just behind Nintendo.