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The next game in the popular Kingdom Hearts series has just been cancelled, after a lengthy development period and middling reception to early beta tests failed to yield a favorable outcome for the game.
Square Enix
In a post on the official Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link X (formerly Twitter) account, developer Square Enix revealed that it has cancelled the development and release of the mobile game. The developer said that it had been hard at work trying to adjust the game to account for player feedback, but ultimately concluded that it would be difficult to provide a product that lived up to the standards expected from players.
We have made the decision to cancel the development of KINGDOM HEARTS Missing-Link.
We wish to convey our heartfelt apologies to everyone who has been looking forward to the start of service.
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.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to everyone who gave us their support and assistance with the multiple closed beta tests. We are truly sorry to have to make this announcement.
The KINGDOM HEARTS series will continue. We are hard at work on KINGDOM HEARTS IV, and hope you’ll continue to support the series as you keep an eye out for further updates.
The company ended its message by confirming that Kingdom Hearts 4, the next main game in the series, is still in active development, though it stopped short of giving any more details about the game. Kingdom Hearts 4 was first confirmed to be in development in 2022, and few details have been revealed about the game since its announcement.
Spinoff game Missing-Link was supposed to introduce characters and concepts that would lead into Kingdom Hearts 4, and it’s currently unknown whether or not that content will be incorporated into other games following its cancellation.
Missing-Link itself was a game for Android and iOS that was split up into two sections, exploration and combat. The exploration aspect of the game would see players exploring real-world locations, which were represented with a map in-game like Pokémon Go, while combat sections played similarly to the main series. The game also featured loot boxes filled with character trophies based on Disney properties, which would give abilities to the player character and could be upgraded over time.
No release date has been set for Kingdom Hearts 4.
