Apple's AAA push with Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil, and Death Stranding ports to iPhone are reportedly flopping with Mirage only selling about 3,000 copies

News
By published

Only a few thousand people downloaded each

Assassin's Creed Mirage
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Barely anybody is buying the Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil, and Death Stranding mobile ports that came out earlier this year, according to a new report.

Apple recently made a big push during the promotion campaigns for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and its high-end iPads when it announced that several big-budget, action-adventure games would get ported - and, stunningly, actually run - on the new handhelds. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage, Kojima Production's Death Stranding, and Capcom's Resident Evil 4 remake and Resident Evil Village have now all dropped on the iOS store, but all have (reportedly) kinda flopped.

Mobile Gamer reports, based on estimates from data firms Appfigures and Appmagic, that the smaller-screened stabathon Assassin's Creed Mirage has accrued  between 123,000 to 279,000 free downloads since its mobile launch on June 6, but only between 3,000 to around 5,750 people have actually paid the premium $49.99 fee to unlock the full game. In comparison, the free-to-play Assassin's Creed Rebellion was downloaded 1.9 million times in the same period and also had stronger legs after its initial launch weeks.

Estimated numbers for Death Stranding and the Resident Evils aren't much brighter either. After six months, about 7,000 players purportedly paid the full $29.99 price tag for Resident Evil 4, while Resident Evil Village tripped even harder with around 5,750 people paying for the game's $15.99 full unlock. Death Stranding, sitting with an upfront cost of $20, courted 10,600 downloads since its own launch six months ago.

Appmagic's head of content Andrei Zubov told Mobile Gamer that premium indie game prices normally sit around the $5-10 range, which "aligns better with the average spending habits of mobile gamers," compared to the higher paywalls of the above blockbusters. "This likely explains why these games find it easier to expand into the mobile gaming market and why AAA releases are underperforming," he added.

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.