Final Fantasy XIV Mobile has been officially announced, will be developed by Tencent
Update: It has been confirmed by Famitsu that the game will be free-to-play and will not include gacha mechanics.
Original article:
It has been officially confirmed that a mobile version of Square Enix's popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV is in the works, with Tencent's LightSpeed Studios leading development.
The details:
After several rumors, producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida announced the port alongside a new reveal trailer, with LightSpeed aiming to "faithfully recreate the story, duties, battle content, and other aspects of the game." While it is unclear whether cross-progression or FFXIV expansions will be included, it is confirmed that Disciples of the Land and Hand activities such as fishing will be available in a "fresh, mobile-friendly format."
Nine of the MMO's current jobs will be available at launch, with the remaining 12 set to be added later. It's unclear which jobs have been selected for its launch, but given that A Realm Reborn released with nine jobs, those are likely to be the ones included. The delayed release of jobs also implies that expansions will come later, as the additional roles are linked to the main quest progression in the original game.
There is no release date for FFXIV Mobile yet, but a demo version will be available in China first, followed by a global release at a later date.
LightSpeed Studios, the Tencent-owned studio behind the mobile version, is best known for developing PUBG Mobile alongside Krafton. The port's development comes after Square Enix and Tencent formed a "strategic alliance" in 2018, with multiple projects confirmed to be in development as of 2021.
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