All articles tagged with #mobile gaming
Nintendo’s Mario Kart Tour and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis are set to shut down later this year (MK Tour: Sept 29–30; Ever Crisis: Oct 6), part of a broader industry move away from mobile gaming as publishers like Nintendo and Square Enix recalibrate their strategies.
Nintendo announced Mario Kart Tour will shut down on September 29, 2026, at 11:00 PM PT, with no offline version planned. Ruby sales have ended, but existing rubies can be used in the Spotlight Shop and other features until the shutdown. Gold Pass renewals were stopped, and eligible players can continue to enjoy Gold Pass benefits for free until the end of service under specific rules, with a separate free period for non-subscribers from August 4 to September 29. The game originally launched on September 25, 2019.
Samsung MENA teams with Razer for a 'Play Without Limits' promo that pairs the Galaxy S26 Ultra with the Kishi V3 Pro controller, aiming to deliver a console-like mobile gaming experience on high-end hardware, with potential bundled packages under consideration.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick outlines a bold strategy around GTA 6 with a broad, modern marketing push, while stressing AI and new tech will enhance creativity rather than automate it. He notes the company’s mobile arm Zynga accounts for roughly half of revenue and plans 3–6 sizeable mobile releases annually, while rejecting Roblox-style platform plays or indie “small” titles. He emphasizes a long-tenured leadership team, a willingness to fail and learn, and an overarching goal to become the biggest entertainment company on Earth, a North Star he says is ambitious but pursued with discipline and a focus on building big, lasting hits.
Microsoft’s Asha Sharma says the Xbox mobile store concept isn’t dead, indicating ongoing efforts to build a storefront for mobile games to compete with Google Play and the Apple App Store, despite earlier reports of its demise and Apple-related obstacles.
Control: Ultimate Edition is now available on iPhone and iPad for $5, includes the full game and DLC, and features a touchscreen-optimized UI (with controller support available). It runs on iPhone models with the A17 Pro and iPads with M-series chips or A17 Pro, while older devices like the basic iPad with A16 are excluded. Early hands-on notes praise smooth performance on recent hardware and mention a minor gripe with sprinting controls, signaling another AAA title entering Apple’s platform lineup.
Bethesda will permanently shut down The Elder Scrolls: Blades’ servers on June 30, 2026. The game has been delisted from the App Store, Google Play, and Nintendo Store. In the lead‑up to shutdown, players will get a last hurrah: a free Gems and Sigils bundle and all in‑game items will cost just one Gem or Sigil. Blades launched in 2020 for Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch and never matched the success of Bethesda’s main titles; its Legends spinoff was shut down in 2019, leaving Castles as the remaining mobile Elder Scrolls option.
Blizzard’s Overwatch Rush is a mobile spin-off set in the Overwatch universe. It’s still early in development and not a port of the core game, featuring eight familiar heroes, three-minute matches, and mobile-friendly modes like Nano Grab, Free-For-All, and a condensed Control-Point. Monetization is planned as free-to-play with cosmetic-only purchases, with a lengthy testing period before a full release.
Blizzard announces Overwatch Rush, a mobile-first top-down hero shooter built from the ground up for iOS and Android. The game is in early development and currently undergoing limited geo testing with a release date not yet announced. A dedicated Blizzard team (separate from Team 4) is developing it, focusing on fast-paced, bite-sized sessions, intuitive mobile controls, and optional in-app purchases in a free-to-play model. Controllers aren’t supported in the current version, and further content, balance updates, and testing will evolve based on player feedback via Discord.
Activision will shut down Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile on April 17, 2026, with servers going offline that day and current players able to play until then. The title had been flagged for delisting and received no new content since May 2025, while the broader Call of Duty ecosystem remains available on other platforms (including Call of Duty: Mobile with Battle Royale on mobile and Warzone on PC/console).
Activision will shut down Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile servers on April 17, 2026, ending all updates, social features, and in-app purchases; after shutdown, guest accounts will be inaccessible while Activision accounts remain usable on other titles.
Activision Blizzard will shut down Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile on April 17, 2026, saying the mobile version did not meet its expectations for mobile‑first players; the game has not received new content since its app store removal in May 2025, guest accounts will no longer work, and players with unspent CoD points should spend them before the shutdown, while some unlockables can transfer to other Warzone titles and Activision accounts can still access other platforms.
Niko Partners’ 2026 forecast for Asia & MENA’s video-game market sees continued recovery and a move toward a $100B+ opportunity by 2029, with 1.7B gamers. Key trends include female players reaching over 40%, uneven mobile growth favoring Asia & MENA, a likely Nintendo Switch 2 price hike, more China game licenses, stronger child-safety regulations, growing adoption of genAI in development, a shift toward smaller M&A targets, live-service games adding UGC tools and revenue sharing, a move away from gachas, and evergreen IPs raising entry barriers for new titles.
Hill Climb Racing has surpassed 2 billion downloads since its 2012 debut, marking a major milestone for Fingersoft’s free-to-play mobile hit; the digest also notes ESO’s Seasons pivot is not tied to Microsoft layoffs, along with other gaming-industry updates.
At CES 2026, Hyperkin and GameSir announced the X5 Alteron, a fully modular and customizable game controller compatible with smartphones, tablets, Switch, and PC, featuring swappable modules, capacitive sticks, and Hall-Effect triggers, promising a versatile gaming experience for mobile gamers.