The dream is dead. After 7 years of radio silence since Just Cause 4, fans were holding onto hope that Avalanche Studios might dust off the franchise one more time. But on November 3, 2025, Christofer Sundberg, the co-founder of Avalanche Studios, posted the final nail in that coffin. Just Cause 5, he said, would be a complete “no-go” – not because the studio doesn’t want to make it, but because the creative team that made the franchise special has almost entirely dispersed.
Why Sundberg Says It Cannot Happen
In a social media post that sent shockwaves through the gaming community, Sundberg was blunt: “Just Cause 5 would be a no-go since extremely few from the original team are there still.” He wasn’t just speculating either. He called it a “qualified guess” based on years of experience building the series from the ground up. The statement carries weight because Sundberg literally founded Avalanche Studios in 2003 and guided the franchise through its most successful entries. If anyone knows what makes Just Cause tick, it’s him.
This isn’t about capability or technical prowess. Modern game development teams are filled with talented people who can learn any franchise. But Sundberg is arguing something more fundamental – that Just Cause is defined by a philosophy, a creative DNA that was baked into the original team. Without those specific people, a Just Cause 5 would just be slapping the name on a generic open-world game.
What Went Wrong With Just Cause 4
To understand why Sundberg is so pessimistic about the franchise’s future, you need to look at what happened with Just Cause 4 in 2018. The game had massive potential. The destruction physics were incredible, the traversal mechanics were unmatched, and the island sandbox was genuinely fun to explore. Yet it landed with a thud, failing to capture the magic of Just Cause 3.
Sundberg himself takes partial blame. “The problems with JC4 was partly me (unwillingly) moving away from creative leadership to more corporate crap, publisher problems, team composition and roles and more,” he admitted. He was being pulled into management responsibilities when he should have been guiding the creative vision. Add publisher pressure from Square Enix into the mix, and the magic started to fade. The game felt bloated and directionless in ways its predecessor didn’t.
The tragedy is that looking back at Just Cause 4 now, Sundberg sees unrealized potential. The foundation was solid. But the execution faltered because the creative chaos that made Just Cause great got replaced with corporate structure and compromise. That’s a lesson that sticks with him now.
The Avalanche Studios That Remains
A lot has changed since Just Cause 3’s launch in 2015. Avalanche Studios was acquired by Nordisk Film in 2018, marking the transition from independent studio to corporate subsidiary. With that came tighter budgets, more oversight, and less freedom to take risks. The studio isn’t the same organization that started out to “break the mold, not fit into one,” as Sundberg puts it.
Most of the original team members have moved on to other studios or started their own ventures. Some went to work on other franchises. Others left the industry entirely. The institutional knowledge that makes a franchise work – the unwritten rules, the design philosophy, the way certain mechanics should feel – that mostly walked out the door with them. When you lose that many key people, you lose the franchise’s soul.
Sundberg himself left Avalanche in 2019. He’s now heading up Liquid Swords, his own independent studio. The irony isn’t lost on him – he started Avalanche to be free and creative, left it when those values eroded, and now watches from the outside as the studio that made him famous struggles to find direction.
The Contraband Catastrophe
Sundberg’s comments about Just Cause 5 came in the context of discussing Contraband, Avalanche’s other cancelled project. Contraband was supposed to be a co-op heist game for Xbox, announced in 2021 and developed for over 4 years before Microsoft pulled the plug in August 2025. Sundberg had pitched the original concept back in 2017, and he’s clearly disappointed it never saw the light of day.
But Contraband’s cancellation is actually part of a larger pattern. Avalanche Studios has been struggling. After Contraband was shelved, the studio closed its Liverpool office and laid off multiple staff members. The studio that once was a driving force in open-world game development is now fighting for survival. In that context, reviving an aging franchise with a skeleton crew becomes even less realistic.
| Just Cause Game | Release Year | Reception | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just Cause 2 | 2010 | Critical and commercial success | Legendary |
| Just Cause 3 | 2015 | Very successful, fan favorite | Golden standard |
| Just Cause 4 | 2018 | Disappointing, underperformed | Underrated now |
| Just Cause Mobile | 2021-2023 | Never got full release | Cancelled |
| Just Cause 5 | TBD | N/A | Dead on arrival |
Square Enix Still Owns the IP
There’s one important caveat to all of this doom and gloom. Avalanche Studios doesn’t own the Just Cause franchise. Square Enix does. That means even if Avalanche won’t make Just Cause 5, Square Enix could shop the IP to another developer. In fact, that’s already happened. Back in 2022, Square confirmed a new Just Cause was in development. We later learned that Sumo Digital, not Avalanche, was working on a Just Cause title – and that project was cancelled in 2023.
