FFXIV Mobile’s free trial isn’t a thing because it’s a free-to-play game with no gacha elements

Square Enix confirmed that FFXIV Mobile has no free trial, as the MMO’s mobile version is a free-to-play game, so it’s free already. The additional details come from a Famitsu interview that clarified some of Square Enix’s plans for the game after the, admittedly quite vague, initial announcement.

FFXIV Mobile is free-to-play and has no gacha elements, producer Naoki Yoshida said, so you won’t be throwing cash at it in the hopes of grabbing an essential piece of equipment.

“Some games are made with a gacha scheme so they can make as much money as possible,” Yoshida said, as translated by Twitter user aitaikimochi. “That’s not what we’re about. With respect to the original FFXIV, we designed the mobile game with one thing in mind: exactly how long could a mobile user play this game? We want each player to enjoy FFXIV as long as they can. Therefore, our goal is to allow as many people play the game as much possible while only receiving just a bit of cash as monetization.”

Yoshida didn’t say where that bit of cash might come from. However, Square Enix could monetize FFXIV’s glamour system or lean more heavily on Mog Station purchases, such as mounts and other accessories, for that.

FFXIV Mobile will use virtual controllers and is optimized for smartphone control, though we haven’t yet seeen footage of the MMO’s battles in mobile form to know how hotbars and skills might work. Speaking of skills, you can expect at least the original nine jobs that launched with A Realm Reborn in FFXIV Mobile, including Black Mage, Arcanist, and White Mage. The logo art shows those, but no Rogue or Ninja, which only landed in the game in patch 2.4.

Yoshida suggested FFXIV Mobile’s story may go up to patch 2.55, the lead-in to Heavensward, but didn’t mention whether the team plans to add Heavensward and later expansions.

FFXIV Mobile’s first playtests open soon in China, and Square Enix said to expect a global launch soon after those tests wrap up.