As the end of the year approaches, *Walking with the Crescent Moon* has announced it will cease publication.

At 4:00 p.m. today, *Walking with the New Moon*, a new 2D horror mobile game developed by Shenzhen Zhuxin Network, officially announced that it will cease content updates following the version update on December 15. However, the game servers will remain online, and players will still be able to log in as usual.

"Walking with the Crescent Moon" officially entered open beta on October 24, 2024, and as of today's announcement that it will be discontinued, it has been in operation for just over a year.

At one point, *Walking with the Crescent Moon* enjoyed a certain degree of fame. When it was first unveiled in 2022, it garnered significant attention for its blend of ghost story elements and “Cantonese-style” culture. On the day of its open beta launch, it successfully topped the free app chart in the Chinese iOS App Store, establishing itself as one of the more prominent new forces in the mobile gaming industry.

Its developer, Zhuxin Network, backed by Shenzhen Yihai Interactive Entertainment, can also be said to have substantial financial resources.

According to information gathered by Tea House, *Walking with the Crescent Moon* faced some player controversy regarding its copywriting and monetization strategies during the beta testing phase and the early stages of open beta. However, as operations progressed, many of these issues were addressed, and the frequency of content updates has remained relatively stable. Currently, the game maintains a relatively high rating of 7.5 on TapTap, and by all accounts, it should have entered a stable phase.

The reason behind the announcement that *Walking with the Crescent Moon* will cease updates but keep the servers online remains unclear for now. During the game’s open beta, Teahouse interviewed the producer, Fan Ba, who at the time expressed the view that they would “focus on content development to cope with the fierce competition in the mobile gaming market.” However, the game ultimately met a regrettable end.

"Walking with the Crescent Moon" was greenlit in 2020, right at the start of the investment boom in casual games. As Teahouse mentioned in a recent analysis article, many of the casual games launched over the past two years were products of this capital surge; today, however, many of these titles are facing the inevitable fate of being taken offline.

In a sense, this is the inevitable ebb that will eventually come. The indie game sector was once overheated, and a cooling-off period is unavoidable. The path paved with the tombstones of failed indie games will bring this category back to the level of investment and financing—and the market position—that it rightfully deserves.

In the mobile gaming market, there is increasingly little room for error when it comes to products. Latecomers—and even current market leaders—will likely need to take a more cautious approach toward players and the market as a whole.