Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier Shuts Down In January

gameinformer.com:

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, the mobile multiplayer battle royale, is being shut down in January. The news comes a month shy of the game's one-year anniversary, having launched for iOS and Android in November 2021. 

Square Enix states that it feels it hasn’t delivered the experience it aimed for, so it will begin winding down service starting today. A roadmap on the game’s website lists a three-step sunsetting schedule. Today, you can no longer purchase Shinra credits from the shop, but you can still spend the credits you own until the game shuts down. On November 1, support for non-English localization ends (meaning text will only be displayed in English going forward). Finally, on January 11, The First Soldier goes offline for good.

Here's the full End of Service announcement via Twitter:

The First Soldier was revealed in February 2021 alongside another mobile FFVII RPG, Ever Crisis (which has yet to release but has a closed beta planned for this year). The third-person battle royale took place before the events of FFVII and pit 75 players against each other as SOLDIER candidates. In addition to using firearms, players wield magic and even summons. Square previously stated The First Soldier was an attempt to attract a wider fanbase to the FFVII universe while giving existing fans a new way to enjoy its mythos. 

Unfortunately, this isn't the first Square Enix published multiplayer game to get the axe this year. Babylon's Fall, Platinum Games' live-service action RPG, is also being shutdown in February, less than a year after its ill-received launch. 

While The First Soldier is going away, plenty of FFVII content is in the pipeline. As previously mentioned, Ever Crisis remains on the docket, and Crisis Core: