I swear, if I see one more mobile “gacha” game announcement from Square Enix, my eyes are going to roll so far back into my head that they may get stuck there. I get it, mobile games are profitable. Last year, Pew Research Center found that 64% of American adults own a smartphone, and that percentage is only expected to rise. It makes sense that game companies are increasingly targeting the most ubiquitous device on the market, because selling software is far easier than selling hardware. It also makes sense that many mobile games are designed to be played in short bursts, made for people who might want to play for a few minutes on their daily commute or on a break from school/work. But when did “accessible” become conflated with “shallow?” I’m beyond sick of the insultingly hollow, money-grubbing design philosophy flaunted by the most popular mobile games on the market, and Square Enix is one of the most heinously guilty perpetrators of this practice.
Now, Square Enix is a company with a rich history of beloved franchises. Between Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest alone, the company has scores of critically-acclaimed titles rife with memorable characters, worlds, and themes. This is to say nothing of their less popular (but still well-known) series, from Front Mission and Mana to Romancing SaGa , Bravely Default , and beyond. There are countless opportunities for expansion within all of these series, and the company’s experience publishing titles like Chaos Rings proves that they have what it takes to create fully-fledged, robust mobile games. And yet they seem content to churn out nothing but cash-grabbing “gacha” games that use nostalgia to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
My frustration was ignited recently when Square Enix opened a teaser site for a new Final Fantasy game. I felt a wave of excitement that quickly turned to annoyance as my eyes made a second pass over the news that it will be a smartphone game by the director of Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eve . Smartphone. Again. A talented director of two games I absolutely adore is working on… not a sequel to one of his beloved projects, but another smartphone game.
I’ve had enough. I’m tired of having my fondness for the company’s past titles exploited for a quick buck. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, and Mobius Final Fantasy are especially egregious examples of the type of game I’m talking about. All three feature the same fundamental gameplay tenets: spending stamina points that accumulate in real time to fight bad guys, upgrading characters, and playing a slot machine of sorts that occasionally pays out rare pieces of Final Fantasy history. In Brave Exvius and Record Keeper , you get to add classic Final Fantasy characters to your party, while in Mobius, you get ability cards with artwork from past FF titles. There are rotating events where certain characters become more likely to appear for limited periods of time, which encourages players to spend hard and fast during these small windows. Therein lies the problem with these games: it is possible to acquire the currency needed to play this slot machine in-game, but it is far more time-efficient to simply pay real money. Gacha games are fundamentally designed to exploit money from their players, and although some people may enjoy the rush of adrenaline that comes with getting a rare drop, I need something more substantial to keep my attention.
Since this new Final Fantasy title has yet to be fully revealed, there’s no guarantee it’s going to be another gacha game, but I’d honestly be shocked if it turned out to be anything else. It’s possible that Square Enix is poised to deliver a legitimately fresh Final Fantasy experience. Until it happens, however, I’ll continue to be wary every time I see a press release that contains the word “smartphone.”