As you all know by now, Square Enix is super into mobile gaming these days, however, I was browsing their Japanese website and discovered that while they enjoy great success with titles like Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light or Final Fantasy Record Keeper, others don't, and to my surprise the actually shut down some of their "big" mobile titles.
For example, Occult Maiden: http://youtu.be/8-Wg3Gw2GpA
OM launched on November of 2013 in Japan only, and got its service terminated near the end of June of 2014. I never played it, but judging from the trailer it's definitely above the usual social game, and yet it seems it didn't find a big enough player base for Square Enix to keep it online, because being a social game and all it could only be played online.
Another example, and perhaps more worrying is Bloodmasque: http://youtu.be/M3I8JmJA8hI, which launched on July of 2013, and was shut down on Christmas Eve last year since it too required to be always online. Unlike OM, Bloodmasque launched internationally and actually got pretty good reviews since it looked and played well, and while initially it was a "premium" app, it eventually transitioned into a F2P one. Now, I always thought Bloodmasque was doing well, but it seems it didn't. Considering Bloodmasque was a big game as far as their iOS efforts go it's strange it lasted so little, as it was completely internal Square Enix game (unlike most which are partly or entirely outsourced), and that in an interview the developers gave to Famitsu App they said that they had done a whole book with a timeline/lore of it as a "series" of which Bloodmasque showed only a part of and that future developments would show more, this in turn probably has to do with the fact that Bloodmasque started development as an HD console game but shifted into iOS at some point.
Other recently terminated games include:
Besides the super popular (in Japan) ones like DQMSL and FFRK, there's also:
Out of all those games and besides the aforemented hits, only Schoolgirl Strikers is within the top 50 of the top sales rank on iOS (22 ATM, with FFRK and DQMSL at numbers 12 and 13 respectively, the top sellers being Monster Strike and Puzzle and Dragons), the rest are all found anywhere from the 50 to 200 places listed, with many of them being beaten by some of Square Enix's own premium mobiles games like Dragon Quest VIII. In general though the ones linked to an existing IP do better than the ones who aren't, with exceptions like Schoolgirl Strikers coming sometimes.
I love mobile gaming, but what is the point of investing money on making games only to flood the market with them and then take them away?
Guardian Cross has been around for a long time now compared to other social games that SE has already shut down, many of them lasting less than a year, however recently it seems to have lost players/interest, and despite big names like Hiroyuki Ito being tied to it, perhaps it will to be shut down soon? It only hit me now that these games really are unplayable after their servers are down, and now it troubles me, as a person who loves mobile gaming, to support things like that. Specially in cases like Bloodmasque which was paid at first. Of course, it's unreasonable to expect support forever, but still.
It should be also noted that even successful games get shut down: Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur: http://youtu.be/qZ3DMcQPdVM, which has been one of SE's biggest money makers on mobile, is ending this month for its mobile versions, though the 3DS and Vita versions will remain active; this probably has to do with them launching Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur: http://youtu.be/UxY66OfinTA which is the closest thing MA has to an actual sequel.
And there's another issue:
Recently they've also stopped the distribution of non social non online games.
There's Demons' Score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUYLoqgRsAg, a rhythm game developed by iNis (Elite Beat Agents) along with SE. Demons' Score, like Bloodmasque, ran on UE3 and also received a lot of good press, however the game didn't work on iOS 8 so SE took it down, which is also is the case of The World Ends With You: Solo Remix, which got a lot of attention recently.
Their other apps keep getting updated at some point to work with newer OSs, but mostly because they're FF games or super known ones like Chrono Trigger, and with the backlash they got from the TWEWY thing I doubt they won't update them.
Perhaps the worst part is that other Japanese companies have also gone the mobile route for their games and ended up shutting them down all too soon, many also never localized.
Capcom made Dragon's Dogma Quest: http://youtu.be/dvBVTX3ZL8E for mobile and Vita, but they're already offline, same with Blade Fantasia: http://youtu.be/Err1VAE3BkE a somewhat big game with some Breath of Fire key members behind it.
If Breath of Fire 6 doesn't do too well I guess we can expect the same fate on it.
Sega shut down Demon Tribe: http://youtu.be/ImKG4TQ2JYQ an F2P game not tied to an existing IP that actually had good balance of its elements, as well as the first Kingdom Conquest: http://youtu.be/KxCNiOcVX3M however they still have success with Puyo Puyo Quest and Phantasy Star Online 2 es.
