D3 Go and Hasbro announced today that they are working on G.I. Joe: War on Cobra, a new game for mobile. It will launch on January 20 for iOS, Android, and Amazon devices.
War on Cobra is based on the popular toy line, but its take on the cast looks more like something you’d see in Clash Royale than on Saturday mornings in the ’80s. It includes famous G.I. Joe characters like Duke, Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes, and Roadblock.
Players collect cards representing different G.I. Joe characters and vehicles. Playing these cards then pops them into the playing field. So, yeah, it has a bit of a Clash Royale thing going on. Clash Royale is one of the most popular games in mobile history — it made $567 million in 2018 — so it has inspired a lot of competition.
D3 Go is a subsidiary of D3Publisher Inc., which Bandai Namco owns. D3 has worked on licensed titles based on properties like Naruto, Adventure Time, and Despicable Me. It also publishers the Puzzle Quest series.
Despite its popularity in TV and toys, G.I. Joe doesn’t have much of a history with gaming. The last major G.I. Joe video game, The Rise of Cobra, came out in 2009 as a tie-in with the movie of the same name.