Tencent Reportedly Canceled Square Enix's NieR Mobile Game

There wasn't a compelling monetization model, so an unannounced project got scrapped.

According to the latest reports, Tencent has halted the development of a mobile game in the NieR series, which was developed by Square Enix. The project had been in the works for nearly two years, and the main reason for this decision was the inability to find a suitable way to monetize the project, which could cover the costs of development and the acquisition of IP rights.

As the Reuters sources revealed, the project had already reached the demo stage and received praise for its high quality. However, because of significant development costs and franchise rights, Tencent's attempt to create a new hit game resulted in losses. Neither Tencent nor Square Enix have provided an official comment on the matter.

As Reuters noted, the closure of the project didn't lead to any job losses as developers could simply "transfer to other Tencent units."

Adding to that, in January, it was announced that Square Enix would be closing the servers for the spin-off mobile game NieR Reincarnation on March 29, which was released in 2021 for iOS and Android platforms.

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Published 05 February 2024
Terri Mills
Junior Editor