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Final Fantasy XIV Game Launches Collaboration with Gong cha for Exclusive Bubble Tea Keychains, Porxie King Mount

The Final Fantasy XIV MMORPG recently launched its latest expansion "Dawntrail." With its release, Square Enix has also been working with other companies to craft collaborations for Warriors of Light to obtain exclusive physical and digital items. The series is no stranger to collaborations, having partnered with Grubhub for the Eat Pizza emote, Butterfingers and Twitch for the Chocorpokkur mount, and, recently, Mountain Dew for none other than the wonderfully named Mountain Zu. Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) and the game's staff announced during the 82nd Live Letter livestream on June 14 a collaboration between Final Fantasy XIV and bubble tea company Gong cha. The collaboration has officially started as of Wednesday.

The exact details of the collaboration varies per region. In the U.S., Europe, and Oceania, at least, customers can purchase three drinks from Gong cha in a single transaction to claim either a keychain featuring mascot characters on miniature bubble tea cups or an exclusive in-game Porxie King mount. Regarding the mount, specifically, Gong cha is offering physical scratch cards with a code that must be redeemed on a separate website that requires players to log into with their Final Fantasy XIV credentials. That website will then provide another code, which then must be entered into Mogstation so that players can get an in-game mail with their mount. Each mount can only go to a single character, and it cannot be one on a free trial. The mount itself, the crowned Porxie King, is a variation of an existing mount, the Portly Porxie, which players can readily obtain in-game through Tribal Quests from the "Shadowbringers" expansion. But the Porxie King has a new hat!

Customers can instead opt for one of the adorable keychains featuring the Fat Chocobo, Moogle, and Fat Cat creatures from the game. Gong cha also has special collaboration drinks themed after those same characters: the Fat Cat Purrfect Latte, Fat Chocobo's Flying Smoothie, and Cactuar Latte. There are special cups for the drinks as well. Note that although these three drinks are specific to the collaboration, customers can purchase any three drinks to get a reward.

The collaboration runs from July 17-August 28, and any codes obtained from scratch cards must be redeemed by September 4. During that time, customers can obtain codes or keychains while supplies last. Although the mount itself is a digital item, the codes are printed on physical cards, so there may be a limited quantity if there are no restocks. Unfortunately, the code cards and keychains must be redeemed physically. While there are Gong cha locations worldwide, they are not in every country. Even within countries, they are not in every city, and U.S. residents may have to travel far if they want the exclusive gifts. The rules state that mount codes may not be transferred or sold, though that hasn't stopped some individuals from making money off of them.

In Japan, the rules are a little different. Players need to spend 2,000 yen (about US$12.70) or more in mobile orders at Gong cha to obtain a digital code. They can obtain the keychains by spending 3,000 yen (about US$19.05) to enter a lottery for the merch.

As three drinks are required for the gifts, there may be a long wait or even errors while ordering drinks. Gong cha employees are understandably working hard to fulfill these requests. Although there is no word on whether the items will ever be available after the collaboration ends, once-limited items like the Eat Pizza emote and the Chocorpokkur mount have returned through such means as the FFXIV Online Store or new campaigns. For Warriors of Light lucky enough to be near a Gong cha, enjoy those flying pigs and bubble tea goodies, kupo!

The Dawntrail expansion launched on July 2 with early access on June 28. The game adds two new jobs, Viper and Pictomancer, and it will also introduce a new limited job Beastmaster. Additionally, the level cap has increased from Level 90 to Level 100. The expansion also features a graphical update.

Square Enix released Final Fantasy XIV Online for personal computers in September 2010. After criticism from fans, the company revealed an updated version of the game titled Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn that added a new world and story. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launched on Windows PC and PlayStation 3 in August 2013, on PlayStation 4 in April 2014, and on PlayStation 5 in May 2020. Square Enix has since released four expansions: "Heavensward" in June 2015, "Stormblood" in June 2017, "Shadowbringers" in July 2019, and "Endwalker" in December 2021. The game has recorded 30 million registered accounts worldwide as of January 2024. Square Enix announced in February 2022 that it will continue support for the MMORPG for the next 10 years.

Sources: Email correspondence, Final Fantasy XIV Lodestone (link 2)