Pokémon Rumble Rush Shuts Down, Just One Year Since Launch

They’ve really tried to have another success story like Pokemon Go but these apps just aren’t lasting at all. Maybe they should have put all this time and effort into improving Sword and Shield.

@nessisonett Game Freak didn't develop this app and had nothing to do with it, but I still hope this somehow becomes a lesson for The Pokemon Company and it stops treating Pokemon like Activision does its IPs. Give the devs and the games a chance to breath and get off this crazy rollercoaster to hell before the franchise gets driven into the ground.

@nessisonett They are apps, they don't tend to last long. I was crushed when they ended Pokémon duel without really finishing it.

I think this game may have better success if it came to the Switch.

Mobile gamers don't strike me as the sentimental type. One less mobile game isn't really a bad thing anyway.

I remember downloading this and playing it for a couple of hours when ti released, but I dont' think I've thought of it since then.

No, wait, I think MyNintneod Rewards offers something for this. MyNintnedo Rewards, the joke that keeps on kidding us.

Top bad, but...isn't it a mobile version of the game long available on 3DS? Or is that one getting shut down, too?

Oh well..., Personally, I will miss that game, maybe it is not as "complex" as the console versions, but it was worth the fun it gave.
But, it was to be expected, as a Free to play and that required a permanent online connection, it was a matter of time for one day, bye bye...

And unfortunately that is the destiny of several games in the future, yes, they are very many in mobiles, but there are also in consoles, and the problem is that, even if they are good games, the companies of those games expect a lot of activity, however , not all the time in the world we can dedicate to "one" game, we have other activities and other games, but, oh well ...

I hope that a Pokemon Rumble arrive to Switch soon.

@SakuraHaruka I hope we get a Rumble on Switch too, Super Pokemon Rumble on 3DS was incredible.

I like it when games go. that means there are other games that can take it's place.

Can't wait till they make another one. Would be cool to give the game to another developer who might can get it to be more profitable.

Outside of Pokemon GO I don't think any of their mobile games have stuck around long. Seems like it's get what they can out of the whales and then cut and run. Hardly seems worth it to me.

@nessisonett The Rumble series is developed by Ambrella, not Game Freak

I'm glad there are the 3DS version of Pokemon Rumble despite they are different games.

I personally haven’t played it, but I have all the other Nintendo mobile games. It is unfortunate for those who have though! I’d be a bit peeved if I’d spent money etc.

Good. Enough pokemons to go around already.

Online only games will be hard for historians to preserve. I personally prefer offline games but J understand there is an audience for everything.

On a related note, some online only games do have user communities who are dedicated to making the game work again. Sonic Runners Revival is one that comes to mind and is a game I still regularly play.

I feel frustrated that you can download the game without being able to play the game.
I wish tha there was a way of 'unlocking' the terminated Pokémon games...

i only played this for a few months, but it's pretty obvious that the main issues are the ore system which barred progression behind having to wait for days to get enough gear upgrade material to be able to get past whatever boss you were stuck at, not being able to use endeavor to make mons wobble without killing them, maps getting removed & replaced, the lack of an offline mode & the lack of a switch version.
game play is also worse with a touch screen than it was with a 3ds.

its triggering how little they innovate on the main series but then keep trying to make half baked spinoffs. now personally, not to pander to the people that defend it no matter what, im loving sword and shield so far. but i definitely see a lack of innovation. and while i dont mind the dlc, having pokemon return in said dlc is frustrating, showing it was just laziness. also am i the only one that thinks the rescue team remake was pretty lame and bad/ unnapealling?

Well, it's not as if there's a shortage of Pokemon spinoff games, so I think the world will cope.

Mobile is trash. Move along.

Nintendo needs to stop making mobile games, specifically if they are online-only games. It really upsets me that they can one day just say "eff it" and shut their games down shooting down thousands of fans who invested hundreds of hours and are quite dedicated to said games! Only a matter of time until the rest follow along. Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Mario Kart Tour, Dragalia Lost, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Dr.Mario World, all of them will someday follow suit!

Super Mario Run has a chance of being playable offline since we paid for that one. At least Miitomo lasted two years, Pokémon Rumble Rush is barely a year old and is already getting the boot. I think at this point Nintendo Mobile's motto out to be "If it ain't making us enough money, is going to the trash"

Maybe now Nintendo will now get the message that one one wants these Pokemon Rumble games? It only has that 3D Model style because it was all they could fit on the Wiiware version....

....please? Let it die and just make a spin off people would actually like to see come back.

Oh, well. At least there's still Pokémon Rumble World on 3DS.

@Shadowmoon522 Wait, you can use Endeavor for that in previous Rumble games? Does that include Rumble World? If it does, I really have to try that out. Maybe I can capture all those Arceus forms after all!

