Square Enix Officially Shuts Down “The First Soldier”
A few months back, Square Enix announced that it will discontinue “The First Soldier,” a mobile battle royale spin-off of its popular Final Fantasy 7 franchise. More specifically, the game shut down on January 11, 2023 (just a few days before Google Stadia), and a post from the game’s official Twitter account has sent out one final “thank you” to players.
The service has ended on January 11th, 2023.
Thank you SOLDIER candidates for playing FINAL FANTASY VII THE FIRST SOLDIER.#FF7FS pic.twitter.com/dFqmyA6p8C— FINAL FANTASY VII THE FIRST SOLDIER_EN｜FF7FS (@FFVII_FS_EN) January 11, 2023
The First Soldier was launched as one of several spin-off titles stemming from the Final Fantasy 7 franchise, which in itself has spawned countless media across games, movies, and merchandise. The game used a slightly different approach to traditional battle royale games, incorporating elements from the Final Fantasy franchise into its gameplay.
Another spin-off game, “Ever Crisis,” has yet to be released, following a revamped release date. Earlier on, it was announced that Ever Crisis will have a closed beta in 2022, although this has now been pushed to Summer 2023.
As for The First Soldier, it seems that the game didn’t turn out to be the success that Square Enix hoped it would be, despite the continued proliferation of battle royale shooters and online PvP-based games on smartphones. With that said, the upcoming beta launch of Ever Crisis should provide FF7 fans with new mobile content once it hits mobile gaming platforms later this year.