- Developers are ramping up the spook-factor as Halloween is just 10 days away
- Many game makers are treating players to events, costumes, collaborations and more
Get Industry News In Your Inbox…
Sign Up Today
The spooky season is upon us once again, and as always there are plenty of mobile games celebrating in style with new updates, limited-time events, seasonal costumes and more.
Whether that’s Kabam updating Shop Titans with the Halloween Contest Pass, or Nintendo dressing up Nah, Askr and other fan favourites to strike it rich on Fire Emblem Heroes’ gacha, the range of companies celebrating this year is broad indeed.
Even the easygoing sleep tracker Pokémon Sleep is gearing up for a few eerie nights, introducing Ghost-types Drifloon and Mimikyu to players’ routines for the first time. Of course, Pikachu won’t be missing out either – set to don a Halloween hat throughout the week with some associated limited-time missions.
Many companies getting involved this Halloween also include our Top 50 Mobile Game Makers, leveraging this global holiday in all sorts of different ways. Their strategies to monetise Halloween are just as varied too.
Mobile treats
Starting off with our Top 50 winner, Scopely’s stirring the cauldron with multiple titles this year.
The Halloween Spooktacular Event kicks off in Monopoly Go! on October 25th and runs through to Halloween itself, transforming the game board into a haunted mansion – creepy properties and unsettling decorations included.
During gameplay, fans can expect to pick up pumpkins, ghosts and other themed items, participate in an in-game costume contest and earn plenty of rewards.
Meanwhile, in Stumble Guys, the Ghostbusters are returning for another year and new content is coming to the UGC-based Stumble Workshop.
Players will also be able to take part in the new Block Dash Rush race, a course which dials up the drama with laserbeams attacking players – yet another obstacle to avoid as they stumble towards success.
Supercell’s Hay Day is also getting into the spirit of things with themed content and a temporary production facility known as the Halloween Treats Maker. As its name suggests, this building will allow players to create and dispatch sweet treats, earning a limited-time currency in the process.
The more they produce the more they’ll earn, and players can then use this currency to unlock decorations like the Mausoleum and Trick Tree, turning their cozy properties into something significantly spookier.
As for Activision Blizzard, this Halloween marks its second as a Microsoft subsidiary and its first since the release of Call of Duty Warzone: Mobile, and it’s celebrating with plenty of collaborations.
Though the game hasn’t got off to as strong a start as its predecessor, it has received its own Halloween-themed content, playing an early trick via its September update.
One month later and the Halloween content is still ongoing, giving fans a long-lasting treat with the Zombie Royale, a new 6v6 map called Hardba, and crossover characters from Smile, Trick ‘r Treat, The Walking Dead and John Carpenter’s Halloween. Art the Clown from Terrifier is also available via a bundle.
Building upon last year’s event, Niantic is rewrapping the Jack-o’-Head helmet in Monster Hunter Now and adding new Ghost Balloon armour for good measure. Players can also unlock a new haunted weapon called the Cawscythe.
The rest of Now’s Halloween-themed goodies are limited to a special pack, turning hunters more macabre than ever and leveraging in-game features introduced since last Halloween. Players should also prepare to face the pumpkin-wielding Kulu-Ya-Ku with their new gear in tow.
As for Pokémon Go, its spookiest celebration has actually already taken place. On October 19th, players had three hours to complete event-themed Field Research tasks featuring the Ghost-type Yamask, who first debuted in Nintendo DS games Black and White.
The species is believed to have once been human, and the mask it carries is its face from that past life – on the darker side of Pokémon lore. Yamask appeared in Go this past weekend alongside its regional variant, Galarian Yamask, from Switch games Sword and Shield.
For the rest of October, players can at least buy Yamask-themed cosmetics for their avatar, as well as a Festival Pikachu mask and some Sableye headwear. Gigantamax Toxtricity is also on the way, readying its electric guitar for the road.
Also in the Pokémon world, over in Tencent’s MOBA Pokémon Unite the mythical nightmare maker Darkrai is sneaking into the playable roster, available to buy with Aeos gems for only seven days.
Finally, Second Dinner’s hit card game Marvel Snap is celebrating the spooks with Halloween treats, decorations and a new shop feature called The Vault unlocking on October 24th. The Vault will allow players to acquire Variants of characters they may have previously missed, provided those Variants were exclusive to bundles over one year old.
Then, on October 31st only, players can unleash a new card called Agony through the High Voltage event – the only way to obtain this latest card in the token shop.
All in all, no matter what games they’re playing or what franchises they love, it’s clear that mobile gamers of all kinds are in for a treat this Halloween.