@BulbasaurusRex yeah, in rumble world it doesn't kill anything so it was viable unless the mon you were facing had a self damaging move or was a shedinja.
that's another thing, they took away shedinja's wonder guard while still leaving it with 1hp in rumble rush and didn't even give enough offence force to be a glass cannon.

Sadly this is why i almost dont play mobile games, they shut down after a while.
Developers should make a "patch" or something to make these games offlines before that happens, for people thay really loved the game.

The moral of the story here is to not invest money in always-online games. They'll just disappear one day.

forgot it existed

@PcTV Yeah the money investment people would have made in this game is what strikes me as the worst thing about it.

Hopefully with games like these shutting down earlier every time people will just get tired of it and never invest into those "keep playing for xx.xx $/€!". The publishers are really just gonna make players take these services less and less serious with these decisions, which is good for consumers.

Imagine having put money into these...

...and that one has unused in-game currency that has simply vanished.

Games like these shouldn't last too long, but a year is prolly 2 short!

The only good Pokemon mobile game is Go... but because that succeeded we've gotten trash like this. Glad to see it go.

I like that they experiment, but I wish they would just use an original IP for it instead of tying Pokemon to everything.

@RPGamer Game Freak didn't make this game. A developer named Ambrella made it and it's published by The Pokemon Company. The only mobile game Game Freak has made is Pokemon Quest. Besides that one game, Game Freak only makes mainline Pokemon games (which includes remakes).

The issue isn't Game Freak, it's The Pokemon Company.

Somebody should tell their official website it shut down.

https://www.pokemonrumble.com/en-us/

And MyNintendo.

https://my.nintendo.com/

Actually somebody should tell MyNintendo to shut down, it's an embarrassment to the Nintendo brand.

It was an interesting game, not terrible, but after playing for a week or so I never felt the need or want to return to it. It's a shame that support for the game goes away after a year and no one can play anymore.

@Silly_G they better not take down Mario Run! I just got it!

Well, they did say that the purpose of their mobile business was really marketing for their console business. So most of these are little more than interactive adverts for the actual console games.

Couldn't they make this game offline only like Café Mix?

@Gorans-Cap That is just arrogant. As a mobile gamer I am extremely sentimental and if you get involved in the Communities surrounding these games you see legitimate pain when devs conclude regardless of if it is a Pokemon spin-off or any other F2P title. These are accounts we've fostered for months or years and dropped RL cash on to show support for the devs. So our frustration and sadness towards the loss is no less than that of any other online experience.

I wanted to play this, but never got around to it.

Now can this spin off series that was never really that great to begin with be finally put to bed for good?

Shuts down fast because no one was spending money on it.

Yet another reason why I hate mobile games. When the developers are done with them, you lose everything. No thanks.

It was a terrible game. The DS Rumble game, can't remember the title, was a lot of fun, but this one took all of the charm away.

It was trash...hood riddance

@rockodoodle Mario Run is a different kind of game. This was more of a service, with constant updates and events.

Mario doesn't need this level of constant attention to remain active.

This one could've been left with a functional offline mode with some extra work, but I guess it was not worth their time.

@Wilforce Maybe don't be a mobile gamer and get emotionally and financially invested in games that only exist to drain your bank balance and have a tendency to become unplayable at a moment's notice.

@Eel yeah. I wonder how much Mario Run is selling still. I never got it bc my phone barely has any memory. Same with Mario Kart. I think it's kinda cool to at least have the option to play on a different device. It's one less thing to carry around.

@shoeses Nintendo burned me bad on StreetPass! Unforgivable!!!!

Even with crap games like this one, shutting them down so quickly shakes my faith in IAPs for future Nintendo games. I'd be peeved if I were one of the whales who tried to collect those Pokemon.

@shoeses At that point why not suggest to not be a gamer at all because all games will let you down in one way or another. Jeeze... You people are insensitive AF. I have no connection to Pokemon Rumble mobile, but the lack of sensitivity towards those who did play is astounding. Give people an opportunity to grieve, it may not be your child, but it was appreciated by someone.

@FTPinkRabbit I expressed the same concerns about Pokemon Unite, and people still came to the defense of the devs. Companies need to realize these early moves really impact future performance. I haven't invested in a SE mobile title since King's Knight shut down, and watching two games Pokemon games in less than two years has me uneasy about Pomemon Unite - even if it is produced by Timi who has a relatively stable record of support long term.

Take heed: this is what happens with freemium mobile games. DON'T EVER GIVE THEM MONEY it will be wasted.

Don't play games that require an online connection and eventually, they'll stop making them.
It's that simple.

@Wilforce Pretty much the only freemium games I ever spend cash on are Fortnite, Tf2, games I expect to be still around a decently long while from now. Nintendo's crappy track record with pulling the plug on any game that doesn't print money does not inspire me to be an early adopter of anything they put out.

I pity the guys who spend money on this.