Looking for a slice of mobile gaming’s success, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is making moves onto the platform with Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, an open-world mobile game which has now launched its first closed beta.

Developed for iOS and Android, the game marks the first time an Assassin’s Creed title has been made specifically for mobile in such a traditional, authentic console-style form - differentiating itself from Assassin's Creed: Rebellion, for example, a spinoff strategy RPG for mobile.

Eastern exploration

The total number of people able to play the closed beta is limited to 5,000, and it is available only to iOS and Android owners in North America and Western Europe. In order to play, the former need an iPhone 11 or up, meanwhile Android users run on Android 10 and up.

The game is available between 3 August and 11 August 2023 in its closed beta form, currently with English text and voiceover.

The game takes place between the events of console games Odyssey and Origins, with Level Infinite executive producer Andrei Chan commenting: "Our goal is to provide an authentic Assassin’s Creed experience on mobile, and we are very proud of what we have already. Fans can expect all the iconic features - assassinations, air assassinations, stealth, parkour, combat mechanics - and we’re keeping it narrative-driven."

Level Infinite is co-developing Codename Jade with Ubisoft to bring the historical gameplay of the series back 2,000 years to Qin dynasty China, where players will explore the first unified Chinese empire and find landmarks like the Great Wall of China. Promising to be an "authentic" Assassin’s Creed experience, the mobile title will be available for free when it eventually launches in full.

It seems fitting to place this mobile exclusive in China, given the country’s dominance in the mobile gaming space. After all, this June’s three most lucrative mobile games all came out of China, and Chinese companies like Tencent continue to spearhead the industry.