Chinese developers are working to bring Elden Ring to mobile devices

Summary

• Chinese Corporation, Tencent, is working on bringing a port of Elden Ring for mobile devices.
• After acquiring 16.75 percent of FromSoftware in August 2022, Tencent has quite a few developers working on a port for Elden Ring.
• However, monetizing Elden Ring and making it require in-app purchases will be hard work for developers at Tencent.

Tencent Gaming, which revolutionized the mobile gaming segment with Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, popularly known as PUBG, aims at another revolution.

According to a Reuters report, Tencent aims to adapt the famous Elden Ring for mobile devices. Licensing has already been acquired as of 2022, and a “couple of dozen” developers are hard at work prototyping the mobile version.

The reports suggest that the developers drew inspiration from HoYoVerse’s choice of developing Genshin Impact for mobile devices. Genshin Impact, while it’s free to play, has a lot of in-app purchases.

These in-app purchases have brought unprecedented financial growth for the developers. However, neither Tencent nor Elden Ring – From Software – developers have released official comments on this front.

This is mainly because the higher-ups at Tencent felt that Tencent’s current pool of games was entirely “aging.” The choice to go for Elden Ring felt natural, given its diverse fan pool, including the billionaire Elon Musk.

Selling about 20 million copies in the first year, Elden Ring marked a successful collaboration between Game of Thrones author George R R Martin and veteran game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki.

One particular hurdle is standing in Tencent’s way. While they want to make it a freemium game model with in-app game purchases, Elden Ring is designed to be a complete experience at the cost of a one-time buy.

As a result, changing it to a freemium model might take quite a bit of tinkering. Tencent is making big moves, as they fear their gaming business, amongst others, is threatened.

An Elden Ring adaptation for the mobile might be a welcome addition. However, given the graphical requirements of the game, it might require the latest generation of processors. Nothing is certain until more is reveled about this venture by Tencent.

About Elden Ring

Elden Ring is the next major title to be released by FromSoftware, the developers of Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne and the Dark Souls franchise. Elden Ring is set to release on the February 25th, 2022.

The game is set in a world known as The Lands Between. Players will take control of a Tarnished to explore these lands and uncover the secrets it holds. The game is an open-world style title with emphasis on combat and traversal. There is also a multiplayer component, along players to summon others for co-operative play, or to be invaded for PvP encounters.