Will Smith’s Undawn slapped harder than his Oscar’s outburst, which could signal a troubling future for the mobile version of Elden Ring.
Will Smith is one of the most prolific and charismatic actors out there and has made countless movies in different genres. In recent memory, his most dramatic performance was his infamous Oscars slap which rocked millions during the live telecast and caused a cascade of unfortunate turns for the actor’s life and career.
The public outburst did not stop Smith from pursuing other projects from other media like gaming. Last year, his newest video game Undawn launched on various mobile platforms and reports have indicated that it was a flop. The entertainment industry has been oversaturated with the zombie genre and it is time for developers to wake up and realize that mobile gaming is a risky venture regardless of genre or the people involved.
Will Smith’s Undawn Is Just As Bad As The Oscar Slap
Will Smith stars as Trey Jones in Tencent’s Undawn.
Mobile gaming is trying its hardest to keep up with the more common ways of gaming, even though the full endorsement of a renowned Hollywood actor is not enough to save it from being a commercial flop. The developer Tencent worked on several impressive mobile games like PlayerUnkown’s Battleground, or better known as PUBG Mobile which was a massive success which brings up the question of what went wrong with Will Smith’s game.
It is hard to defend a game’s quality when not a whole lot of people ever heard of it or acknowledged its existence. The only takeaway is that the fame of Hollywood can only take a project so far and it is not enough to carry it. The failure of Undawn could massively affect another Tencent project and it is a game that has won the hearts of many, Elden Ring.
Elden Ring Mobile Could Suffer The Same Fate As Undawn
Tencent is working on a mobile version of Elden Ring, but it seems like FromSoftware is not keen on their direction.
Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s latest soulslike title and it is probably their best and most successful game yet. Fans can not get enough, and with the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC coming in a few months, it is an indication that the franchise is staying in the public eye for quite some time. Tencent’s idea was to make an Elden Ring game inspired by Genshin Impact‘s free-to-play model with in-game monetization, however, the design of the game itself is meant to be a full package experience in a more premium format.
The difficult task of porting a game to another drastically different format could result in a mess. The design of Elden Ring is not compatible with whatever Tencent has in mind, and this project could tarnish the franchise as a whole. FromSoftware develops their games to work on consoles or PCs that can deliver a satisfying gaming experience, if their games were ported to a lesser version then it would be a disservice to what it was meant to be. As well as this, the huge hit that Undawn represents to the company may well mean they scale back other projects.
Mobile game developers should learn by now that regardless of Hollywood fame or notoriety in the gaming industry, not all ideas are feasible, let alone possible to execute perfectly. Will Smith’s Undawn is a cautionary tale, and they should think twice before making another expensive mistake. What are your thoughts about an Elden Ring mobile game? Share your thoughts below!
