Quote Originally Posted by Mahou-Shoujo View Post
It is literally Square Enix Final Fantasy XIV money.
And your proof for this is what, exactly?

The Lodestone announcement started with "Presenting FINAL FANTASY XIV MOBILE, an official mobile title based on FINAL FANTASY XIV, developed by Lightspeed Studios under the supervision of Square Enix." The two companies (Tencent and SE) have had a letter of intent for the last 6 years, which includes the ability to "license existing intellectual properties".

Tencent halted development of the Nier mobile game they were working on in February this year. This line is most telling: "Mobile games adapted from famous computer and console games, known as intellectual property (IP) games, often entail hefty fees to IP owners, in this case to Square Enix."

Note that is fees to the company, not development costs subsidized by the company.

The companies in which Tencent has invested include Supercell (100%), Epic Games (40%), Riot Games (100%), Larian Studios (30%) ... there's a list if you want to find out.

So, Lightspeed Studios does not need anything other than a licensing agreement and, according to the Lodestone article "supervision" to develop a FFXIV mobile game for the Chinese market.

Your "Final Fantasy XIV money" isn't necessary to develop the game.