Final Fantasy VII’s mobile battle royale is shutting down in January

Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier will shut down on January 11th, 2023, Square Enix has confirmed.

This will be just over one year after the free-to-play battle royale game launched on Android and iOS in November 2021.

“Despite all our efforts to bring you regular updates with fresh and exciting content, we haven’t been able to deliver the experience that we were hoping to, and that you all deserve, so we have made the extremely tough decision to end service for Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier,” Square Enix wrote in a statement via the game’s official Twitter account.

The company adds that it will continue to provide updates for the game leading up to its closure. However, Shinra Credits, the game’s in-app currency that can be purchased with real money, have been removed from the in-game shop. Therefore, only previously purchased Shinra Credits can be used until service ends.

Square Enix attempted to make The First Soldier stand out through multiplayer combat that mixed traditional guns with character classes, spells, monsters and locations from Final Fantasy VII. That said, the battle royale market is incredibly saturated, even on mobile, due to juggernauts like Fortnite, PUBG, Apex Legends and Call of Duty. 

While The First Soldier is coming to an end, the Final Fantasy VII series is pushing along at full speed. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, a remaster of the PSP prequel to the original FFVII, will launch on consoles and PC on December 13th. Additionally, Ever Crisis, a mobile retelling of the entire Final Fantasy VII series, is set to hit mobile sometime later this year. And, of course, there’s the highly anticipated sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, titled Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which will release on PS5 sometime “next winter.”

Source: Square Enix