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Bandai Namco Confirms My Hero Ultra Rumble for Phones Without Cross-Play to Console as Pre-Registration Opens

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Bandai Namco has confirmed a mobile version of My Hero Ultra Rumble, its free-to-play battle royale based on the My Hero Academia anime, and opened pre-registration on the App Store and Google Play. There is no release date yet.

What’s confirmed

  • Format: the same 24-player battle royale as the console and PC game, eight teams of three.
  • Platforms: iOS and Android, with cross-play and shared login between the two.
  • No link to console: mobile players can’t play with console or PC players, and accounts don’t transfer.
  • Monetization: loot boxes, with Roll Tickets as the main reward currency.
  • Pre-registration reward: if sign-ups reach 300,000, every player gets four launch costumes, for Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki and All Might, plus up to 200 Roll Tickets.

The console and PC version has passed 20 million downloads worldwide, according to Bandai Namco. The release doesn’t say which countries the mobile game will launch in.

Why a separate mobile game

Keeping mobile separate is the notable decision. Many big battle royales, Fortnite most visibly, have pushed toward shared progression so a player’s purchases follow them across devices. Bandai Namco is doing the opposite: a new player base, a new economy and a fresh round of cosmetic sales.

That has business logic. A separate economy lets Bandai Namco price and pace gacha rewards for mobile spending habits, which in Asia especially differ from console players. It also avoids balance problems between touch controls and controllers in a competitive shooter. The cost is that existing fans who have bought costumes on console start again from zero, and they may not like it.

A 300,000 pre-registration goal is modest for an anime license this size, which suggests Bandai Namco expects to clear it quickly and use the milestone as a marketing beat. The things to watch are the launch countries, whether it opens in Japan first, and how aggressive the loot box rates are. In a crowded mobile battle royale market, a strong anime license is one of the few ways a new entrant still gets noticed.