Square Enix have filed a trademark for Front Mission, meaning there may be a new game in the series being developed.
Renka Schedule discovered the trademark via Chizai Watch, a website dedicated to monitoring new trademarks, and published today. Other than it being filled on March 19th, there is little information at this time.
The trademark covers the toys, merchandise, and video game categories; as seen with other discovered trademarks. For example, a recent trademark for NieR Automata lists the Leather, Furniture, Textiles, and Clothing categories- but not video games.
In addition, Gematsu highlighted WIPO (the “global brand database”) discovered the same trademark registered in the US, Europe, Canada, and Australia. However, only the US trademark page remains at this time, filled March 25th.
While this could be a simple renewal of the trademark so it does not expire, SiliconEra notes last time the licence was renewed (2009), Square Enix later registered Front Mission Evolved that same year.
As such, it may be Square Enix is renewing the licence itself, in preparation for trademarking a new game; rather than trying to juggle both at the same time should issues arise.
The Front Mission series takes place across the 21st and 22nd centuries, and the wars between nations fought with mecha called Wanzer. While originally a tactical RPG series, later games and spin-offs would see third-person shooters, and an MMO. The series has also seen films, manga, novels, and more.
The most recent Front Mission game was Left Alive; launched in 2019 for PC and PlayStation 4. The first survival game in the series, it recieved poor reviews from critics, but high praise from fans [1, 2]. In case you missed it, you can find our review here.
The last Square Enix games to be exposed by trademark like this were “Ever Crisis” and “The First Soldier” [1, 2]; later announced as mobile games Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis and battle royale Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier.
We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Image: Front Mission Evolved via Steam.
