Final Fantasy XI R

Final Fantasy XI R, formerly titled Final Fantasy XI mobile and Final Fantasy XI Reboot, is a cancelled mobile remake of the Final Fantasy XI. The game was announced on March 18th, 2015 alongside Final Fantasy Grandmasters (an original mobile game based on Vana'diel) and Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, all part of the Vana'diel Project initiative.

Final Fantasy XI mobile was originally slated for a 2016 release in Japan and Korea. On April 27th, 2016, Nexon released two promotional screenshots for the game featuring what appears to be new interpretations of a Tarutaru White Mage overlooking Sarutabaruta and characters crowded around a fountain in Windurst that shows off the current UI. The new title Final Fantasy XI Reboot began being used at this time.

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  Final Fantasy XI R - Tarutaru White Mage overlooking Sarutabaruta

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  Final Fantasy XI R - characters crowded around a fountain in Windurst

Nexon stated the game would run on Unreal Engine 4. Some of the changes Nexon discussed at this time would be a speedier battle system that still retained Job Abilities, Linkshells, Skillchains and parties. However, the game would be more solo friendly and more user-friendly. They also discussed "Dynamic Events" and a new "guild system" to enhance the social aspects of the game.

The game did not see release in 2016, but Nexon continued to seek new hires to work on the project during this time.

During a November 12th, 2017 interview, Naoki Yoshida stated that the major focus of development was currently the battle system and that it was still being actively developed.

Nexon continued to list the game as Final Fantasy XI mobile during standard financial reports in 2018. During the course of 2018, they stated development had moved to an internal studio named Nexon One Studio and that there was a new direction taken. The game was now being developed as a trading card RPG under director Sim Gi Hoon. The game was now being targeted for a 2019 release.

In April of 2018, Nexon quietly posted new screenshots of the game's assets to their career portal and they were discovered by fans. Several new interpretations of Final Fantasy XI areas were seen in these including Ghelsba Outpost, Meriphataud Mountains, Northern San d'Oria, and Ronfaure. One screenshot showed a party of 3 characters fighting an Adamantoise. The screenshots reinvigorated fan interest in the developing game, while also making some concerned it could mean the eventual replacement of the original game for a mobile pay-to-win version.

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  Meriphataud Mountains

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  Ghelsba Outpost

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  Northern San d'Oria

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  characters fight an Adamantoise

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  Ronfaure

Nexon continued listing the game as being under development in quarterly reports. During 2020, Square Enix representatives denied multiple opportunities to make comments on the development of the game.

In May 2020, a production member's portfolio website was the source of a leak of numerous pictures of the game's current assets. Nexon submitted DCMA take-down requests for any source that posted the leaked images.

In December 2020, Korean financial news network MTN announced in an exclusive report that the game had been cancelled, stating that staff had been moved to other projects. The report claimed difficulties in communications with Square Enix that were exacerbated with the COVID-19 pandemic and drastic internal shake-ups. Nexon did not release a comment at the time and Square Enix continued to refuse to comment.

On February 9th, 2021, during Nexon's Q4 2020 teleconference some shareholders noticed FFXI R was missing from the presentation for the first time. When asked about it, Nexon president and CEO Owen Mahoney verified that it was cancelled and that both Nexon and Square Enix had relocated staff formerly working on it to other projects. The reason given was that the game had not reached the level fans expected of a game in the Final Fantasy series.