Bandai Namco seems to be following in SE's footsteps with a bunch of social games based on anime/manga like Gundam Conquest and the Tales series (Tales of Asteria, Tales of Link, Tales of Bibliotheca and so on), but probably many of them will get shut down soon, if they haven't already.
If all these companies are gonna make social games, shouldn't they try to make some more long term investments rather than a bunch of short term ones, many of which don't even end up being much of an investment at all?
As for the future, we know Square Enix has Mevius Final Fantasy, which they're touting almost as an equal to their HD games, but we still don't know whether the game will be free to play, a premium always online game, or what. Many other companies here probably are in the same boat, but hopefully they'll stop with these games that are so short lived.
For example, Occult Maiden: http://youtu.be/8-Wg3Gw2GpA
OM launched on November of 2013 in Japan only, and got its service terminated near the end of June of 2014. I never played it, but judging from the trailer it's definitely above the usual social game, and yet it seems it didn't find a big enough player base for Square Enix to keep it online, because being a social game and all it could only be played online.
Another example, and perhaps more worrying is Bloodmasque: http://youtu.be/M3I8JmJA8hI, which launched on July of 2013, and was shut down on Christmas Eve last year since it too required to be always online. Unlike OM, Bloodmasque launched internationally and actually got pretty good reviews since it looked and played well, and while initially it was a "premium" app, it eventually transitioned into a F2P one. Now, I always thought Bloodmasque was doing well, but it seems it didn't. Considering Bloodmasque was a big game as far as their iOS efforts go it's strange it lasted so little, as it was completely internal Square Enix game (unlike most which are partly or entirely outsourced), and that in an interview the developers gave to Famitsu App they said that they had done a whole book with a timeline/lore of it as a "series" of which Bloodmasque showed only a part of and that future developments would show more, this in turn probably has to do with the fact that Bloodmasque started development as an HD console game but shifted into iOS at some point.
Other recently terminated games include:
- Glorious Blades, a mobage game which had character designs by Toshiyuki Itahana and scenario by Takashi Tokita
- Summer Story and its sequel, edutainment app for Japanese speakers to learn English.
- Sousei no Nirvaana, GREE social card game.
- Lord of Vermillion Ren: http://youtu.be/gUSVKDrxTug, a mobage TCG conversion of the arcade game
- Galaxy Dungeon: http://youtu.be/HyKeLItXSpI
- Final Fantasy Artniks: http://youtu.be/ZD1vIlNESAE
- Final Fantasy Tactics S: http://youtu.be/P-tVQ5EHjO0, which actually was more similar to Ogre Battle than Tactics Ogre.
- LINE Slimeshot: http://youtu.be/i-4ISNRKpYA
- Yuu-Itsu-Sei Million Arthur, a spin off from Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur for dGame.
- Star Ocean Material Trader, a social RPG set in the SO universe with a focus on item creation.
- The World Ends With You Live Remix, GREE reworking of TWEWY as a social game.
- Guns n' Souls: http://youtu.be/QbSDr2Cdb3k, which was a sequel of sorts to SE's iPod-then-iPhone SRPG Song Summoner.
Besides the super popular (in Japan) ones like DQMSL and FFRK, there's also:
(Most of these are Japan online the bolded ones known to get international releases at some point/already out)- Arcadia no Aoki Miko: http://youtu.be/jCR2pZMijQo Which launched on iPhone this week.
