Three years after its initial announcement, Square Enix has announced that Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link has been canceled.
In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter), the company apologized to fans who had been looking forward to the mobile game and explained that challenges in creating a long-term “satisfactory” experience led to today’s decision.
“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.”
First revealed in 2022 alongside Kingdom Hearts IV as part of a 20th anniversary event for the series, Missing Link was set to take place after Kingdom Hearts: Union Cross. Its defining feature was the GPS gameplay that followed in the footsteps of Pokémon Go, as well as its real-time action that looked more in-line with the combat traditionally found in the franchise’s console entries, while still retaining some of the gacha elements that were prevalent in Union Cross.
Originally planned to release in 2024, multiple betas were held for Missing Link in 2023 and 2024. The team largely remained silent and didn’t provide many updates until it confirmed this past November that the game had been delayed to 2025, giving fans hope for a spring or summer release.
I’m surprised by the cancelation since this is the first time a Kingdom Hearts game has publicly met such a fate, but I’m not upset by the news. As I’ve said many times before, while I was looking forward to Missing Link, it was only because of its association to the franchise. The story was interesting and the actual gameplay certainly looked better than previous mobile efforts for the series, but the gacha elements and the potential for a story that was drip fed over a long period of time kept my excitement fairly low.
Although Missing Link is now dead, I highly doubt everything about its story will be completely scrapped. Perhaps it gets reappropriated into a movie, similar to what Kingdom Hearts: Back Cover tried doing for Union Cross. Or maybe elements of it will be implemented into Kingdom Hearts IV. It’s hard to say when we don’t know the scope of the game’s story. With Missing Link off the table now, all eyes are on Kingdom Hearts IV to make an appearance and reinvigorate a fanbase that’s quickly becoming impatient and frustrated with the lack of updates from Square Enix.
TheComfySpot 