Square Enix has announced that its free-to-play mobile game, Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, will be discontinued on January 11, 2023, at 7 a.m. UTC. The company cited challenges in providing “the experience we were hoping to” as the reason for the closure, which was shared via Twitter on Wednesday.
In its farewell message, Square Enix expressed gratitude to players for their support over the past year. The game, which launched in November 2021, takes place 18 years before the events of Final Fantasy 7, allowing players to step into the shoes of a Soldier recruit engaged in Shinra’s virtual reality training for the corporation’s private military.
Despite receiving regular updates throughout its operation, the game struggled to maintain its player base. This closure is part of a larger pattern involving Square Enix’s live-service offerings. Just last month, the company revealed it would also be ending live services for Babylon’s Fall, another title by PlatinumGames, on February 27, 2023, nearly a year after its initial release.
