Valorant mobile, the GTA Trilogy, the Crystal of Atlan MMO beta: this week's mobile games recap

In this recap, find out more about the release of Little Nightmares Mobile to give you the shivers under the duvet, as well as new information about the launch of Valorant Mobile soon in 2024, the release of the GTA trilogy on Netflix, a Sony studio hack, a really tempting catalogue of Netflix releases for 2024 and lots of other news, that's what we're going to look at together today.

The best mobile games releases and pre-registrations, from Little Nightmares mobile to Sponge Bob Cosmic Shake

It's all about miniature worlds and the return of the classics this week. The best releases on other platforms are finally coming to mobile, and a 100% cross-platform future is shaping up in the world of gaming.

In 2024, you could well soon discover the firepower of Valorant mobile, which, according to a tweet, is scheduled for early 2024, but also the racing game Art of Rally on iOS on 18 January.

• Release of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake : the title invites you to explore 7 magical worlds populated by cowboys, knights and prehistoric snails. Each presents its own skill and interaction challenges, provided you have the right cosmic costume on Google Play and Appstore (on Android, the game is still in pre-registration due to a bug on Google's side).

• Release of Little Nightmares mobile: This creepy horror-puzzle game has you donning your yellow beanie to explore the nooks and crannies of a strange spaceship. In a maze full of corrupt souls, run, climb, think fast and be careful not to end up on a skewer for one of the giant inhabitants. Little Nightmares is available on mobile for €6 to €7 (30% off for the release) on Google Play and Appstore.

• Release of the GTA trilogy on Netflix: You can now try out San Andreas and the other GTA games from the original trio with your Netflix subscription, but the games remain available in premium format for those without a subscription to the US SVOD service.

• Pre-registration opens for Fantasy Tales: Sword and Magic: This creation from Ling Ren Game Limited is preparing for release on Google Play, App Store and PC for gamers looking for adventure, treasure hunting, exploration, combat and Japanese-inspired monsters.

Other new releases include Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond on PC and mobile, The Longing, a game to be completed in 400 days with its king asleep, and Cooking Fever Duels, also launching worldwide.

As for the testing phases, the closed beta of Crystal of Atlan, a steampunk MMORPG from Nuverse, and the Chinese mecha strategy game Mecharashi, currently in open beta on mobile and PC, are worth mentioning.

Industry news: the Insomniac hack, the end of E3 and the Epic vs Google trial

The video games industry doesn't have a week to rest, even with the festive season approaching. Sony has to think about the ransom to deliver to its hackers, Fntastic abandons its players at the worst possible time and the unionisation of QA employees continues.

• Insomniac Games gets hacked: The attack has been claimed by the Rhysida group, who are demanding a ransom in less than 7 days. If not, they promise to auction off the hacked information, including employee passport scans, game screenshots and other sensitive information. Auctions will start at $2 million, or 50 bitcoins, if Insomniac Games doesn't find a way to get out of this one quickly.

• E3 is officially dead forever: Organisers were saying on social media that they would come back stronger, with new proposals for 2024, to cope with the new formats like streams that have dominated new announcements in recent years. But now it's done. E3 is officially dead and buried.

• Immediate closure of Fntastic: Obviously, closing down a few days after the release of a highly-anticipated game in which gamers have invested financially to be among the first to be able to test it is not a pretty sight. Gamers imagine that Fntastic is running off with the cash, and the studio claims that it has no financial means to continue working on The Day Before. Despite the general lack of understanding, Fntastic has assured us that the servers for their games that are still active, such as Propnight, will remain open, at least for a while.

• Epic beats Google in its antitrust trial: After losing out to Apple, Epic finally prevailed against Google in its antitrust trial in the United States. The jury concluded that Google had indeed engaged in anti-competitive practices with monopoly power over the distribution of Android applications and its payment systems.

This week also saw the rise of content creation tools, with investments in the Allstar tool and the arrival of Microsoft QA employees in the ZeniMax QA Union.

New Apple Arcade and Netflix Games subscriptions in 2024

Your gaming subscriptions will get even bigger in 2024! Let's find out together as we discover what surprises Apple Arcade and Netflix Games have in store for us in their war for exclusive mobile games catalogues.

Apple Arcade:

• Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom to play as Memetchi, who must repair the evil that has ravaged his little world,

• Cornsweeper, a kind of bomb disposal game with popcorn,

• and Blackjack from MobilityWare.

Netflix's list is too long to mention them all, with over 90 games in the pipeline, including :

• Hades in iOS exclusivity,

• Sonic Mania Plus,

• Dragon Prince: Xadia,

• Katana Zero,

• Chicken Run: Eggstraction,

• Monument Valley 1 & 2,

• Dumb Ways to Survive,

• Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit,

• Paper Trail,

• Rise of the Golden Idol (presented at the Game Awards),

• and Harmonium the Musical, a game about deafness (also presented at the Game Awards).

Your series subscription is full of great titles to try out on your phone, so be sure to check out our top Netflix mobile games!

Major updates and events on Android and iOS

And let's not forget the games that are working hard to keep our attention and continue to exist for many years to come with regular updates! This week, you can discover :

• Cher lands in Roblox for her Christmas album: This week, singer Cher lands in the little Roblox metaverse. In partnership with Gamefam, the 77-year-old singer wants to bring her new album and her Christmas songs to younger audiences. You can catch the virtual Cher at Warner Bros' Harmony Hills until 5 January.

• Genshin Impact online concert on 22 December 2023: After The Weeknd in Fortnite Festival, we're expecting more and more music this festive season. And we're going to get it, at least virtually, with a Genshin Impact concert on 22 December on Youtube, Twitch, TikTok and X.

• Christmas updates are pouring in for all our favourite games. Put on your ski suits and Santa suits!

Blade & Soul Revolution is celebrating its 5th birthday, Wingspan is rolling out its Oceania expansion and many RPGs are beefing up their content so they can hibernate for a few weeks. What are you going to play to finish 2023 in style?