According to a report, a mobile port for the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV is in development. This is said to be the result of a deal between Square Enix and Tencent. The Chinese gaming giant used the PC game League of Legends as a template for a mobile game back in 2015 and was extremely successful with it. A top MMORPG on iOS and Android could change the industry: Final Fantasy XIV would finally dethrone WoW, believes MeinMMO author Schuhmann.
Where does the information come from? The message comes from the forum “exputer” and here from a “credible leaker” named Kurakasis:
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Strategic alliance was concluded 6 years ago
This is how the rumor is proven: The leaker claims that the two companies, Square Enix and Tencent, entered into an official “strategic” alliance in 2018. In a statement, both companies talked about “reaching a global audience” (via square-enix).
In 2021, the president of Square Enix also confirmed that some projects are underway:
We are in constant communication with Tencent and there are some projects underway, but I will not comment on any details at this stage, including the results for the next three years.
In February 2024, it was announced that Tencent had started but canceled a mobile port of a Square Enix title. The port is Nier (via Reuters).
Tencent has already brought a game to mobile that was originally only for PC
How likely is it that Final Fantasy XIV will be released for mobile? The rumor has not been confirmed at the moment, but it is certainly within the realm of possibility because it fits with what is known about the strategy and goals of both companies.
Unlike WoW, Final Fantasy XIV has already taken the risk of appearing on “non-PC” platforms. The MMORPG has been available on PlayStation for many years and on Xbox since March 2024. A keyboard and mouse are therefore not absolutely necessary to play the MMORPG.
The head of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, has repeatedly stressed that he wants Final Fantasy XIV to appear on as many platforms as possible. Yoshia would apparently even have liked to bring his MMORPG to the Nintendo Switch.
Like WoW, League of Legends was long considered a game that can only be played on a PC and that doesn’t work on mobile. At least that’s what Riot Games thought. But Tencent absolutely needs mobile games for the Chinese market, which relies largely on mobile phones, and so in 2015 ventured into a mobile clone of League of Legends, which became a huge success in China as “Honor of King”. Riot Games has now also realized that League of Legends can also be played without a mouse and keyboard, and has developed its own mobile LoL.
Therefore, the rumor seems to be quite plausible: It fits perfectly with Tencent and what can be expected from a strategic partnership between Tencent and Square Enix.
Mobile port could primarily target China and South Korea
This would mean for the MMORPG genre: With a mobile port, Final Fantasy XIV could set new standards. It could appeal to new target groups that cannot be reached via console and PC.
That would be a huge potential new player base and could officially put the MMORPG at number 1 in terms of player numbers. A mobile MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV would be aimed primarily at the Chinese and South Korean gaming market, where consoles play no role and playing core games on mobile phones is very common.
Mobile gaming has a different culture in Asia than it does here, where mobile games are often seen as casual games similar to Facebook games or browser games. In South Korea, NCSoft has already released the most successful PC MMORPGs in the “Lineage” series as mobile titles and thus completely restructured itself in 2019.
Over the last 5 years, Final Fantasy XIV has already largely dissipated into WoW and has even overtaken WoW in the eyes of the public in 2021 after Blizzard’s MMORPG experienced a resurgence with “WoW Classic” in 2019.
In the eyes of many, the MMORPG genre has had its heyday, but there are still large MMORPGs that are regularly expanded and are still played enthusiastically. MMORPGs are no longer limited to the PC, but are also available on other platforms: The best MMORPGs of all time for PC and consoles: The MeinMMO community has chosen