Elsewhere in gaming-on-the-go: HBO's 'Insecure' gets tie-in game; the 'NieR' franchise is heading to phones; mobile games industry sees major spike in early 2020.
Mobile Games Hotspot is a curated weekly roundup of the top stories in gaming on-the-go.
Disney and Kabam are teaming up once more (the companies have teamed on Marvel Contest of Champions and Star Wars: Uprising in the past) to bring a new RPG to mobile devices, Disney Mirrorverse. Although details are scarce, players can expect to visit familiar Disney and Pixar locations as they attempt to gather a team of powerful guardians from a world known as the Mirrorverse.
"Disney Mirrorverse represents a brave reimagining of iconic Disney and Pixar characters and stories, and we’re delighted to be working with Kabam to bring this original universe to life for players," said Sean Shoptaw, senior vp of games and interactive experiences at Disney Parks, experiences and products.
No word on a release date yet, but regional beta testing will soon begin in the Philippines.
Here's what else is happening in the world of mobile games:
NieR Heading to Mobile
During a 10th anniversary celebration livestream for the Japanese role-playing NieR series, a new mobile game titled NieR Re[in]carnation was announced alongside a remaster of NieR Replicant for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam. The mobile game did not get a full reveal during the stream and was instead announced through a teaser trailer featuring words like "memories" and "solitude" presented against images of beautiful architecture. Thanks to translations by Gematsu, Producer Yosuke Saito went on to say the mobile game doesn't look like a smartphone title at first, almost as if it were meant to be multiplatform. The upcoming game does not have a release date but will launch on both iOS and Android.
Mobile Downloads Get Big Spike in Early 2020
Mobile game downloads saw a 20 percent increase in downloads year-over-year as social distancing initiatives continue to increase across the world amid the coronavirus pandemic. As reported by App Annie, the first quarter of 2020 brought in over $23.4 billion through app stores, the highest number of consumer spending ever documented. This includes over 31 billion new app downloads, 40 percent of which came from gaming apps. RPG and strategy games were the highest in consumer spending.
Marvel Strike Force Celebrates Two Years
An anniversary celebration is here for Marvel Strike Force as it rings in second anniversary of release. A brand new group of brawlers known as The Black Order are making their way into the turn-based RPG. Each character comes with its own set of special abilities and include Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, Ebony Maw, and Infinity Gauntlet Thanos. A new player vs. player mode was also announced and will allow players to battle against each other players in real-time, a first for the game. A few interesting stats were also released including over 100,000 wars fought, over 6 million heroes leveled up to seven stars, and 3.5 million orbs opened.
Teamfight Tactics Debuts to Impressive Launch
According to Sensor Tower, the launch of Teamfight Tactics, which debuted last week, brought in over 4.5 million downloads, with the first 3.6 million installs coming in the first seven days of its launch on March 19. The U.S. led in download numbers with 17 percent of all installs followed by South Korea at 13 percent. The game has grossed $1.2 million to date. The auto battler game, set in the world of League of Legends, had an impressive first week when compared to other mobile games in the same genre. Teamfight Tactics and its 3.6 million downloads surpassed Auto Chess: Origin and its 1 million installs, Chess Rush and its 680k downloads and Dota Underlords and its 105k installs.
HBO's InsecureTV Gets Mobile Game Treatment
To coincide with the premiere of its fourth season this month, HBO's Insecure will get a tie-in mobile game that centers around the world of Issa Dee and friends. The handheld experience throws you into a rap word game where players create their own rhymes in front of a mirror to share with others. Insecure: The Come Up Game will launch in April as a free-to-play title.
