Assassin's Creed Mirage, Death Stranding and Resident Evil 4 on iPhone have bombed
It seems very few people are downloading console quality games on iPhone
🤷♂️ It looks like mobile gamers aren’t that interested in console-like ports
📉 Three of the biggest games ported to iPhone have failed to light up the sales chart
😵 Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Resident Evil 4, and Death Stranding have all struggled
💰 Apple is probably subsidizing development, but sales will need to improve
The three biggest console games on iPhone, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, and Resident Evil 4, have struggled to find an audience.
According to mobilegamer.biz, which has analyzed the data, Apple’s showcase titles have been “commercial failures” by all accounts.
Based on Appfigures estimates, fewer than 3,000 people have paid $49.99 to play Assassin’s Creed Mirage on iPhone since it launched on June 6, despite being downloaded approximately 123,000 times. It’s worth pointing out that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is only playable on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and high-end iPads like the other two games.
Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding have fared just as poorly. Appfigures estimates that Resident Evil 4 has been downloaded 357,000 times, bringing in $208k in revenue. That means roughly 7,000 people have paid the game’s $29.99 price tag to unlock it since it launched six months ago.
Resident Evil Village, which is also a discounted title at $15.99, has only received around 5,750 sales, bringing in just $92k in revenue for Capcom. Death Stranding has also struggled to find an audience, attracting roughly 10,600 downloads since January 2024.
“These figures are far from a success, especially when compared to the sales achieved by AAA games on their primary platforms,” said Appmagic’s head of content Andrei Zubov. “This suggests that these games have already captured a big part of their potential revenue and will now sustain much lower earnings.”
Apple has likely paid Ubisoft, Capcom, and Kojima Productions a fee upfront to bring the games to its platforms in the first place, but it’s clear decades of free-to-play titles on mobile make paying a high fee a difficult one for mobile gamers.
There’s also the fact that you can enjoy these games on far more powerful hardware, with better performance, and on your TV. Each game recommends connecting a controller, too, as playing these titles using the touchscreen isn’t optimal, to say the least.
Randy Nelson, head of insights at Appfigures, agrees that console ports for iPhone are a tough sell for most mobile players. “While the hardware in consumers’ hands has made enormous progress towards technological parity with current-gen consoles, it’s uncertain how many actually realize it and consequently even consider they might be able to play the latest Resident Evil or Assassin’s Creed on their phone,” he told mobilegamer.biz.
“I fear that even if consumers realize they can play AC Mirage on their phones and tablets, the $50 game unlock IAP will end the decision-making process right there,” Nelson added. “Consumers using Apple’s latest hardware may also be more likely to own current-generation game consoles capable of playing these games in 4K with theatre-quality sound for the same price – or less.”
Apple announced that more premium, console-like titles are coming to iPhone and iPad during WWDC 2024 along with personalized spatial audio for gaming.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.