In a rather disappointing turn of events, Square Enix has announced the impending shutdown of its mobile battle royale Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. This follows the recent shutdowns of two other Square Enix mobile games; Kingdom Hearts Unchained X and Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
The full official announcement reads; “After almost a year of jumping around on chocobos, mashing it up in melee battles, and sniping from the rooftops of Midgar Undercity, it is with a heavy heart that we are announcing the end of service for FINAL FANTASY VII THE FIRST SOLDIER. We will be ending service at 07:00 UTC on January 11, 2023.”
“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. We would like to thank you all for supporting us over the past year.”
Effective immediately, all Shinra Credits will no longer be available to purchase, although players with existing credits can still spend them up until the full end of service. On 11th January 2023, however, play will cease. Square Enix has committed to providing updates in the interim so fans can squeeze in a bit more fun before the end.
Launching in November 2021, The First Soldier offered a Final Fantasy twist to the battle royale genre, bringing a variety of classes offering truly unique playstyles and a plethora of events during its short lifespan. The end-of-service announcement certainly comes as a shock given the amount of effort Square expended on the game, regularly adding new classes and materia, and hosting its first tournament recently.
Whether the choice to shut down comes as a result of a low player base, or if the public's expectations of a battle royale featuring the Final Fantasy VII name were too unattainable, it will be missed and certainly deserved better.
For the next three months, Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier will be available to download on Google Play and the App Store and is certainly worth a farewell tour.
