In today's Roundup: Activision pulls Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile from app stores due to low engagement, Tencent posts 13% revenue growth in Q1 2025 driven by strong gaming performance, and VALORANT Mobile leaks reveal extensive features ahead of launch.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is removed from Google Play and the Apple App Store 

Activision announced that Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile will be removed from Google Play and the Apple App Store after Sunday, May 18, 2025, just over a year after its global launch on March 21, 2024. The decision follows underwhelming engagement from mobile-first players compared to its console and PC counterparts, leading Activision to cease real-money transactions and halt all future seasonal content and updates.

Despite these shutdown plans, servers will remain operational for existing players, allowing them to access cross-progression, matchmaking, and to redeem unspent COD Points for in-game items until the service fully closes. As a consolation, Activision is offering affected users a free upgrade to Call of Duty: Mobile, granting double the value of any remaining COD Points plus additional rewards for redemption by August 15, 2025. This move reflects broader industry trends where underperforming live-service games are sunsetted when sustaining development and live ops no longer proves financially viable.

Tencent posts 13% revenue growth in Q1 2025

Tencent Holdings reported first-quarter 2025 revenue of ¥180.02 billion ($24.98 billion), a 13% year-over-year increase that surpassed analyst expectations and marked a rebound from prior quarters’ slower expansion. The surge was driven largely by its core gaming segment, where domestic gaming revenue rose 24% to ¥42.9 billion ($6 billion) and international gaming revenue climbed 23% to ¥16.6 billion ($2.3 billion), buoyed by evergreen hits such as Honor of Kings, CrossFire Mobile, and Delta Force.

Beyond gaming, Tencent flagged growing returns from its substantial investments in artificial intelligence: marketing services revenue grew by 20 percent as AI-driven ad targeting improved efficiency, and capital expenditures on GPUs nearly doubled to ¥27.48 billion to bolster its AI infrastructure. While net profit increased 14 percent to ¥47.82 billion, it missed the consensus estimate of ¥52.12 billion, underscoring the high upfront costs of AI capability building even as the long-term outlook for ad and gaming synergies remains positive.

New VALORANT Mobile leaks reveal major features

Leaked build data from Riot’s closed beta in China suggests VALORANT Mobile will launch with a rich feature set far beyond a simple port of the PC shooter. Among the highlights: enhanced social and sharing tools, expanded customisation and progression systems, and dedicated training/practice modes.

If implemented, these additions could make VALORANT Mobile one of the year’s biggest competitive hits.