Final Fantasy XIV is expanding to phones, courtesy of Lightspeed Studios and key developers, including director and producer Naoki Yoshida.
Square Enix's hit free-to-play MMO is coming to mobile devices, building on the game's arrival on Xbox Series X|S earlier this year. As with the console version, phone players will take on the role of a Warrior of Light and interact with others while going through Final Fantasy XIV's core and post-launch stories. Come from Soccer 13 pools and matches
Yoshida described the new version as "a sister to FFXIV, aiming to recreate the grandeur of the original's story and combat mechanics" for a new audience. Square Enix has previously ported over several mainline and spinoff Final Fantasy entries to phones, sometimes with concessions to the titles' graphics or gameplay.
The game will release in China first through playtests, then have a global launch "soon after." At time of writing, it is unclear if the two versions of Final Fantasy XIV will feature any type of cross-save or cross-play.
Big games on mobile screens
In recent years, major console and PC franchises have made their way to phones to draw in more players and revenue. Just last year, Call of Duty released a new mobile version of its popular battle royale Warzone, and Ubisoft is aiming to do the same with Tom Clancy series Rainbow Six and The Division.
Fellow live-service games Warframe and Destiny 2 have or will soon follow suit. In the latter's case, its mobile title Destiny: Rising will be a spinoff of the series rather than a simple port.
However, not all big games are built for the phones: last year, EA killed the mobile version of Apex Legends and another in development for its Battlefield shooter series. Similarly, iPhone ports for Capcom's 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage reportedly failed to find much of an audience when they launched over the summer.