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Final Fantasy XI Mobile reportedly canceled

Today, Korean news site MTN is reporting that the mobile version of Final Fantasy XI, which was being developed by Nexon under the name FFXIR, has been cancelled.


Announced in 2015 as part of the “Vana’diel Project” alongside Rhapsodies of Vana’diel and the (since shut down) Final Fantasy Grandmasters mobile game which took place in Vana’diel, this mobile version of Square Enix’s first MMO was being called an MMMRPG (massively multiplayer mobile role playing game).


Since then, fans have been constantly asking about the title, whose development was kept under wraps for the past 5 years. Occasionally, we would have a question thrown into an interview with FFXIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida who would say they were still working on it, or we would be checking Nexon’s quarterly reports to make sure it was still an upcoming title being worked on. The only “official” images that were ever released for the game were found on Nexon’s own recruitment website back in 2018.

Most recently, back in May of this year, the internet had discovered images from an online portfolio which showed off environments from the in-development title. Those images were promptly asked to be taken down by Nexon.


According to the MTN article (and thanks to a translation via reddit) it seems that FFXIR had survived it’s first internal review process in Q3 of last year amongst some uncertainty. In addition, the article also mentions that at one point, the gameplay had shifted to combining RPG and TCG elements, but after a year it was decided to end the project.



We have reached out to Square Enix for confirmation on the cancellation of FFXIR and will update this article should we hear anything back.
FFXI-Mobile-Canyon.jpg

FFXI-Mobile-Turtle.jpg

FFXI-Mobile-Ronfare.jpg

FFXI-Mobile-North-Sandy.jpg

FFXI-Mobile-G-Outpost.jpg


F
 
Probably for the best, sadly. I've been dying to get new news but after seeing months ago and realizing who was behind it, I knew it was going to be nothing but a stupid gacha game. An updated port of the original with touch controls would have been great.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Nooooooo
 

Rillania

Gold Member
While it's a shame for those who were looking forward to it, a majority of the folks in my FFXI social circles (myself included) are actually breathing a bit of a sigh of relief at this. There was a lot of chatter / concern that it would potentially be a death blow to the PC version. I seriously wish they could bring in some of the assets that were made for the mobile, as the brief glimpses of the graphics look really good and the game could def use a facelift, but I highly doubt they can.
 

Royal-Slime

Banned
That's sad. The screenshots looked promising. I wish they would just make an offline version for the sake of preservation. I know the story isn't that good in XI but there are some good moments, especially the dlc with Moogles. Is it that difficult to make it run offline?
 
That's sad. The screenshots looked promising. I wish they would just make an offline version for the sake of preservation. I know the story isn't that good in XI but there are some good moments, especially the dlc with Moogles. Is it that difficult to make it run offline?

Honestly, the Trust system that exists today essentially removes any multiplayer necessity from basically any party of the game, though the issue is likely regarding server side assets and coding.

You can always jump through a few hoops and install your own private server of the game to experience the story, though it's not an especially satisfying way of doing it.

Also, the story in FFXI is amazing. I assume you must have skipped all the Chains of Promathia cutscenes.
 
Too bad. I have really fond memories of Final Fantasy XI.

Still, the game is almost 20 years old. A fresh coat of paint and re-release on PS4 and next-gen probably could bring it back. I've actually seen a pretty vocal player base asking for it since the PS4 days until now.

I wouldn't mind returning, but they'd have to go F2P and they won't.

Almost 20 years and it's still got a devout base that doles out sub money. It is a pure profit maker for them now.
 

Myths

Member
This looked pretty good, it seemed as though it could have compete with the likes of RuneScape mobile for the mobile MMO market.
 
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Come on Square, it's time for a full blown FFXI Remake, just ignore all the single player shit you added towards the end :messenger_tears_of_joy:

I need to experience this again the way it was at launch, where you played an MMO like an MMO, with other people.
1. Keep the cap at 75
2. No abyssea shit
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
1. Keep the cap at 75
2. No abyssea shit

No. Just no.

The moribund state the game was in during WotG era is what hurt the game, not Abyssea. Seriously, at that point the endgame content was either annoying (Salvage v1.0, Voidwatch) or underwhelming in terms of rewards (Legion, in fact everything Wings related) which left people grinding the same camps, with the same jobs until brain-death set in.

Abyssea just showed up the shortcomings of the rest of the system.
 
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It's officially canceled now

"In early February Nexon and Square Enix announced a mutual decision to cancel that project," the company wrote. "Together, we decided that the game was not showing the level of creative differentiation that players expect from the FF franchise."
"Rather than release a game that doesn't break new creative ground," the statement concluded, "we agreed to step away from the project."

F


But on the bright side, there's been an HD Texture pack released recently that looks quite good. Almost as good as the leaked mobile version pictures, I'd say
aE44KPG.jpg
 
No. Just no.

The moribund state the game was in during WotG era is what hurt the game, not Abyssea. Seriously, at that point the endgame content was either annoying (Salvage v1.0, Voidwatch) or underwhelming in terms of rewards (Legion, in fact everything Wings related) which left people grinding the same camps, with the same jobs until brain-death set in.

Abyssea just showed up the shortcomings of the rest of the system.
Agree to disagree.
 
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