Square Enix and Tencent subsidiary LightSpeed Studios have announced Final Fantasy XIV Mobile, a mobile adaptation of the critically-acclaimed MMORPG that's set to launch in China before being released around the world.
Per an official announcement, the game will capture "the immersive experience of the original title in a fresh, mobile-friendly format", so it won't be a direct port; rather, it will be a slightly reimagined version that presumably takes the mobile environment into account.
No release date has been given, but FFXIV Mobile will launch in China first, followed by "a global release soon after". That makes a certain degree of sense given that the developer is a subsidiary of a major Chinese company.
It seems the studio handling development on Final Fantasy XIV Mobile won't be Hideaki Itsuno's LightSpeed Studio Japan, but the core LightSpeed team, which makes sense given Itsuno's desire to focus on action games.
In an introduction to FFXIV Mobile, Square Enix and LightSpeed promise "controls optimized for mobile devices", a "variety of playable races", and nine jobs for the game's launch, with more presumably to be added over time.
FFXIV producer Naoki Yoshida says the mobile version of the game will feature both combat and non-combat jobs, describing FFXIV Mobile as "a sister" to the main game that will aim to "recreate the grandeur of the original's story and combat mechanics" in mobile form.
Side activities like fishing, chocobo racing, and Triple Triad will also be available in Final Fantasy XIV Mobile, as will the game's "signature social experience" and "unique, welcoming social atmosphere".
Unfortunately, we don't yet know when Final Fantasy XIV Mobile will be available, but the game will be undergoing "multiple play tests in China" first, and a global launch will follow "soon after".
FFXIV isn't the only game to be getting the mobile RPG treatment from Tencent soon. Recently, Capcom and the Chinese gaming giant announced Monster Hunter Outlanders, an open-world survival RPG developed by Tencent and published by Capcom.
It's not just Tencent, either. Bungie and NetEase, another massive Chinese gaming company, recently announced Destiny: Rising, a mobile spinoff of popular FPS-MMORPG Destiny. The mobile market is lucrative, after all, so all of these spinoffs and adaptations make a lot of sense.
