New data shows that Resident Evil 7which was recently ported to iOS devices, was purchased and downloaded by fewer than 2,000 players, yet another example of large games failing to find success on Apple’s high-end mobile devices.
A fantastic sequel to Capcom’s survival horror Resident Evil 7 —originally released in 2017—launched on iOS earlier this month for $20. It’s the latest major console game to hit iOS devices as part of Apple’s continued pressure to make more AAA titles run natively on iPhones and iPads. Last year, Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 redo appeared on iOS. Although they were playable and impressive, these were truly terrible ways to play such great games due to impoverished performance and impoverished touch controls. And it seems like gamers agree that these aren’t great versions of these games, as data shows that these ports likely fall flat on iOS.
As reported on July 16 MobileGamer.bizthe data seems to indicate that RE7′The iOS version of the game, which was released on July 2, only earned Capcom about $28,000 because 2,000 people paid for the full game after downloading the free demo.
Other AAA versions of the iPhone have also not had much success in the App Store. As previously reported by the portal in Junedata shows that after a month only 3000 people bought them Assassin’s Creed Mirageeven though its free trial has been downloaded over 120,000 times.
2023 Resident Evil 4 redo I did fragment better after six months on the market. It has been downloaded 357,000 times, and data indicates that about 7,000 people paid $30 to unlock the full game. Resident Evil Villageon the other hand, it did terribly on iOS. In roughly the same time frame, only about 5,700 people paid $15 to play Village on your iPhone or iPad.
Why AAA Games Don’t Work on iPhone
So what’s going on here? Well, I think the higher prices of these AAA ports are putting off a lot of mobile gamers who are used to free-to-play games. But I think the bigger problem is that these aren’t games people want to play on their phones in 2024. I love Assassin’s Creed MirageIt’s a great return to the stealth-focused gameplay and smaller worlds of the older games. air conditioning games that still feel up-to-date and fun to play. Good job! But I have no desire to play this game on a minuscule iPhone with an awkward controller or with horrible touchscreen buttons.
These AAA games are designed to be played for hours, often in a comfortable chair or couch, with a controller or keyboard and a large screen. And that’s just not the experience you get on a phone. The best mobile games are the ones you can play right away. Things you can open up, play around with a bit, and then abandon a few seconds later because the bus has arrived or the game has installed on your Xbox.
iPhones will certainly become more powerful and will be able to run even more AAA games at high frame rates and resolutions in the future. That’s a fact. But I’m not convinced that any of these games will succeed on the App Store because they’re simply not what most people want to play on their mobile devices.
So now the question is, since Capcom and other publishers aren’t making money off these ports, how long until Apple stops (probably, not confirmed) financing them, and all these AAA games stop coming to iOS? How long until Apple throws in the towel on games again? We’ll see…
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