Viral hippo 'Moo Deng' minion is available in Final Fantasy 14

An in-game minion in Final Fantasy 14 is suddenly way more expensive thanks to its resemblance to viral hippo Moo Deng.

Moo Deng is a pygmy hippo, born at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, who has taken social media by storm. Her name means “bouncing pig” in Thai and zookeepers have been sharing videos of her and her antics online, earning her millions of fans around the world.

Showing they have an eye on internet trends, the developers of the online game Final Fantasy 14 joined in the Moo Deng hype with a post on X/Twitter.

They shared a video of a hippo minion in the game being splashed with water and opening its mouth in a very Moo Deng-inspired way.

Captioning the clip, they wrote: “Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. In My Lane. Focused. Flourishing.

It didn’t take long for fans to notice the hints to Moo Deng, whose moisturised, rosy-cheeked look has even inspired a dewy beauty trend.

“Moo Deng, is that you?” one excited fan commented.

Another joked they “see no difference” between the minion and real-life Moo Deng.

Someone else argued: “Even the corporations are realizing you fall in line with Moo Deng or you get left behind.”

The post seems to have inspired a resurgence in gameplay for some fans.

“THERE’S HIPPOS IN FFXIV??? I NEED TO GET BACK INTO THIS GAME PRONTO!!!” someone wrote.

While the hippo minion might not be Moo Deng exactly, it’s clear the developers and fans have come to think of her when they see it.

Thanks to Moo Deng’s popularity, the price of a “hippo calf” minion increased from a minimum of 17,400 gil to 28,500 gil in the space of days on some servers.

You have a chance to obtain the hippo calf minion by running Vanaspati, but it is not guaranteed due to it being a randomised loot.

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