Tencent has reportedly cancelled a mobile game based on the ‘Nier’ IP from Square Enix after two years in development. The decision was made due to the struggle in finding a sustainable monetization model, according to a report from Reuters, which cited sources with knowledge of the matter.
It was revealed that Tencent was concerned about the high development budget and the cost of using the license, with royalty fees typically ranging from 15% to 20%. Tencent reportedly proposed offering only 10% of revenue as royalty fees, which was not acceptable to Square Enix.
Prior to its cancellation, the game had a playable demo produced internally.
Shift away from mobile
Earlier in January, Square Enix announced the closure of another mobile game using the ‘Nier’ license, Nier Re[in]carnation, with servers scheduled to shut down on April 29th, 2024. The game, released in 2021, had generated $98.6 in lifetime gross player spending across the App Store and Google Play, as per Appmagic data.
Prior to the mobile games, Square Enix had released Nier: Automata, developed by Platinum Games, on PC and consoles in 2017, selling over 7.5 million copies to date.
The cancellation of the Tencent game follows remarks from the company’s chairman Pony Ma, who acknowledged that Tencent had been lagging behind in the games space. Ma emphasized that gaming is their flagship business but admitted to facing significant challenges in the past year, expressing a need for new products and improvements to keep up with competitors.
