Game development is a high budget gamble at the best of times. For every big name disappointment or surprise breakout hit from nowhere, there is another darker class of game: the one that never came out. History is littered with high profile games that had all the hype, and all the trailers, and then… just sort of never happened. Developers can games all the time, but usually in secret before announcing anything. So it's a rare breed of game that gets killed in full view of the public. So let's take a look at some of the most high profile games that were never released. And dream about what could have been…
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00:00 Game development is a high budget gamble at the best of times. For every big name disappointment
00:11 or surprise breakout hit from nowhere, there is another, darker class of game, the one
00:17 that never came out. History is littered with high profile games that had all the hype and
00:22 all the trailers and then just never happened. Developers can games all the time, but usually
00:28 in secret before announcing anything, so it's a rare breed of game that gets killed in full
00:33 view of the public. So let's take a look at some of the most high profile games that were
00:37 never released, and dream about what could have been.
00:46 Killing Day was a first person shooter that would have been a next gen powerhouse, intended
00:50 to show what the then unreleased PS3 could do. The trailer bowled people over with what,
00:56 for the first time, were incredible lighting effects and destructible environments. However,
01:01 the original 30 second CG trailer is pretty much all we ever got to see. If the game ever
01:06 actually existed beyond that, nothing was ever shown again and Killing Day was apparently
01:10 officially cancelled early in development. Ubisoft did keep the name trademarked until
01:14 2016, giving fans some hope, but it ultimately expired.
01:24 Just announced at Gamescom 2013, Fable Legends gameplay debuted at Microsoft's 2014 E3
01:30 press conference and couldn't have been further from what Fable fans were expecting
01:34 or wanted. Instead of a next gen version of the chicken kicking RPG, Fable Legends delivered
01:39 a 4 on 1 asymmetrical multiplayer game. It went into closed beta later in 2014 and, by
01:45 all accounts, was actually fine, but neither fans or its own publisher seemed too excited
01:50 about it and it was ultimately cancelled in 2016. Not before it cost Microsoft an estimated
01:56 £75 million, making it one of the most expensive cancelled games ever, that wasn't even made.
02:06 Exclusives are a big deal for consoles, so when Sony announced in 2007 that a new Rockstar
02:11 game was coming exclusively to PS3, it was a big win. Unfortunately, despite the fanfare
02:17 of the announcement and prestige of the Grand Theft Auto developer, Agent became one of
02:21 the famous white whales in gaming. Despite the big stage reveal and fuss, all we've
02:26 ever seen since its E3 unveiling is the logo. A few screenshots have leaked out over the
02:30 years and for a long time Take-Two refused to say it had been cancelled. However, the
02:35 United States Patent and Trademark Office declared the "Agent" trademark abandoned
02:39 in 2018 and, since 2021, the official Agent website redirects to Rockstar's website
02:45 with the game no longer being listed on its games page.
02:54 Players loved the look of Scalebound when it was announced at E3 2014, and the game
02:58 even had an extensive demo on the floor of a later Microsoft Press conference. But then
03:03 the game skipped some shows and then got delayed from 2016 to 2017, when it was eventually
03:09 cancelled, without so much as a reason why. As an original IP from Platinum Games and
03:12 famed Resident Evil and Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya, the unexpected cancellation
03:17 of Scalebound was a real kick to the stomach.
03:25 Star Wars is a series with a fanbase that makes almost any game a sure bet. But when
03:30 Disney acquired the franchise from George Lucas in 2013, it meant developer LucasArts
03:35 shut down, taking with it Star Wars 1313. It would have starred a young Boba Fett during
03:41 the bounty hunters early adventures, hunting down the galaxy's most wanted. The gameplay
03:45 we got revealed a third person shooter filled with action, chases and big scripted set pieces,
03:51 giving it all a very uncharted vibe. While the demo looked promising, 1313 was officially
03:56 canned a year later, when LucasArts laid off the majority of its staff. Over the years
04:00 we've seen scraps of gameplay and demos, and some concept work may have inspired scenes
04:04 in the Mandalorian, but the game itself is deader than Luke's tauntaun sleeping bag.
04:12 Prey 2 was officially unveiled at E3 in 2011, taking place after the 2006 Xbox 360 game,
04:19 not the more recent Arkane Space Adventure. The ambitious sequel would have followed US
04:24 Marine Killian Samuels, a human living among an array of alien races, hunting bounties
04:28 and earning cash to survive. The reveal gameplay wowed audiences with incredible gadget powered
04:34 gunplay, and this ended up high on a lot of most wanted lists for years. Despite the hype,
04:38 the game disappeared and Bethesda officially called it quits on Prey 2 in 2014. Eventually
04:43 the name returned as a rebooted experience with Arkane Studios' 2017 Prey. Human Head's
04:49 sequel still gets talked about though, and has taken on a near mythical status thanks
04:53 to its gameplay and a twist ending that deserves a video all of its own.
05:04 This is one of the most famous cancelled games of all time, first revealed in 2002 and not
05:09 officially cancelled until 2014, making it one of the longest games to live in limbo
05:14 before the axe fell. Given that Blizzard used to be known for only releasing games when
05:19 they weren't done, rumours and hopes that this console based, shooter take on the tactical
05:23 Starcraft world would still happen, and it persisted for over a decade. The game would
05:28 have seen players control Nova, a stealth operative known as a ghost, as she fought
05:32 and snuck her way through various sci-fi worlds. Development didn't go smoothly though, and
05:38 the game missed its 2003 release, underwent numerous delays and even changed developers.
05:42 It was relaunched at E3 2005, with a new 2006 release date that came and went. However,
05:49 Blizzard didn't officially confirm cancellation until 2014.
05:58 As a victim of the Konami Kojima fallout, Silent Hills will fittingly forever haunt
06:03 gamers with what could have been. Initially revealed via a mysterious playable teaser
06:07 or PT to its friends, the game was only revealed once the secret ending was revealed the day
06:12 after the demo was released. The hype instantly exploded when people discovered a new Silent
06:17 Hill game from MGS director Hideo Kojima and horror film director Guillermo del Toro, that
06:22 would star The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus. But this still didn't stop the game getting
06:26 canned with extreme prejudice when Kojima finally left Konami. Even a petition of nearly
06:31 200,000 fan signatures wasn't enough to save it.
06:34 Now, 10 years later, the rumour mill is still throwing out sparks as it turns. There was
06:39 gossip Sony had bought the rights to let Kojima carry on, although currently he's rumoured
06:43 to be working on a horror game called Overdose. While Konami allegedly has up to 3 different
06:48 Silent Hill projects in the works, but whatever happens in the future, Silent Hills is forever
06:52 trapped in the otherworld.
06:54 So what cancelled game hurt you the most? You can tell us, we're all suffering here.
06:58 Or is it something that isn't on this list that you can't let go of? Let us know in
07:01 the comments below, and stay with GamesRadar for games that will definitely, definitely
07:05 come out. Probably.
07:10 (electronic music)
07:13 (horse neighs)