Final Fantasy Creator Sakaguchi Announces New Mobile RPG; Could Come to Consoles

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July 1, 2014

Hironobu Sakaguchi

Update: We should be hearing more about Terra Battle in the coming days, as Mistwalker announced today that Hironobu Sakaguchi will attend Japan Expo 2014 in Paris on July 2 and then be the Guest of Honor on July 3 at the VideoGameStory Exhibition, which is also being held in Paris. In addition to discussing his career, he'll be sharing details regarding "his next project."

Original Story: Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and his development studio Mistwalker have announced their latest role-playing game--and to the chagrin of many fans, it's a free-to-play mobile title.

Entitled Terra Battle, the game is slated for release on iOS and Android in Japan this September, according to Famitsu (as translated by NeoGAF). As seems to be the popular reassurance for developers working on free-to-play games, Mistwalker is designing the game in such a way that players won't be forced to spend money in order to complete it.

Sakaguchi, who is serving as a producer, is apparently hoping to collaborate with other game creators, although just who he might have in mind, or what sort of collaboration it would be, was not mentioned. Longtime Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, who has worked with Mistwalker in the past, will be composing 20 tracks for the game.

There is some potentially promising news for fans who are disappointed that Sakaguchi--director of the first five Final Fantasy games--is working on a free-to-play mobile game. The Famitsu report indicates Mistwalker is interested in eventually bringing Terra Battle to consoles, although nothing has been confirmed on that front, nor were any specific platforms identified.

Mistwalker's best-known work includes console RPGs Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and, most recently, The Last Story. In recent years, it's branched off into mobile games two times, although neither of those projects (Blade Guardian and Party Wave) were RPGs.

Does Terra Battle being a free-to-play mobile game rule out any interest that you might have in it, or are you willing to give Sakaguchi and Mistwalker the benefit of the doubt until you can get your hands on it? Let us know your feelings on the developer's latest project in the comments below.