Sega of America’s mobile game studios appear to be having a rough time recently. Earlier on, SEGA announced that they were making a reduction in their mobile work force. As a result, everyone at Three Rings Design Inc. lost their job. More recently, SEGA announced that they would be closing down Puzzle & Glory, a mobile match-3 RPG game from Demiurge Studios (acquired by SEGA in 2015). And now SEGA have announced that yet another mobile game will be closing down, namely Cranky Food Friends. The game will be shutting down on March 31, 2016. The game is mostly known to SEGA fans because of the fact that it’s a reskin of Puyo Puyo Quest!!, one of SEGA’s most successful mobile games in Japan. The reskin was a controversial decision, and apparently didn’t help to assure the game’s success in the West.
Earlier this year, Gumi also announced that they would be shutting down Chain Chronicle, another very successful mobile IP from SEGA in Japan. While SEGA didn’t handle the localization themselves, they had entered a partnership with Gumi to localize the game, It’s not clear if SEGA intends to reboot Chain Chronicle in the West themselves, but fans have started a petition in the hopes of seeing the game restored.
At least in the US, the Puyo Puyo franchise will be getting a new release soon (without a reskin), as Puyo Puyo 2 will be included in the SEGA 3D Classics Collection.
Good news! maybe now they will understand only nihonjin actually spend their money on mobile games…