Just Cause Mobile has been officially canceled
by Danny Craig
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Square Enix
It has been confirmed that Square Enix has canceled its mobile Just Cause title after years of development for unknown reasons.
The details:
- As reported by VGC, Anne-Lou Grosbois-Favreau, Square Enix's global brand lead for Just Cause, announced that the project would no longer be in development and that the title would be removed from online storefronts. Those who purchased the premium currency "Blue Diamonds" during the game's Regional Early Access period have also been fully refunded. All traces of the game on Square Enix’s sites and social media platforms have been removed, including its official Twitter account.
- The mobile title was announced at The Game Awards in 2020 as a top-down free-to-play shooter set in the Just Cause universe with both single-player and multiplayer modes. It would have had 30-player competitive modes, four-player co-op, and a single-player campaign, according to its final Google Play Store listing.
- Its cancellation isn't surprising given that it was supposed to be released in 2021, but it only received a limited testing release in Singapore during the year, with the test spreading to a few other countries. The regional tests were closed in February after a series of delays, including an indefinite delay, leaving the project's future uncertain.
More delays and cancellations:
- Due to development issues, the release date of Ark: Survival Ascended, a remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved, has been pushed back from August 2023 to October of the same year. According to its developer, Studio Wildcard, the studio found it "challenging" to work with Unreal Engine 5, prompting the delay to give it more time to put the game together.
- In response to financial constraints, Pokémon GO developer Niantic announced the layoff of 230 employees, the closure of its Los Angeles studio, and the cancellation of the upcoming Marvel: World of Heroes. The company stated that the increased revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic led to it pursuing growth "more aggressively" with increased headcount and development expenses; however, revenue has since declined to pre-pandemic levels.