Elden Ring mobile game reportedly in the works at Tencent, but don’t expect it any time soon

Chinese conglomerate Tencent is reportedly working on a mobile version of the 2022 smash hit Elden Ring, but development is going slowly.

This is according to a Feb. 6 report by Reuters, which spoke with three anonymous sources familiar with Tencent’s plans. This is part of Tencent’s efforts to find a new hit video game. The company has expressed dissatisfaction with its gaming business in the past year, saying it “achieved nothing.” It’s why rumors of it buying Dungeons & Dragons from Hasbro almost seemed believable until Wizards of the Coast said such claims were untrue.

In case you’re wondering, no, this news doesn’t mean Tencent bought the Elden Ring IP either. The company owns a stake in developer FromSoftware and is said to have acquired licensing rights for the game in 2022, setting up a small team to work on a prototype for a mobile version.

Elden Ring is a perfect choice to base a new mega-hit on. It took the gaming world by storm when it launched in 2022, and aside from being a huge financial success, it was a critical darling and won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022.

But this mobile project is apparently not just a straight port of Elden Ring. Tencent reportedly wants it to be the company’s own Genshin Impact. No, that doesn’t mean turning it into an anime-style game full of cute girls and boys. Instead, it would be reworked into a free-to-play game with in-app purchases. Considering how profitable Genshin Impact has been for miHoYo (another Chinese company rivaling Tencent), it’s no wonder Tencent would want something just as popular. I can’t find any current figures, but in 2022, Sensor Tower reported Genshin Impact was making $1 billion every six months on mobile, not counting the console or PC versions.

The problem, though, is Elden Ring was never designed with a free-to-play model in mind. It’s a premium experience and has no additional paid content like microtransactions, loot boxes, or purchasable weapons besides the upcoming DLC expansion. If anything, Elden Ring’s existence proves games don’t need to be constantly draining players’ wallets to be financially successful.

Tencent and FromSoftware refused to comment, so there’s no official confirmation of the Elden Ring mobile game’s existence. It could wind up being canceled if its development doesn’t pick up, though I doubt Tencent is willing to give up on a potential cash cow like Elden Ring.