Square Enix has canceled Just Cause: Mobile and will promptly be removing its beta version from Google Play. The ill-fated project was meant to be the first-ever Just Cause spin-off not made by Avalanche Studios Group but one of Square Enix's internal teams. The iOS version of the game will hence never see the light of day.
Square Enix originally announced Just Cause: Mobile in late 2020 with an eye for a 2021 release. However, the game ended up suffering multiple delays with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Japanese gaming giant did end up launching an early access version of Just Cause: Mobile for Android smartphones and tablets in November 2021, but that release was limited to Singapore. The preview eventually made its way to several more countries in Southeast Asia by mid-2022, but that's as far as it went.
Following multiple Just Cause: Mobile delays, the game has now been canceled, VGC reports, citing an official confirmation from Square Enix Global Brand Manager Anne-Lou Grosbois-Favreau. The company representative thanked the fans for their support of the project, adding that game cancellation announcements are "never easy." This turn of events might not come as a surprise to anyone who played the early access version of Just Cause: Mobile, as Square Enix already refunded all in-game purchases on February 24, Grosbois-Favreau confirmed.
The version history of Just Cause: Mobile is another piece of evidence suggesting that the project wasn't killed overnight, as its still-active Google Play page reveals that the preview version of the game was last updated in mid-December 2022. For clarity, early access titles are typically updated on a regular basis, with monthly or even weekly patches being a fairly typical occurrence for such games. So, while Square Enix had only now officially pulled the plug on this project, it would appear that Just Cause: Mobile had been on the ropes since at least last year.
The decision to cancel Just Cause: Mobile was possibly partially motivated by its developer-publisher's recent commercial struggles. Back in February, Square Enix reported a worrying decline in sales across the board, which prompted the company to announce a number of resource consolidation efforts, including its decision to absorb Forspoken developer Luminous Productions in May.
The cancellation of Just Cause: Mobile won't necessarily have any bearing on the future of the franchise itself. Back in mid-2022, Square Enix already hinted at Just Cause 5 being in development, having assured investors that this long-running series wasn't part of its $300 million deal with Embracer Group that recently saw it sell some of its Western studios and IPs to the Swedish holding company.
Source: VGC