Following in the footsteps of several other AAA franchises, Final Fantasy 14 is gearing up for its mobile debut, first landing in China and eventually making its way across the globe. With Naoki Yoshida, the game’s long-serving director and producer, at the helm of the mobile version’s development, the beloved MMORPG is set to tap into the fastest-growing gaming market in the world. This strategic move aligns with the efforts of many publishers diving into the lucrative mobile gaming realm, positioning Final Fantasy 14 alongside Destiny 2 as one of the major AAA experiences slated for mobile release next year.
Destiny 2’s mobile iteration, Destiny: Rising, unveiled just a month ago, is crafted as a complementary addition to the main game. Similarly, Final Fantasy 14 Mobile has been introduced as a “sister” title to the primary game experience. Fans are buzzing with anticipation at the thought of revisiting the game in a form reminiscent of its 2013 relaunch as A Realm Reborn. These two highly popular MMOs are set to serve as examples of how well each can carve out a space in the increasingly crowded AAA mobile market.
A peek at what this means for mobile gaming reveals that Final Fantasy 14’s shift to mobile is both surprising and expected. Alongside the imminent launch of Destiny: Rising, it underscores the critical importance of mobile platforms in the AAA gaming arena. Once limited to basic touchscreen games and older console title ports, today’s smartphones — bolstered by impressive processing capabilities and innovative controls — make AAA gaming more feasible on mobile devices than ever before. Recognizing this growth potential, many top-tier publishers and hardware manufacturers are keenly stepping into the mobile space.
While Final Fantasy and Destiny are among the latest and most prominent AAA franchises venturing into mobile, it’s almost certain they won’t be the last. The real test, however, will be to see how their mobile player bases stack up against their PC and console counterparts. Recent hits like Call of Duty: Mobile, Fortnite’s mobile version, Diablo Immortal, and wildly popular games like Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero have already shown that mobile gaming is a frontier companies simply can’t overlook.
Though both mobile adaptations are born from MMO titles, Final Fantasy 14 and Destiny 2 are fundamentally distinct games, and their mobile versions promise to reflect that. Square Enix and Bungie are both paving unique paths with their mobile spin-offs. Destiny: Rising offers a distinct experience set in an alternate timeline of the core game, while Final Fantasy 14 Mobile aims to transport players back to the A Realm Reborn relaunch era.
This ambitious strategy by Square Enix draws inspiration from World of Warcraft Classic, using a mobile release to achieve dual aims. Not only does it mark Square Enix’s first internally-developed AAA game on mobile, but it also delivers a streamlined version of a hugely popular MMORPG in an accessible format. Following a slight dip in popularity in 2024, similar to Destiny 2, both franchises’ mobile spin-offs could potentially reignite player interest and engagement.
