Video games are constantly being developed by ambitious studios trying to find the next big thing and continuebuilding upon an established legacy. However, many times these titles get delayed, put on an indefinite hold, or outright canceled. These reasons can vary drastically. Some decisions for pulling the plug on these games make sense, and some decisions seem completely bizarre.
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Some games undergo avery long development and still get released, while some games just cannot justify these long development times and get their plugs pulled because they could not produce something of adequate quality in time. Whatever the reason, there are some games players really would love to have had the chance to play and are still holding a candle of hope just in case they can be revived somehow.
10Starcraft Ghost
Play As A Psychic Sniper In The Iconic Starcraft Setting
While many players may have hoped this game’s protagonist would be Kerrigan, it actually would have followed a different human sniper by the name of Nova (who later came to Blizzard’s MOBA,Heroes of the Storm). Ghost would have featured many stealth elements — hiding from enemies, silently taking out target — but also getting into scraps head-on as players would explore and navigate the levels.
It was hard when we canceled Warcraft Adventures. It was hard when we canceled StarCraft Ghost. But it has always resulted in better-quality work.
It also would have featured plenty of high-tech gadgets and close-up combat, rather than just being all about sniping. No definitive reason has been given, but there are a lot of suggested reasons as to why it was shelved — withChris Metzen stating canceling titles such as Ghostalways results in better quality of work. Fans continue to hold out hope that we might see some sort of action-oriented visit to the Starcraft setting, but we have to continue to wait. For now.
9Mega Man Legends 3
The Next Big Entry In The Mega Man Legends Franchise
TheMega ManLegends franchise has a surprisingly large and highly passionate fanbase, despite many not even knowing it exists. Mega Man Legends 3 was set to release on theNintendo 3DSten years after the release of Mega Man Legends 2 — and pick up where the story left off.
Unfortunately, so few fans took part in the creation of the game. It was felt the project was not worthwhile.
The gameplay was expected to follow previous entries and let players explore many locations, interact with many colorful and enjoyable NPCs, and feature combat having them dodge projectiles while returning attacks of their own.According to Capcom on Twitter, the game was canceled due to a lack of fan involvement, making the developers believe it was simply not worth developing.
8Gotham By Gaslight
An Alternate World Setting Arkham-Style Game
The Gotham by Gaslight comics are an incredibly well-crafted world setting reminiscent of Victorian London following the Industrial Revolution — similar to the world setting actualized byAssassin’s Creed Syndicate. The main villain of this game would have been Jack the Ripper, and its combat is quite reminiscent of the Arkham series of games — which also feature modern-age gadget use.
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Unfortunately, the Studio was unable to secure the rights to the propertyafter an unsuccessful pitch— and thus they were not able to move forward in making a full game. This game would have been developed by Day 1 Studios — who were later rebranded as Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore, best known for the F.E.A.R. video game series.
7Timesplitters 4
FPS With A Massive Range Of Characters & Weapons
TimeSplitters is a PS2-era classic shooter with afanbase begging for a new game in the franchise. All 3 titles of this game appeared on the PS2, with the second and third installments also appearing on Gamecube and the original Xbox. The developers of the franchise would be purchased by Crytek and rebranded as Crytek UK.
The concept behind TimeSplitters was pitched around before we took over and Free Radical had no luck.
Manytitles have been announcedsince, but none have been released. Of these various titles, TimeSplitters 4 was the most eagerly anticipated. Thepoor performance of its previous game, Haze, is suspected to be a contributing reason that the studio struggled to secure publishing interest with its follow-up projects at the time.
6Half-Life 3
What Was To Be The Next Big Half-Life Game
A lot of fans will instantly be up in arms to not see this title at the number 1 spot on the list — just because it is the notorious Half-Life 3. However, this list is all about crediting the potential these games had, and what drops this entry so far down is that its potential was greatly stifled. The game was being developed at the same time as Source Engine 2, and this incomplete engine had a lot of issues that needed working out.
