The April 2013 leak claimed Mirror’s Edge 2 was deep in development at DICE, targeting Microsoft’s then-codenamed Durango console (the eventual Xbox One), with Kinect 2 integration as a core design element. The post drew seven backlinks across European and Japanese gaming press.
What eventually shipped as the spiritual sequel — Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, in June 2016 — bears almost no resemblance to what the leak described.
What Catalyst actually was
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst launched June 7, 2016 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The game was an open-world reboot of the Mirror’s Edge concept, set in a stylized future “City of Glass,” with parkour traversal mechanics expanded from the 2008 original. There was no Kinect 2 integration in the shipped product. The Xbox One version did not require or use Kinect functionality.
Critical reception was mixed (around 70 Metacritic across platforms). Commercial reception was below EA’s expectations. The franchise has been dormant since Catalyst’s release, with no announced sequel or spinoff as of early 2026.
Why the Kinect claim was wrong
The Kinect 2 integration described in the 2013 leak was almost certainly real as a design exploration at DICE during the early Catalyst development cycle. Microsoft’s Kinect 2 push during the Xbox One pre-launch period included direct outreach to first-party and second-party studios about Kinect-integrated game design. EA’s relationship with Microsoft on Xbox One launch was close enough that any major EA project on the platform would have had Kinect integration discussions internally.
What changed between 2013 and 2016 was Microsoft’s public posture toward Kinect. Microsoft’s June 2014 unbundling of the Kinect from the Xbox One SKU effectively ended any business case for Kinect-required design. By the time Catalyst entered serious production in 2014–2015, Kinect was being deprioritized inside Microsoft, and any third-party Kinect integration plans were quietly removed from the design.
The Kinect 2 hardware was formally discontinued for Xbox in October 2017. By Catalyst’s launch in 2016, including required Kinect functionality would have eliminated a significant portion of the install base. EA and DICE made the right commercial call to drop the integration, even if the original design had genuinely included it.
The development timeline
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was officially announced at E3 2013 — about eight weeks after the leak ran — but under the working title Mirror’s Edge rather than the leak’s “Mirror’s Edge 2” framing. EA and DICE clarified the project’s reboot rather than direct-sequel positioning over the following two years. The Catalyst subtitle was added in late 2014.
The eventual 2016 launch was three years after the original announcement and roughly four years after the project entered serious development. This is consistent with major DICE production timelines but materially longer than the leak implied. The leak’s “deep in development” framing in April 2013 suggested a release window earlier than what eventually shipped.
What the leak got right
Two structural claims were correct. First, that DICE was actively developing a Mirror’s Edge follow-up. Second, that Xbox One was a target platform. Both were validated by the E3 2013 announcement and the eventual release.
The Kinect 2 specifics were wrong. The platform-exclusivity implication (“Durango”) was wrong — Catalyst shipped on PS4 as well. The development-stage implication (“deep in development”) was wrong by roughly three years on the eventual release window.
By rumor-scoring standards, this is a partial hit on the structural questions and a miss on the implementation specifics. The pattern fits the broader Xbox One launch-cycle leak culture, where Kinect 2 integration was over-claimed across many supposedly-sourced reports because Microsoft’s pre-launch posture made Kinect prominent in any third-party-on-Xbox-One discussion.
The franchise’s current status
EA has not announced a third Mirror’s Edge entry. The franchise’s commercial underperformance with Catalyst, combined with EA’s strategic focus on annual sports titles and the Battlefield and Star Wars Jedi properties, has effectively shelved the IP. DICE has been focused on Battlefield for the entire post-Catalyst period.
Whether Mirror’s Edge returns in some future EA portfolio cycle is open. The IP retains brand recognition and an active fan community. The commercial case for a third entry has not strengthened.
About this URL
The original 2013 leak post is preserved at this URL via WordPress rewrite from the Ning community blog. This retrospective scores the leak’s claims against the eventual Mirror’s Edge Catalyst release. For broader Xbox coverage, see the Xbox section.