It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the Just Cause franchise and there might be a good reason for it. According to a new report, Just Cause 5 was once in development for a time at publisher Square Enix and developer Sumo Digital before it was scrapped.
Back in 2022 when Square Enix began selling off its Western studios like Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, the publisher managed to retain the rights to franchises like Life is Strange, Outriders and Just Cause. Historically, the previous Just Cause games were developed by Avalanche Studios (not to be confused with Hogwarts Legacy developer Avalanche Software). However, Square Enix had seemingly shifted development duties over to Crackdown 3 and Sackboy: A Big Adventure studio Sumo Digital.
According to the LinkedIn profile of a former Sumo Digital employee, they worked as a Vehicles Feature Team Lead on Just Cause 5 between July 2021 – July 2023. For some reason or another, development on the fifth game was scrapped a few years ago. Sadly, it may never see the light of day as Sumo Digital revealed earlier this year that it would no longer be making original IP, instead working as a support studio for its various partners.
As for why development duties shifted over to Sumo Digital, we have a good guess. During that time period, it’s likely that Avalanche Studios was working on its now-cancelled Iron Man game, meaning the studio didn’t have much room to slot in a new Just Cause game.
On a more positive note, the Just Cause franchise isn’t too far gone. A live-action movie adaptation was announced back in May 2024 from Blue Beetle director Ángel Manuel Soto. As far as we can tell, the live-action project is still on the table at Universal Pictures but it hasn’t received any major updates since last year.
The last game released in the series was 2018’s Just Cause 4 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Source: MP1st
