Machine Zone making a mobile Final Fantasy MMO

Between Game of War and Mobile Strike, Machine Zone has created two of the biggest brands in mobile games from scratch. Now it's going to try its hand at someone else's intellectual property.

Machine Zone and Square Enix today announced a partnership for a mobile MMO set in the world of Final Fantasy XV. The game will be developed by a new Machine Zone studio using the company's RTplatform online technology and will feature characters and music from Final Fantasy XV, which launches on consoles later this month.

"Machine Zone has a stellar track record in the mobile gaming space and we are putting Final Fantasy XV in trustworthy hands," said Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda. "We are very excited to work with the MZ team to bring together two leaders in the gaming world and look forward to Final Fantasy XV on MZ's amazing gaming platform. We'll work together to create MZ's next great global mobile MMO game."

This is just the latest example of a mobile developer working with a traditional console publisher's IP in pursuit of a hit. Last year, Crossy Road developer Hipster Whale applied its touch to Bandai Namco's mainstay mascot with Pac-Man 256, while Niantic scored big earlier this year by adding Nintendo's Pokemon license to the mobile framework it established with Ingress. Nintendo hopes for another big success later this year when it launches Super Mario Run on iOS, which it is working on with DeNA.