Final Fantasy XIV Mobile Reportedly in Development by Tencent

wccftech.com:

According to leaker Kurakasis, Final Fantasy XIV Mobile is in development. This is reportedly part of the strategic partnership signed by Square Enix and Tencent around six years ago.

Back then, the press release explained:

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Square Enix Group will be accelerating these business development efforts to enhance its content services worldwide through this strategic alliance with Tencent Group. Outcomes of this newly created alliance include the establishment of a joint-venture company, co-development of AAA titles based on new intellectual properties, the licensing of existing intellectual properties, and more.

So far, no game project borne out of this partnership made it to market. An unannounced Nier mobile game was canceled in December 2023 (as reported by Reuters) as the developers failed to find the right monetization model for such a high-cost project.

Needless to say, a full port of the gargantuan Final Fantasy XIV MMORPG may prove to be even more problematic in that regard. To this day, it is one of the few games in the genre that mandates a subscription to play; such a business model is unlikely to find success in the mobile space.

We'll have to see if this project, unlike Nier's, ever sees the light of day. Meanwhile, Square Enix has just released the fifth Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Dawntrail. Following the end of the previous 10-year-long storyline, adventurers are now headed to a brand new continent, Tural, inspired by real-life Southeast Asia and Latin America.

So far, the reception has been a bit worse than expected. On Steam, only 63% of the 2,147 user reviews published to date are positive. On the other hand, Final Fantasy XIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida revealed that the game registered a record number of players not seen since the re-launch of A Realm Reborn in 2013. Yoshida-san also outlined some of the planned job adjustments coming in future updates for Monk,