Final Fantasy X just got its first Steam update in years – now you can’t play offline

On March 7, a new update launched for the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster collection on Steam - the first update since this version of the game launched nearly three years ago. The official announcement says the update was about “fixing some minor bugs,” but the only change players seem to have noted is that it’s no longer possible to play offline. That’s been reported around various communities as ‘Square Enix added always-online DRM to FFX,’ but right now that’s unverified - and unlikely. As game modding wizard Durante notes on ResetEra, it’s likely a bug, but “the question is how long it will take SE to patch it.” In the meantime, the results are basically the same regardless of the reasons why. Users have dug up a handful of ways to revert the game to the previous patch if you want to play offline, though it seems Steam tends to be aggressive in pulling down current updates even if you’ve downgraded yourself. The solution, such as it is, would then be limited to playing online.