So technically, Just Cause 5 could still happen someday. Square Enix could license the franchise to another studio, hire new talent, and build something fresh. But the optics aren’t great. The IP has been dormant since 2018. A failed development attempt already happened behind closed doors. And the creator of the franchise is publicly saying it would be a disaster.
What Sundberg Thinks Avalanche Needs
When fans suggested that Just Cause 5 could be the game that saves Avalanche Studios, Sundberg disagreed strongly. “I doubt it. They need to find the fire again, take risks, piss people off and make games the rest said was impossible. I started Avalanche to break the mold, not to fit into one,” he fired back. He’s not saying Just Cause is bad – he’s saying that Avalanche Studios has lost the creative fire that made it special in the first place.
A Just Cause 5 made by today’s Avalanche wouldn’t be a creative triumph. It would be a corporate product designed to recapture past glory. That’s the fate worse than cancellation in Sundberg’s mind – not that the game won’t exist, but that it would exist as a hollow shell of what it could be. Better to move on and find new IPs that deserve passionate creative teams.
FAQs
Did Avalanche Studios officially cancel Just Cause 5?
Avalanche Studios has not made an official statement about Just Cause 5’s status. However, co-founder Christofer Sundberg declared it would be a “no-go” in November 2025 due to most of the original team having left the studio. Reports from 2023 suggest the game was cancelled while in development at Sumo Digital, though this has never been officially confirmed.
When was Just Cause 5 supposed to release?
There was never an official release date for Just Cause 5. Square Enix announced in 2022 that a new Just Cause game was in development, but the project appears to have been cancelled before any announcement of a timeline. The last confirmed Just Cause game was Just Cause 4 in 2018.
What happened to the Just Cause 5 project at Sumo Digital?
Sumo Digital worked on a Just Cause project from 2021 to 2023 before the game was cancelled. Few details have emerged about what the game would have been, but it represented Square Enix’s attempt to revive the franchise after the disappointing reception of Just Cause 4.
Could Square Enix make Just Cause 5 with a different developer?
Yes. Square Enix owns the Just Cause IP, so they could theoretically license it to any developer they choose. However, the fact that an in-house development attempt already failed suggests the company isn’t in a hurry to resurrect the franchise anytime soon. Also, public statements from the franchise’s creator dampening enthusiasm make it less attractive.
Why is the original team’s departure so important?
Christofer Sundberg argues that Just Cause is defined by a specific creative philosophy and design approach developed by its original creators. Without those key people, a new Just Cause 5 would risk becoming a generic open-world game using a recognizable name rather than a true spiritual successor.
Is the Just Cause franchise completely dead?
The video game franchise appears to be in hibernation, though not completely dead. A Just Cause movie is reportedly in development with John Wick talent attached, so the IP still has commercial value. Whether it ever returns as a playable game remains to be seen.
What is Christofer Sundberg doing now?
Sundberg left Avalanche Studios in 2019 and now serves as Chief Creative Officer at Liquid Swords, an independent game studio he founded. He’s pursuing his original vision of creating bold, boundary-pushing games without corporate compromise.
Conclusion
Just Cause 5 is dead, at least for now. Not because it’s a bad idea or because the technology doesn’t exist to make it. It’s dead because the franchise was built by specific people with a specific vision, and most of those people are gone. You can’t recreate magic by just hiring new talent and slapping the same name on a game.
Christofer Sundberg’s honesty is refreshing in an industry that usually just quietly cancels games and hopes nobody notices. He could have let another team fumble through making a half-hearted Just Cause 5. Instead, he looked at what’s left at Avalanche and gave his honest assessment – it wouldn’t work. That’s integrity. Maybe someday Square Enix will prove him wrong and find the right team to make the game we all deserve. But that day isn’t coming soon. For now, Just Cause 3 remains the high watermark, and that’s probably okay.