It has been claimed that Just Cause 5 was midway through development before being canned some time ago. This revelation comes from the LinkedIn page of a developer at Sumo Digital, who is assumed to have been partnering with Avalanche Studios on Just Cause 5 at least three years ago.
We’ve not seen a new Just Cause title since 2018, with Just Cause 4 launching worldwide to a paltry reception. In 2023, it was revealed that Square Enix had cancelled the development of Just Cause Mobile – that might have happened a few months after Just Cause 5 was also knocked on the head.
Never Was, Might Never Be
Just Cause is one of those franchises that might never be seen again. There’s a Just Cause movie in production, but the game side of the series has been left woefully abandoned for the last few years. Following the substantial failure of Just Cause 4, it seems highly unlikely that it’ll be revisited anytime soon.
MP1st managed to track down a developer profile on LinkedIn, which clearly states that they were the Vehicles Feature Team Lead working on Just Cause 5, but there’s a note there indicating that the project is ‘now cancelled’. This developer worked at Sumo Digital in the UK between July 2021 and July 2023, suggesting that the game was cancelled towards the latter portion of that timeline.
In 2022, Square Enix confirmed through a financial update that a new Just Cause game was being pieced together, but it seems that within just one year, that project had been canned.
Just Cause peaked with 2010’s Just Cause 2, which has the highest Metacritic ratings out of the entire four-part series. It secured a Metascore of 81, compared to 2018’s Just Cause 4’s score of just 68. The user score for Just Cause 4 plummeted, hitting 4.7, down from a 7.7 for Just Cause 2.
Are you sad to potentially see the back of Just Cause? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
Another dead Square IP they should have sold it to Embracer. Still no word on Sleeping Dogs ownership can they just licenses it or sell it let’s at least get a remake with Saber maybe Virtuous? Avalanche and WB should partner up make a Superman game with Joe Kelly writing, Generator Rex game cel shaded with Joe Kelly and Casey, and a Jonah Hex game with Christopher Priest and Garth Ennis.