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The game would havefeatured many procedurally generated elements, with inspiration for this course of action coming fromLeft 4 Dead. The game did not get very far before being canceled back in 2014. However, players wanting to get a deeper look into the rich history of this franchise’s development should check out “Half-Life: Alyx - Final Hours” over on Steam.
Be A Bounty Hunter On An Alien World
This game had a really fun premise of playing a bounty hunter who would travel across an alien world filled with superior technology to our own, as well as various alien lifeforms. If this game was anything like the first Prey, it would have delivered some incredibly diverse and engaging mechanics such as spirit powers, a wide range of weapons, and even augmenting fundamental laws of physics.
The reason that it got delayed the way it did is because it was not hitting the quality bar that it was supposed to and needed to. That was ultimately the problem.
Bethesda’s Marketing and PR lead, Pete Hines,revealed that the reasonfor the game’s cancelation after many years in development was that it was not hitting the quality standards that were expected. With the passionate and steadily growing fanbase of Prey, this is one of the titles that might still one day be released.
4Star Wars 1313
A Mature & Gritty Star Wars Action-Adventure Game
This game was meant to explore a young Boba Fett and his rise to becoming the fearsome bounty hunter we have seen throughout the various Star Wars properties he has appeared in. It was set to take place primarily in Coruscant’s seedy underbelly, deep down on level 1313.
…it just got to a point where from a business standpoint we couldn’t continue developing those internally and keep up with the direction that the company was going.
The game’s development was going smoothly with no plans of cancelation. However, then came the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm, and its subsidiary LucasArts. With this purchase, a lot of in-progress projects were put on hold, followed by a lot of layoffs. This would stop the project dead in its tracks andlead to its cancelation.
3Super Mario 64 2
Controlling Both Mario & Luigi At The Same Time
This game was meant to serve as a follow-up to the wildly successfulSuper Mario 64on theNintendo 64console. It was also planned to use the system’s 64DD peripheral to accomplish more than what was normally feasible for the Nintendo 64. The game was set to include Luigi and have both Mario and Luigi as playable characters at the same time using just one controller.
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The 64DD would unfortunatelybe a commercial failure, halting many games that were planned for it — including Super Mario 64 2. However, aGamecubetech demo named Super Mario 128would use a lot of planned elements, with these elements being used in various futureNintendogames — such as thePikmingames.
Develop A Caveman Tribe During Prehistoric Times
B.C. was very ambitious, promising a fully flushed-out food chain system that would be affected by the environment surrounding the player. In this game, players would have had to fight off fearsome prehistoric creatures, but they would also need to grow and develop their tribe. Hunting an animal to extinction would mean that it might have devastating effects on the latter part of your playthrough.
The idea was really cool. I bet you that if Fable had faded away and we had continued with B.C., we’d be sitting here talking about B.C. 3.
What ultimately led to this game’s cancelation was that it was tasked with providing a demo for an upcoming E3 event to showcase all of this, which it wasnot able to achieve. Basically they were slammed building out demos for B.C. andFable, and they ultimately had to choose one project to continue fleshing out — leaving B.C. forever on the cutting room floor.
1Silent Hills
The Most Horror That Horror Has Ever Been
P.T. stood for “Playable Teaser” and acted as a means of getting players hyped up for the soon-to-be-canceled Silent Hills game — andbeing utterly terrifyingin the process. It was to be developed byKojima Productionswith both Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro at its helm. When Silent Hills was canceled, the teaser was pulled, creating a bit of a bizarre second-hand PS4 market for consoles with the demo still installed. To this day,fans can only speculate why this game was canceled.
This teaser was so well received that it has been called one ofthe greatest psychological horror games of all time, completely stealing the show from the fact it was merely a small taste of what Silent Hills was planned to be. No other game on this list had more potential for greatness than Silent Hills as demonstrated by this teaser.
