NieR Mobile Game Reportedly Canceled by Tencent

Tencent has reportedly canceled the development of a mobile game based on Square Enix’s NieR franchise in December, according to Reuters. 

According to Reuters’s sources, the game had made significant progress before it was canceled, even having a playable internal demo that showcased its story and combat.

Despite being in development for nearly two years, Tencent ultimately decided to cancel the project as they were in part due to being unable to find a favorable monetization model given its expensive development costs and franchise rights. 

With the cancellation of the NieR mobile game, Tencent would once again have a setback in expanding their gaming business, which reflects their concerns of recent games released by the company not performing as well as expected, as CEO of Tencent Pony Ma has expressed at Tencent’s annual meeting.

Both Tencent and Square Enix have declined any comments on the situation according to Reuters.

NieR: Automata, a game that was released on PS4 and PC in 2017, before being released on the Xbox One in 2018, has been popular among gamers ever since its release.

Its most recent release was a port to the Switch with ‘NieR: Automata The End of Yorha Edition’ in October 2022. 

Square Enix has announced that the game sold 7.5 million copies last year, and its producer Yosuke Saito has promised that the NieR series will continue as long as the creator Yoko Taro is still alive during a South Korean Conference event G-star 2023.

Aside from the unannounced NieR title, Tencent also has plans to release games of other IPs onto the mobile platform, including Assassin’s Creed, Need for Speed and Delta Squad over the next few years.

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