Highlights

  • Tencent is reportedly developing a mobile version of the popular RPG Elden Ring, following its acquisition of a stake in the game's developer, FromSoftware.
  • HoYoverse's success with the free-to-play game Genshin Impact may be influencing Tencent's approach to monetizing Elden Ring on mobile.
  • The game being designed for a one-time purchase raises questions about how Tencent will implement gacha mechanics for mobile players.

Chinese tech giant Tencent is rumored to be creating a mobile version of FromSoftware’s hit RPG Elden Ring. After the award-winning game launched in 2022, Tencent acquired a greater stake in FromSoftware, bringing its share of the company to 16.25%. And while the Chinese conglomerate has its hand in a range of media, from comics to films to music, a reported 30% of its revenue comes from video games. The company has five internal game studios, as well as numerous foreign subsidiaries and investments around the world, including Ubisoft, Riot Games, Remedy Entertainment, and Dying Light’s Techland.

In the meantime, while the initial fervor for the game may have died down in the past couple of years, FromSoftware is working on its latest RPG, with Elden Ring recently getting its first update of 2024. That only provided an anti-cheat tweak for the Steam version of the game, however, and probably isn’t very interesting to many players. The RPG's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion was announced in February 2023, and updates about that new content are what fans have been somewhat patiently waiting for ever since. Instead, the latest news about Elden Ring may not be what many want to hear.

Elden Ring Tarnished and Melina at Site of Grace
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According to a report from Reuters, Tencent is developing a mobile adaptation of Elden Ring. Licensing rights were acquired in 2022, and a team of a few dozen people is already working on a prototype of the mobile version. Apparently, Tencent is being inspired by HoYoverse’s Genshin Impact, a free-to-play gacha game with in-app purchases that has brought a lot of financial success to its developer. So far, neither Tencent nor FromSoftware have commented on the Elden Ring mobile game rumors.

Elden Ring Mobile Version May Be a Long Time Coming

elden ring godrick boss

Tencent has encountered at least one major hiccup, however. Unlike Genshin Impact, which was designed with gacha mechanics in mind, Elden Ring was meant to provide a complete experience after a one-time purchase. How exactly Tencent would divvy up the content in Elden Ring behind paywalls is unclear, and it’s a roadblock that may have many fans feeling relieved.

A similar hindrance recently resulted in Tencent canceling an unannounced mobile game in the NieR franchise. The high costs of development and licensing, as well as issues with monetization were cited as the reasons. This decision was probably a non-negligible hit for the company, considering that the game had reportedly been in development for two years at the time of cancellation. It seems that Tencent, despite having access to a range of PC and console hits thanks to its investments, may be having trouble leveraging that access into a mobile monetization jackpot, at least for now.