After several years in development, mobile game Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link has officially been cancelled by Square Enix. The news was announced on social media, where developers outlined doubts the game would satisfy its audience over a long period of time.
“Although we worked hard on developing and adjusting the game in the hope that it would be enjoyed by lots of players, we determined that it would be difficult for us to offer a service that players would find satisfactory over a long period of time, leading us to the decision to cancel development,” the development team announced.
“We are truly sorry to have to make this announcement.”
Notably, Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link was meant to lead into the story of the still-in-development Kingdom Hearts 4, in some way. As initially announced, this GPS-based action-RPG would have unravelled more of the franchise’s deep lore, introducing new keyblade wielders and providing hints for the direction of the series. Whatever lore was planned to be revealed in this game will now become a literal missing link.
Read: Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link has been delayed
For their part, fans of the Kingdom Hearts franchise have reacted all sorts of ways to the news. Some have expressed disappointment in waiting so long for a new KH that will never arrive. Some have expressed a lack of surprise, given the delays to Missing-Link, and its distance from the traditional gameplay of Kingdom Hearts. What’s most surprising is that many fans have expressed relief.
To explain this, it’s worth noting the KH franchise has a history of mobile spin-offs that tie into the mainline games in essential ways. Many elements in Kingdom Hearts 3 were either outlined or first referenced in mobile spin-off χ (later rebranded as Union χ Dark Road), which the vast majority of players didn’t actually play. Following the lore of the series became incredibly complex with these mobile releases, particularly for those who don’t play mobile games.
It feels fair to say plenty of folks who play and love KH are there for the Disney crossovers and fun gameplay, not to hunt for deeper lore in various spin-offs. So, the mood around the game’s mobile titles has always been fairly lukewarm. The response to the cancellation of Missing-Link proves that entirely.
As for what’s next for the franchise, at the very least, the Missing-Link development team did confirm Kingdom Hearts 4 remains in active development.
“The Kingdom Hearts series will continue,” it said. “We are hard at work on Kingdom Hearts 4 and hope you’ll continue to support the series as you keep an eye out for further updates.” We’ll just have to stay tuned to see more.
