Final Fantasy XIV Online: Long-running MMO dares to make the leap to mobile phones

This is what the fans have been waiting for! At least Square Enix seems to think so and is porting the long-running MMO hit Final Fantasy XIV for mobile devices or has it ported.

After sales of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on the PS5 fell short of the developer and publisher’s expectations, they announced in the middle of the year that they would pursue a multi-platform strategy in the future. In addition to the PlayStation, which has recently been used exclusively, the targets are also Nintendo consoles, Xbox, PCs and apparently also cell phones.

However, the mobile version of Final Fantasy XIV is not created in-house by Square Enix, but is only “licensed and supported”. Lightspeed Studios, a subsidiary of the not undisputed Chinese Internet company Tencent, is responsible for the actual development.

Producer and Final Fantasy mastermind Naoki Yoshida promises an implementation that is as faithful to the original as possible: “This is our latest MMORPG title that is specifically tailored to the mobile platform. […] Despite these adjustments, Lightspeed Studios works with great enthusiasm and dedication to faithfully reproduce the story, quests, combat content and other aspects of the original game.”

However, it is not yet entirely clear how much of the PC game will actually make it into the mobile phone version. According to the game’s website, 9 of the 22 combat-based jobs (that’s what the classes in FF14 are called) will be available for release. In addition, all 11 collecting and crafting professions will probably make it onto cell phones right from the start.

The good Yoshi-P hasn’t given us a release date for iOS and Android yet, but the first beta tests will start soon, at least in China, which will then later be expanded to the rest of the world.