Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Death Stranding, the ports of these huge games are a real flop

Game news Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Death Stranding, the ports of these huge games are a real flop

Porting famous video games, like Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil and Death Stranding, to high-end iPhones and iPads is a commercial failure. Although Apple has highlighted these games in its conferences to demonstrate the capabilities of its machines, the download and revenue figures show a disappointing reality. According to estimates based on Appfigures data, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which launched on June 6, has been downloaded approximately 123,000 times. In comparison, the mobile game Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, available on a wider range of smartphones, saw 1.9 million downloads and $981,000 in revenue in a similar period. These figures highlight the difficulty for these ports to compete with games designed specifically for the mobile market.

The commercial failure of Resident Evil and Death Stranding on mobile

Other big games, such as Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village, have also had disappointing results on mobile devices. Resident Evil 4, with a price of $29.99, only attracted around 7,000 buyers, generating a total revenue of $208,000. Resident Evil Village did even worse, with only 5,750 buyers for a total revenue of $92,000. Death Stranding, priced at $20, also failed to attract a large audience, with only 10,600 downloads for an estimated revenue of $212,000. According to Appmagic, these figures show that these games have already achieved much of their revenue potential on their main platforms and are struggling to attract new players on mobile. Additionally, smartphone hits are often indie titles with simple controls and less demanding graphicssuitable for shorter gaming sessions.

The challenges of AAA mobile games

The reasons for these failures are multiple. AAA games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Resident Evil, and Death Stranding are often designed for consoles and PCs, where players are willing to pay premium prices for immersive gaming experiences. On mobile, these same titles face obstacles, including less intuitive controls and prices considered too high by regular users of mobile applications. Additionally, according to Randy Nelson, chief information officer for Appfigures, gamers with high-end mobile devices often already have access to consoles and PCs, making purchasing these games on mobile less attractive:

Consumers using Apple’s latest hardware are also more likely to own current-generation game consoles capable of playing those games in 4K with cinema-quality sound for the same price or less.

As a result, although these ports may serve as a demonstration of the technical capabilities of Apple’s latest devices, they fail to capture a large audience or generate significant revenue. Companies like Ubisoft, Capcom and 505 Games find themselves relying on deals with Apple to justify these portsrather than relying on direct sales to consumers.