Square Enix has partnered with Tencent-owned LightSpeed Studios on a mobile version of its incredibly popular MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV Online. The existence of the game was first leaked in the summer by the Chinese government, and now, it’s being officially revealed.
In a press statement, Square Enix’s Naoki Yoshida, the director of Final Fantasy XIV, said the new game, simply titled Final Fantasy XIV Mobile, will be a “sister” product to the console and PC MMO that aims to “recreate the grandeur of the original’s story and combat mechanics.” He added that non-combat features, such as the Disciples of the Land and Hand (vocations like miners, botanists and fishers), “will also be faithfully implemented” in FFXIV Mobile.
LightSpeed, for its part, promised fan-favourite minigames like Triple Triad (the card game that originated in Final Fantasy VIII) and Chocobo racing will also be featured in FFXIV Mobile. On top of that, the mobile game will draw from the player character customization options and equipment designs, as well as over 600 different weather patterns across various landscapes, to recreate the look and feel of FFXIV.
Given that the main Final Fantasy XIV experience encompasses a base campaign and five major expansions, that’s several hundred hours of story content alone. It’s unclear exactly how much of that long-form narrative will carry over into FFXIV Mobile. Presumably, the mobile version will offer an abridged version of it all. For instance, Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, which is also a mobile title, offers smaller remakes of each game in the Final Fantasy VII series focusing on key story beats.
A launch date for FFXIV Mobile wasn’t confirmed, but Square Enix and Lightspeed say that multiple play tests will “soon” begin in China. A global launch is then set to happen “soon after.” In the meantime, the companies say fans can stay posted for updates via the game’s official website or social media platforms, including X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Final Fantasy XIV Online, meanwhile, continues to go strong. In March, a long-awaited Xbox version finally launched, followed by the critically-acclaimed Dawntrail expansion in July. The game has surpassed 30 million registered players worldwide.
Image credit: Square Enix/Tencent
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