It’s April 1st, which means that consumers of Internet news should be wary of almost everything they read. Some news publications, developers, and online creators are out to trick the reader/viewer, but others useApril Fool’s as a means to entertain. Take Square Enix, for example, who announcedFinal Fantasy 14GO as part of its annual April Fool’s Day joke.
While Square Enix could have easily made fun ofPokemon GOas part of this April Fool’s joke, the developer and publisher actually pokes fun at itself withFinal Fantasy 14GO. Essentially, the app would see players traveling to various hubs to harvest resources, similar to the tedious tasks that online players complete inFinal Fantasy 14Online.
Most MMOs don’t like to highlight how grindy or resource-focused they are, so it’s nice to see Square Enix have a little fun with this Final Fantasy 14 GO concept. Admittedly, the game doesn’t borrow too much fromPokemon GO, but it does zero in on the social elements of Niantic’s mobile game. Unfortunately, getting together to catch Pokemon sounds a lot more fun than getting together to harvest some minerals.
It’s funny to think that a few years ago Square Enix wouldn’t even be willing to make jokes at Final Fantasy 14’s expense. The PC and console MMO was a major disappointment when it first released, but Square Enix continued to support the title and revamped it in a new package called A Realm Reborn. Now the game is thriving and has received two expansions,Heavenswardand Stormborn, over the last few years.
We’re sure that some players would actually like Final Fantasy 14 GO to be real, so that they could continue to contribute towards their character while out in the wild. Either way, it’s a clever little joke from Square Enix.
Final Fantasy 14is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, and Mac.
