A week after making its debut on PC and consoles, Aniimo is now available on iOS and Android. Pawprint Studio’s open-world creature-catching RPG launched on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on September 16, and the mobile version follows on September 23. Unlike games that launch a separate mobile edition months or years later, Aniimo is bringing the same game and progression across platforms.
Players can connect their Aniimo Pass account and continue the same save on mobile, PC and console. Cross-play is also supported, so mobile players are joining the same broader game rather than being placed into a separate ecosystem. Pawprint Studio says the game has already attracted more than 40 million pre-registrations, giving the mobile launch a potentially large audience from day one.
The timing of the mobile release is interesting because Aniimo has already generated a sizeable audience on PC in its first week. Steam data collected by Techlomedia shows the game reaching an all-time peak of more than 168,000 concurrent players on September 20. The current Steam player count is much lower than that peak, which is normal for a game coming out of its launch surge, but the initial scale still shows that there was considerable interest in the game beyond its pre-launch registrations.
The game has also attracted attention on Twitch. The figures provided for the current period show more than 15,000 viewers watching Aniimo streams, with over 1,100 live channels and a 24-hour peak of more than 19,000 viewers. Twitch is not a direct measure of how many people are playing the game, but it does give some indication of whether a new multiplayer game is continuing to generate discussion and streaming activity after its initial launch.
That makes the mobile release important.
If Aniimo had launched on PC with little interest, bringing it to phones would simply give the developers another platform to target. Instead, mobile players are arriving while the game is still in its opening phase, when the PC and console community is already exploring Idyll, building collections and creating content around the game.
The mobile version also does not appear to be a cut-down companion experience.
Pawprint Studio has carried over the major systems from the PC and console release, including Twine, Egg Heist and Homeland. Twine is one of Aniimo’s central mechanics. It allows a Pathfinder to use abilities associated with different Aniimo species, including movement abilities that can open routes through the world as well as species-specific combat abilities.
There are more than 200 Aniimo species to discover, giving the creature-collection system a role beyond simply building a team for battles. The creatures can also affect how players move through and interact with the open world. That is particularly important for a game moving between traditional gaming platforms and mobile because the exploration system gives players a reason to keep playing even when they are not focused purely on combat.
Pawprint Studio has also added something specifically for mobile players. The mobile version includes an Obsidian Aniimo variant that is not available to PC and console players. The studio is also offering launch rewards, including a free Prismana-form Aniimo for players who reach the Junior Wayfarer milestone and additional items and cosmetics through ongoing events.
The decision to keep progression shared could be even more important than the mobile-exclusive content.
Someone who starts Aniimo on a PlayStation 5 or PC does not have to abandon that progress when they install the game on their phone. They can continue with the same character and collection. That makes the mobile version useful as a second way to play rather than a reason to choose one platform over another.
It also fits the type of game Aniimo is trying to be.
An open-world creature-collecting RPG is naturally suited to shorter sessions as well as longer ones. A player can spend hours exploring Idyll on a PC or console, but the ability to check the game, collect resources, catch Aniimo or work on other activities from a phone gives the same account another use case.
Pawprint Studio has tuned the mobile controls separately, with both touch controls and gamepad support. The studio has also expanded voice support to more languages since the original launch. The goal is therefore not simply to shrink the PC interface onto a smaller screen.
There are, however, fairly demanding hardware requirements for a mobile game. Android devices need Android 10 or later, 6GB of RAM, Vulkan 1.1 support and at least a Snapdragon 855 or Dimensity 1000-class chipset. The iOS version requires an iPhone 11 or newer. Players should also keep around 18GB of free storage for the initial installation. Pawprint Studio says these requirements can change as compatibility work continues.
That limits the potential audience compared with simpler mobile games, but it also says something about what Aniimo is trying to deliver. This is not a lightweight creature-collection game designed specifically around phones. It is an open-world RPG that happens to be playable across phones, PCs and consoles.
The bigger test now is whether the mobile launch can add a new audience without splitting the existing one. Because progression and cross-play are shared, every new mobile player potentially becomes part of the same ecosystem as the existing PC and console community. That is different from launching a separate mobile version where players, inventories and communities remain isolated.
More than 40 million pre-registrations also give Pawprint Studio a large pool of people who have already expressed interest before the mobile launch. Of course, a pre-registration is not the same thing as an active player, so the real test will be how many of those users actually download the game and continue playing.
For now, Aniimo is entering mobile with something many new games would want: an existing player base, a large pre-registration audience and enough early activity on PC to create a community around the game.
The mobile launch does not guarantee that Aniimo will maintain its early momentum. The first few weeks of a free-to-play game can produce unusually high player numbers, and the Steam peak has already come down from its launch high. The game’s long-term performance will depend on how well Pawprint Studio keeps adding creatures, regions, events and other content after launch.
But the mobile release gives Aniimo a chance to turn its initial launch into something broader.
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