Tencent reportedly cancels an unannounced Nier mobile game
According to reports, Chinese publisher Tencent has canceled a mobile game based on Square Enix's Nier franchise after years of internal development.
The details:
According to Reuters, sources have claimed that the game was in development for nearly two years before being canceled as Tencent failed to find a "compelling monetization model" to offset its high development and licensing costs.
It is unclear what type of game it was intended to be or when it was planned to be released, but an internal demo containing story and gameplay elements such as combat is said to exist.
Tencent is also said to have refused to pay Square Enix more than 10% in royalty fees, even though most mobile titles using pre-existing IPs typically result in fees of 15% to 20%. With high development costs and an additional 30% to 40% in App Store fees and marketing, the game's profit margins would be lower than Tencent was comfortable with.
While Nier has not had a mainline release since 2017's Nier: Automata, a remaster of the original game was released in 2021, and a mobile game, Nier Reincarnation, followed shortly after. Reincarnation is set to shut down in April, but series producer Yosuke Saito reassured fans that the franchise will continue as long as creator Yoko Taro "is alive."
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