You might be surprised to hear that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy 14—I'll spare you the free trial copypasta—has a mobile version. Well, it does… though er, not for much longer. A little over a year after launching in China, Final Fantasy 14 mobile is shutting down and taking its unreleased global version down with it.
The mobile MMO was originally announced in November 2024, with Square Enix handing the reins to PUBG Mobile developer LightSpeed Studios. It wasn't a straight port of what we've been playing on our PCs for the last decade, mind. For starters, the story only included base A Realm Reborn—that's everything up to the end of 2.0 with The Ultimate Weapon.
Quests, systems, and jobs had also been nipped and tucked for a more streamlined and mobile-friendly experience, as well as a handful of features from later expansions folded in. It was essentially a strange stitched-together version, but one that also came with cosmetics and quality-of-life features that had longtime FF14 players (myself included) longing for their introduction into the main game.
Gorgeous and extravagant hairstyles, the way the mobile version handled glamouring armour and materia melding, its inventory system, and making its overworld FATEs more involved and varied were some incredibly neat things that made their absence in regular ol' Final Fantasy 14 feel downright criminal.
But pretty 'dos and quality-of-life changes presumably aren't enough in the ruthless world of the Chinese mobile gaming market. A post on the game's official site reads: "Due to adjustments in business operations and changes in the market environment, Tencent and Square Enix have, through amicable negotiation, decided to terminate the licensing agreement for Final Fantasy 14 Mobile."
The announcement continues on to all but confirm that a worldwide release is also dead in the water. "To everyone who has been looking forward to the global version, we also offer our sincere apologies for being unable to meet your expectations."
Final Fantasy 14 mobile is already winding down service—it stopped accepting new players and in-game purchases a few days ago, and it'll be gone for good after September 30. I'll be interested to see if players will do any get togethers akin to FF14's original big shutdown back in 2012. Though that was actually turned into a canon event and folded into the game's narrative, whereas the mobile version will likely simply go dark. But hey, maybe we can get those hairstyles now Square Enix? Just ask Tencent really, really nicely.
