KINGDOM HEARTS Missing-Link Cancelled by Square Enix

[AdenTheThird]

In an unsigned Twitter/X post this morning, the development of Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link was confirmed to have been cancelled by the game's development team.

Missing-Link was set to be a mobile game with a 2026 launch window. The game would take place before the mainline series entries in the world of Scala Ad Caelum. Several closed betas for Missing-Link took place last year. Missing-Link was set to be the second mainline mobile game in the franchise following Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ's release in 2016.

In the announcement, the development team emphasized that the game would have been difficult to support long-term while maintaining fan attention and support.

The announcement concluded with the promise that the team is "hard at work" on Kingdom Hearts IV and to keep an eye out for future updates.

This announcement marks the first time Kingdom Hearts IV has been mentioned in any sort of official capacity in four years.

 

[Bladexdsl]

good riddance one less crappy mobile game and yet another fucking spinoff of the kingdom hearts series to keep track of!

 

[Robert Newbie]

It's a shame fans won't get more Kingdom Hearts.

For me personally, I did KH1, CoM, KH2, and Birth by Sleep, and that was enough KH for me. I have no idea if KH3 actually completed the story arch or if it was just a gateway for even deeper lore.

KH2 completes the story well enough for me, though that likely belongs in the Unpopular Opinions thread.

 

[AdenTheThird]

It's a shame fans won't get more Kingdom Hearts.

For me personally, I did KH1, CoM, KH2, and Birth by Sleep, and that was enough KH for me. I have no idea if KH3 actually completed the story arch or if it was just a gateway for even deeper lore.

KH2 completes the story well enough for me, though that likely belongs in the Unpopular Opinions thread.

The story gets really messy after KH2. A lot of fans share your sentiment because of that, that KH1-BBS make a good arc for the series.

DDD (3DS) is essentially KH3, Act I. If you play KH3 without it you'll probably be lost. KH3 itself is a solid enough game but the story really isn't there for me. They try to do an Endgame-like finale where all the past characters come back but it doesn't really hit as hard as it could if the pace wasn't all over the place (90% of the interesting dialogue is in the final act, there's a New Organization XIII that's different then the first one, a lot of the Disney worlds feel irrelevant, etc). The game does look visually stunning, though. I'll give it that.

KH3 closes the book on a lot of individual character arcs but also segues into KH4 in similar fashion to prior games. Nomura considers KH1-KH3 one giant arc and it's easy to see it that way too.

Also, 358/2 Days is worth a play if you get the chance. It's in between CoM and KH2 story-wise and even though the gameplay is average, the story is probably the best of any game in the franchise.

 

[Robert Newbie]

The story gets really messy after KH2. A lot of fans share your sentiment because of that, that KH1-BBS make a good arc for the series.

DDD (3DS) is essentially KH3, Act I. If you play KH3 without it you'll probably be lost. KH3 itself is a solid enough game but the story really isn't there for me. They try to do an Endgame-like finale where all the past characters come back but it doesn't really hit as hard as it could if the pace wasn't all over the place (90% of the interesting dialogue is in the final act, there's a New Organization XIII that's different then the first one, a lot of the Disney worlds feel irrelevant, etc). The game does look visually stunning, though. I'll give it that.

KH3 closes the book on a lot of individual character arcs but also segues into KH4 in similar fashion to prior games. Nomura considers KH1-KH3 one giant arc and it's easy to see it that way too.

Also, 358/2 Days is worth a play if you get the chance. It's in between CoM and KH2 story-wise and even though the gameplay is average, the story is probably the best of any game in the franchise.

Thanks for the write up. Knowing me, I would have jumped right into KH3 and been lost.

I hear 358/2 is one of the more worthwhile spinoff games, but I got tired of KH spinoffs after playing through Birth by Sleep multiple times. #FranchiseFatigue

It's a shame KH3 has the big story dialogs slammed into the last segment. I think KH2 was designed similarly, and the enjoyment of the Disney worlds suffered because of it. It's good to have certain expectations going in.


Man, that's a lot of Kingdom Hearts homework. At least DDS and KH3+DLC have been ported to PC.

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

The story gets really messy after KH2.

it arguably gets bad during KH2 as much i love that game, the secret ending showed what was to come. Though one could argue it could have just left on a cliffhanger to leave fans speculating what could have been, but the damage was already done as the secret ending itself was something far removed from what we saw up until that point, even KH1's secret ending stayed in line with what was already built up to an extent

 

[Ondrashek06]

Missing-Link was set to be a mobile game

That's literally all I needed to know. Squeenix made FFXIV, a PC game where everything is monetized - username changes, server changes, character customization changes - and it's not cheap either. $10 for customization or name changes and like $25 for server changes.

It's also not possible to switch back to the F2P edition of the game once you pay for the premium subscription.

I can only imagine how much would that be amplified by it being a mobile game.

 

[Reploid]

Not only mobile f2p got canned, but kh game too. Industry is getting healthier, SE is on the right track

 

[aoimatsuri]

Those heartless people

 

[ChibiMofo]

Any time a live service or mobile game gets cancelled we all win.

Now Square Enix can focus on Switch 2 ports of... Everything.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

KH4 is being made?
Yeah, sure, I'll believe it when I see it. We're likely to get some other lore-critical game with a weird-ass name in between.
I mean, Chain of Memories, Birth By Sleep, 358/2 Days (said '358 Days Over 2'), 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and so on.

Who the frick comes up with this nonsense?

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

We're likely to get some other lore-critical game with a weird-ass name in between.
I mean, Chain of Memories, Birth By Sleep, 358/2 Days (said '358 Days Over 2'), 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and so on.

well, we already did. Dark Road ended, Melody of Memory was like two years ago, and missing link was canned.

i suspect that KH4 is the next step, when? i don't know, but there would be no reason to release another spin off right now considering KH4 is basically setting the ground for nomura to implement lots of things that were canned in versus 13, i'm not sure how not many noticed this but it's so in sight that it's kinda unnerving and you can tell that's a project he just did not want to let go, missing link being canned only makes me think a cutscene collection might be released after KH4 or along with it but who knows.

 

[The Catboy]

The million prequels is what killed KH for me, glad this didn’t happen