Square Enix pushed out a new update for Final Fantasy 9 on April 2nd a first since 2017. The update was meant to fix several quality of life issues but instead, it made the game unplayable. Checking back over the patch notes for the new update reveals that every file in the folder for Final Fantasy 9 was removed except for the initial launcher. Square Enix is yet to acknowledge the mistake openly, but three more updates where released in a 24-hour time span since the update that removed the files. Official patch notes have not been released for any of them, and thus it is unclear what has been fixed.
Some players reported that Final Fantasy 9 has been restored back to an older but playable build. While the fix for the botched update may seem simple, but there is yet to be a time frame to restore the last playable build or if Square Enix will still try to fix the update for Final Fantasy 9 altogether. It is, of course, undisclosed on what in the update caused the removal of all the game files or if the update was just an empty folder in which the game files were meant to be stored. Final Fantasy 9 is not the current flagship for Square Enix or Final Fantasy brand as, remakes of Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 have taken that spot, making it unclear if fixing the new update is a priority. Currently, Square Enix is focusing their efforts on Final Fantasy 7 Remake which is coming out on April 10th.
Final Fantasy 9 was initially released for PlayStation in 2000. Later receiving a port for PC in 2016, PlayStation 4 in 2017, and Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Windows 10 in 2019. Final Fantasy 9 received universal praise by both Japanese and Western critics, and readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu rated the game as the 24th best game of all time. Final Fantasy 9 became the second-highest seller in Japan but its release suffered in Europe and North America when compared to Final Fantasy 7, and Final Fantasy 8.