- Final Fantasy Legends: Toki no Suishou http://youtu.be/OxIHhoyFGEE Which launched a few weeks ago
- Bravely Archive D's Report: http://youtu.be/uarwx1dDu1Q
- Mugen Knights: http://youtu.be/sQLTehfMfnQ
- Final Fantasy Artniks Dive for GREE: http://youtu.be/qw8pVtnrd2o A sequel of sorts of the original Artniks
- Final Fantasy VII G Bike: http://youtu.be/XhnV1FL5J2w
- 3594e: http://youtu.be/iNkWGmraK44
- Final Fantasy World Wide Words: http://youtu.be/3Hj-SiBAVEo
- The Irregular At Magic High School LOST ZERO: http://youtu.be/BQ6B47W18dA
- Final Fantasy Agito: http://youtu.be/CxMRePzwe6k
- Schoolgirl Strikers: http://youtu.be/KcGGSoC0CPs
- Dragon Sky: http://youtu.be/YQF0NkrOUc8
- Rise of Mana: http://youtu.be/omllJJzuK6Y
- Deadman's Cross: http://youtu.be/xMbZ3Jcd5OY Recently released on Vita worldwide. A spinoff of the original Guardian Cross which
- Pictlogica Final Fantasy: http://youtu.be/0Ij-aHmfIOI
- Melpharia March: http://youtu.be/E3ask5SbHVU A Fantasy Earth Zero spinoff
- Sangokushi Rumble: http://youtu.be/8NlyaJPlIUA
- Otome Break: http://youtu.be/Gx4YpfKwVz0
- Guardian Cross http://youtu.be/Au3PJhfc53k
Out of all those games and besides the aforemented hits, only Schoolgirl Strikers is within the top 50 of the top sales rank on iOS (22 ATM, with FFRK and DQMSL at numbers 12 and 13 respectively, the top sellers being Monster Strike and Puzzle and Dragons), the rest are all found anywhere from the 50 to 200 places listed, with many of them being beaten by some of Square Enix's own premium mobiles games like Dragon Quest VIII. In general though the ones linked to an existing IP do better than the ones who aren't, with exceptions like Schoolgirl Strikers coming sometimes.
I love mobile gaming, but what is the point of investing money on making games only to flood the market with them and then take them away?
Guardian Cross has been around for a long time now compared to other social games that SE has already shut down, many of them lasting less than a year, however recently it seems to have lost players/interest, and despite big names like Hiroyuki Ito being tied to it, perhaps it will to be shut down soon? It only hit me now that these games really are unplayable after their servers are down, and now it troubles me, as a person who loves mobile gaming, to support things like that. Specially in cases like Bloodmasque which was paid at first. Of course, it's unreasonable to expect support forever, but still.
It should be also noted that even successful games get shut down: Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur: http://youtu.be/qZ3DMcQPdVM, which has been one of SE's biggest money makers on mobile, is ending this month for its mobile versions, though the 3DS and Vita versions will remain active; this probably has to do with them launching Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur: http://youtu.be/UxY66OfinTA which is the closest thing MA has to an actual sequel.
And there's another issue:
Recently they've also stopped the distribution of non social non online games.
There's Demons' Score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUYLoqgRsAg, a rhythm game developed by iNis (Elite Beat Agents) along with SE. Demons' Score, like Bloodmasque, ran on UE3 and also received a lot of good press, however the game didn't work on iOS 8 so SE took it down, which is also is the case of The World Ends With You: Solo Remix, which got a lot of attention recently.
Their other apps keep getting updated at some point to work with newer OSs, but mostly because they're FF games or super known ones like Chrono Trigger, and with the backlash they got from the TWEWY thing I doubt they won't update them.
Perhaps the worst part is that other Japanese companies have also gone the mobile route for their games and ended up shutting them down all too soon, many also never localized.
Capcom made Dragon's Dogma Quest: http://youtu.be/dvBVTX3ZL8E for mobile and Vita, but they're already offline, same with Blade Fantasia: http://youtu.be/Err1VAE3BkE a somewhat big game with some Breath of Fire key members behind it.
If Breath of Fire 6 doesn't do too well I guess we can expect the same fate on it.
Sega shut down Demon Tribe: http://youtu.be/ImKG4TQ2JYQ an F2P game not tied to an existing IP that actually had good balance of its elements, as well as the first Kingdom Conquest: http://youtu.be/KxCNiOcVX3M however they still have success with Puyo Puyo Quest and Phantasy Star Online 2 es.
Bandai Namco seems to be following in SE's footsteps with a bunch of social games based on anime/manga like Gundam Conquest and the Tales series (Tales of Asteria, Tales of Link, Tales of Bibliotheca and so on), but probably many of them will get shut down soon, if they haven't already.
If all these companies are gonna make social games, shouldn't they try to make some more long term investments rather than a bunch of short term ones, many of which don't even end up being much of an investment at all?
As for the future, we know Square Enix has Mevius Final Fantasy, which they're touting almost as an equal to their HD games, but we still don't know whether the game will be free to play, a premium always online game, or what. Many other companies here probably are in the same boat, but hopefully they'll stop with these games that are so short lived.
