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To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days.
1) Square Enix to shut down Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius after $900m in revenue
Square Enix is shutting down another mobile title in Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, almost nine years on from its Japanese release in 2015. The turn-based RPG is being discontinued as of October 30th, 2024.
Square Enix noted that maintenance of the app would be “difficult to continue” but gave no specific reason for end of service. However, according to AppMagic estimates, the game’s revenue has been on the decline for a number of years.
Square Enix has also quietly delisted Kingdom Hearts Union X Dark Road from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. The title is no longer downloadable or even searchable on either store, meanwhile links from the official website lead to an “item not found” page.
Players who already downloaded Kingdom Hearts Union X Dark Road are still able to access and play the game, but with no announcement from Square Enix on the delisting or the future of the title, many players are left on edge.
3) Coin Master hits the jackpot with $6 billion in revenue
Coin Master has surpassed $6 billion in gross revenue since its launch in 2016, according to the latest Sensor Tower estimates. The data also indicates that Moon Active’s social casino giant has generated almost $1.2 billion in average annual revenue since 2020.
Coin Master’s most lucrative market is in the US, with players across the region having contributed $2.4 billion to date, or 38% of player spending. Germany, UK, France and Taiwan comprise the remainder of the top five in spending, while India is among the top-ranking regions for downloads.
4) Ubisoft shares fall to 10-year low
Ubisoft shares have fallen by more than 30% since the start of this year, and just last week hit their lowest level since 2014. This appears to be related to the lacklustre launch of Star Wars Outlaws which, while received positively by critics, has seen less excitement from players than some projected.
Others suggest that the stock price drop is a result of XDefiant’s waning interest, but either way, Ubisoft’s shares fell by over 10% in five days.
5) Microsoft claims App Store’s 30% fee “makes it impossible” to monetise its cloud gaming service
Microsoft has taken its latest swipe at Apple, criticising technical requirements and App Store guidelines and arguing that Apple’s 30% commission on purchases “makes it impossible” to monetise its cloud gaming business on the App Store.
“As observed by the CMA in its Mobile Ecosystem market study, the 30% fee imposed by Apple on IAPs is the result of a lack of competition in the distribution of native iOS apps,” Microsoft said in a statement.
