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Studio Ghibli co-production Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds enters pre-registration on the Play Store
The mobile MMORPG is coming West
Netmarble launched Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan last June, and it appears that the game was a success earning $100 million in its first 11 days, so the mobile MMORPG is going global this summer. This is a game that contains animated cutscenes from Studio Ghibli (the exceptional artists behind such films as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro), just like the mainline Ni no Kuni console and PC games, so expect an excellent art direction.
Marvel Future Revolution looks so premium that you can almost excuse the F2P nonsense
Until you're asked to pay, of course
At the end of last month, it was revealed that Marvel Future Revolution would land on mobile on August 25th. That day is today, and so Marvel's latest free-to-play RPG is finally available on both Android and iOS. Much like how Genshin Impact, NieR Re[in]carnation, and Sky: Children of the Light raised the bar for the quality of mobile games, Marvel Future Revolution is a highly polished release, at least as far as the presentation goes. At its core, Future Revolution is a brawler, though RPG mechanics are included, which is where all those pesky free-to-play mechanics rear their ugly heads. In the end, Marvel Future Revolution looks like a AAA game, but it plays more like a mobile live service title filled to the brim with disgusting monetization.
Marvel recently revealed at PAX East 2020 that its next game is coming to mobile as an open-world RPG called Marvel Future Revolution. This title will serve as a follow-up to Netmarble's Marvel: Future Fight (not to be confused with the upcoming sequel for Contest of Champions), but instead of the linear design of the original title, Future Revolution will offer the same action combat wrapped up in an open-world design.
Marvel Realm of Champions bursts onto the Play Store, and reviews haven't been kind
As expected, it's a lifeless 3v3 MOBA
Kabam and Netmarble are teaming up once again with Marvel to bring a new real-time RPG to Android. This title is known as Marvel Realm of Champions, and it will serve duty as the followup to Marvel Contest of Champions. It's expected to land sometime in 2020. Apparently, Realm of Champions will offer a reimagining of the Marvel Universe that's set on Battleworld, a forbidden planet hidden behind the Space-Time Barrier recently disrupted by the death of Maestro, the God-King. This results in a universe-wide battle themed around the Secret Wars event from 1984.
The King of Fighters All Star has been available in Japan since July of 2018, and today Netmarble has officially announced that the action-RPG is finally coming to the West. It will be released in North America, Europe, and Latin America sometime later this year on the Google Play Store.
Netmarble doesn't have the greatest reputation. Thanks to its heavy-handed use of free-to-play mechanics and plenty of expensive in-app purchases, a lot of shade gets thrown its way, and deservedly so. That's why the release of its latest gacha RPG is a bit of a rare occurrence, it's actually not that bad. After a lengthy soft-launch period Phantomgate: The Last Valkyrie is finally available on the Google Play Store, and despite the expected downsides of a title like this, there's a lot of fun to be had. So if you are a fan of 2D platforming and classic turn-based RPG battles, you're going to want to give this a gander.
Phatomgate is one of those titles where I am not sure where I stand. On the one hand, it's clearly a free-to-play gacha game. On the other, it's a competent turn-based RPG with some fantastic platforming gameplay. Then you have its high production values to take into consideration, which makes it all that much more difficult to label Phatomgate as simply a good or bad game.
The mobile market represents the biggest chunk of video game sales on the planet. It's also the most diverse and contentious, with no clear formula for achieving success or return on investment. When something like Flappy Bird can bring in a million times its operating cost while presumably sure-fire licensed games flop, there's no reliable way to know if your developer's next game will break even. Kabam, a publisher focused on licensed titles from Marvel, Warner Bros., and Universal, is no exception. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company will be selling most of its assets early next year.