An end-of-service notice has been issued for Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. The free-to-play battle royale game set as a prequel of sorts to Final Fantasy VII is going permanently offline just a little over a year after its initial launch. Originally released on mobile platforms in November 2021, the game will be shutting down for good on January 11, 2023. According to Square Enix, the reasoning behind this decision is that they "haven't been able to deliver the experience that we were hoping to, and that you all deserve".

In-game purchases have been removed from FF VII: The First Soldier's storefront, but the game will still get regular updates until it shuts down. Support for non-English languages will end on November 1st.

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[The Catboy]

And this is why I refuse to get into their live service or cloud-based games that they push out. You literally can't trust that they won't shut down the service or stop supporting it in a year or two.

 

[Reploid]

They could've just ask me if this idea was stupidly dumb or not. I would say it is, and they could save a ton of money, giving some to me as a bounty.

 

[RedoLane]

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[CeeDee]

This existed? News to me.

 

[samcambolt270]

I did not even know this released XD

 

[Super.Nova]

They talk like no one expected this.

 

[CallmeBerto]

I don't understand why you would only release something like this on smart devices only. If it was on pc/console and had a bit better marketing it might have survived longer.

 

[masagrator]

They could've just ask me if this idea was stupidly dumb or not. I would say it is, and they could save a ton of money, giving some to me as a bounty.

This is SE, they are pushing into Web3 after crypto market crashed + Metaverse that has player count averagely at 30 after spending on it more than 1bln $. Normal thinking is not something you can expect from them.

 

[TraderPatTX]

This is why I buy physical games and music. I refuse to be at the mercy of these corporations whims.

 

[supergamer368]

hopefully square's live service games falling down left and right will get them to stop making them. this is a pipe dream but maybe they'll also stop peddling nfts with their figures too...

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I don't understand why you would only release something like this on smart devices only. If it was on pc/console and had a bit better marketing it might have survived longer.

I'm not sure. It maybe help a little bit, but the entire premise of the game might have just not been the appeal. It's the same thing with how dissidia final fantasy NT. Before that PS4 and STEAM ONLY game, it was for psp which did okay. Major issue with that game is that you're basically forcing a gameplay on the player that wasn't originally present in previous versions. To impose 3v3 gameplay with no option to change and also geared towards esports, and overload it with constant updates for dlc. Just might be the most off putting thing for console gamers. Things might have been different if they had possibly HD remastered the two psp games, with new content and online multiplayer and port it to all consoles. (Before the NT Version perhaps)

Just the idea of a final fantasy battle royale possibly sounds out of the question. I would also add that the way mobile games are structured just maybe wouldn't even help the appeal being on console if they did put it on consoles. Of course it's possible that I'm wrong, but this just opinions based on observations.

 

[DKB]

Didn't know this even existed..

 

[JuanMena]

 

[Trojaner]

Well, Squarre has nothing to offer for me. Played 2 mobile from them and just hated them. Even dropt the FF Franchise alltogether. After what they have done with FFVII, the strange begining brocken Remake, they can burn in Hell. I prefer to play the original good Old School Titles but no new game anymore.

 

[CloudStrife190100]

Played it on release date once and deleted it the same day. No loss here

 

[Bladexdsl]

must not have been getting enough suckers to buy nfts

 

[ZeroHunta]

Didn't even knew this was a thing

 

[The Catboy]

I don't understand why you would only release something like this on smart devices only. If it was on pc/console and had a bit better marketing it might have survived longer.

I think they were trying to compete with other mobile battle royale games but failed to realize why they were successful. It seems like they threw it out there hoping the FF7 name would make it an instant success and kill all other games.

 

[Guacaholey]

And nothing of value was lost.

It was actually kind of fun, but it's a mobile game so simpler than what you'd want from a BR game. There wasn't really enough done for it though. It had to compete with Fortnite and PUBG Mobile. Definitely had a solid foundation but there weren't enough players in matches and the magic and melee was pretty much useless.