Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius summons 5 million players in the West

Final Fantasy’s latest mobile adventure is off to a good start after expanding outside of Japan.

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, a free-to-play role-playing game from Square Enix and Gumi, released in Western markets last month. It has already reached over 5 million players. That’s on top of the 6.5 million the game has in Japan, where it launched last year. This makes it a hit in the $36 billion mobile industry.

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Square Enix has released other Final Fantasy games for mobile, including originals like Record Keeper and ports of classics like Final Fantasy IX. Record Keeper relies on nostalgia by combining characters and moments from across the series. Brave Exvius stands out because it is an original story, although it does feature appearances from classic characters, like Terra from Final Fantasy VI and Rydia from Final Fantasy IV (which recently turned 25 years old).

This is a big year for Final Fantasy. On top of this mobile release in the West, Square Enix is also bringing Final Fantasy XV worldwide on September 30 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The series is one of the oldest and most recognizable in gaming — especially among fans of role-playing games. Square Enix has not been afraid to use it to expand into the lucrative mobile market.

We still, however, are not entirely sure what an exvius is.