Image via Complex Original
There are plenty of games announced every year that never see the light of day. Whether they run into development troubles, can’t find a publisher, or get blown to smithereens in a terrible accident, there are a lot of reasons why a game will fail to ship. Most of the time, it’s with good reason and the world’s no worse for their lack of appearance.
However, every now and then there’s a game or two announced that seem so amazing, so revolutionary that it’s absolutely heart-breaking when their plug is eventually pulled. This is a list for all the times you ever got excited reading a preview article, watched an amazing trailer, or placed a pre-order and never got to play the game you desired.
My Little Pony: Fighting Is Magic
A group of independent developers got together and decided to put out a video game that payed homage to the adorable ponies that would often have epic fights. The imagined 2D brawler would've happened had Hasbro (who holds the rights to My Little Pony) put the squash on the entire operation. Pour out a little liquor for the Bronies who will never be here.
Dirty Harry
In an attempt to ressurect the iconic character, Warner Bros. Interactive planned to release the Dirty Harry video game set immediately after the events in the first film. The game was to boast actual voice work from Clint Eastwood with an extra focus on the Dirty Harry Callahan character. Alas, there was "trouble" within The Collective development team and plans to release the video game were abandoned like a corpse from Harry's .357 Magnum.
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff
The popular Tecmo Football franchise got a warm welcomed reboot in 2008 when it came out on the Nintendo 3DS handheld system and was planned to be released on the Wii. For reasons unknown, it was killed and changed into Family Fun Football.
Fallout Online
Legalities between Interplay Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks kept the Fallout franchise from becoming an MMO blockbuster.The two companies battled over rights to use the Fallout franchise and Bethseda won. When the smoke cleared, the Fallout MMO was nuked as acid tears streamed from the faces of gamers who wished for the title.
100 Bullets
Inspired by the comic book of the same name, 100 Bullets was scheduled to come out on every console including handhelds.By 2006, there wasn't as much of a peep about the game and it was silently removed from D3's roster of upcoming games.
Six Days in Fallujah
Video games have grown up over the past decade and it’s time they started tackling real-world issues. Six Days in Fallujah looked like the first blockbuster game willing to take a chance on dealing with a real war in real-time; the conflict was still going on during development and would be through release.
Konami eventually couldn’t handle the potential hot water and backed out of the project before Six Days ever saw the light of day and developer Atomic Games eventually turned their focus to self-publishing XBLA shooter, Breach.
The Lord of the Rings: The White Council
The open-world fantasy title was announced to be a quest where players would work their way up to joining the revered White Council. In 2007 everything when black when the video game went on "indefinite hiatus" and was eventually replaced with Lord of the Rings: Conquest.
This Is Vegas
Unlike its obvious counterpart, Grand Theft Auto, This is Vegas wanted to build a much more narrow sandbox environment for players focusing entirely on the Las Vegas strip. The game was going to be incredibly condensed, but also incredibly detailed. It was destined to bring the extravagance and opulence of Las Vegas to our consoles without the risk of arrest after a bad ether trip. Unfortunately though, Surreal Software placed the wrong bet on their project and wound up folding well before it could ever pay out.
Marvel Universe Online
DC Universe Online was great and all, but forcing players to define their own hero rather than play as one of the iconic characters was a little disappointing. Looking at the number of copycat heroes pretending to be Batman or Superman players made, it’s clear that people want to play the heroes they read and not some washed-out knock-off.
Marvel Heroes (originally called Marvel Universe Online) was the first licensed MMO to let you take on the role of a unique hero and enjoy all of their powers. Though it never came out, the beta showed so much promise, allowing players to take a whack of characters for a spin including the popular ones like Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Hulk, and a few lesser-known protectors like Rocket Raccoon and Squirrel Girl.
Metalocalypse: Dethgame
The most notorious metal band in cartoon history Dethklok was supposed to have its own video game but due to creative differences between the developers, publisher Konami and Adult Swim, the show was over before it even begun.
Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy
Ezio was supposed to travel to the city of Masyaf and discover the history of the Assassin's Order. That all quietly changed and instead there was a platform change to the PS Vita and Aveline de Grandpré took Ezio's place and Assassin's Creed: Liberation took Lost Legacy's place.
Mega Man Legends 3
Mega Man fans have been waiting for a true sequel to the series for a long time with no sign of Rockman’s return for at least a decade. Mega Man Legends 3 may not have been exactly in the vein of the originals or the Mega Man X series, but all signs pointed to it being at least spiritually similar.
The death of this game signalled the death of Capcom’s commitment to the franchise in the eyes of many fans though, and the future of the Blue Bomber still remains uncertain in the wake of its cancellation.
Sadness
When the Wii launched it was lambasted for housing nothing more than “kid stuff”. Very few of the games on the platform seemed to carry any substance and even fewer seemed truly aimed at adults. Sadness looked to change that with its black-and-white gothic aesthetic and survival horror-esque gameplay. Years would pass and the Wii’s library never really “grew up” and Sadness came and went without ever seeing the light of day.
Bonk: Brink of Extinction
Boink was originally one of Mario's competitors in the world of video game platformers. The diminutive cave man saw a bit of success and there were promises of Bonk: Brink of Extinction. However, the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 caused the publisher Hudson Soft to cancel it.
The Dark Knight
The same developers who brought us the famed Star Wars: Battlefront series had plans to release a video game set in the same space as The Dark Knight film. It was announced that the game would come out on the PS3 in 2008 but when Pandemic Brisbane shut their doors, all plans for The Dark Knight video game were cancelled.
Faith And A .45
For those of us lucky enough to have a significant other who plays video games, Faith and a .45 seemed like the perfect sort of co-op experience to share with a lover. This Bonnie and Clyde-esque cover based shooter was pitched as a romantic, prohibition era version of Gears of War.
While the setting was immediately attractive, it was the notion of playing a pair of lovers was incredibly original. Sometimes though, love ain’t enough; Faith and a .45 entered development hell when no publisher was willing to take a chance on romance.
Saint's Row Drive-By
Saint's Row: Drive-By was intended to drop right before the release of Saint's Row III and eventually come out on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live but got scrapped without reason.
B.C.
Peter Molyneaux is best known for his wild promises and overwhelming letdowns, but BC stands tall as one of the most unique properties he’s ever touched. The game was to be set in the prehistory of man with players controlling a tribe of cavemen as they fought for survival against the elements and dinosaurs. It was canned unceremoniously and with Molyneaux’s departure from Lionhead, it seems increasingly unlikely that the idea will ever resurface.
Reich
It was a rough ride for the Ignition Entertainment team as they've dealt with struggles to put out the anticipated first person shooter. There were videos of the game circulating and then news of the company restructuring. Finally, news broke that the company would be closing its doors and so went our dreams ever playing Reich.
Project Titan (Halo MMO)
Microsoft has always been very interested in expanding the Halo universe beyond its core line of shooters. With books, comics, and a potential film project with Peter Jackson, Halo's appeal has always stretched beyond the games.
There was however a point when Microsoft was just as interested in building new types of Halo game experiences to broaden the fiction. Project Titan, better known as The Halo MMO was to be the culmination of these efforts, offering players a fully explorable world full of Halo lore and stories.
Unfortunately, after the first attempt to spread Halo beyond the FPS flopped with Halo Wars, Microsoft shut down developer Ensemble Studios and in the process canned Project Titan. Alas, maybe the world wasn't ready for a subscription-based game full of 12 year old teabaggers.
Milo and Kate
Okay, some of you may be rolling your eyes, but hear this out. When Peter Molyneaux ran the demo for Milo and Kate on the stage of E3, it truly seemed like a massive step forward for interactive entertainment.
The idea of a truly responsive artificial intelligence in a game that’s able to react to everything from your tone to your facial expression was too impressive not to get excited about. Sure, most people wouldn’t be that thrilled dealing with a snotty little British kid all the time, but the technology showcased could have changed gaming forever if it had ever come out.
Alas, Kinect turned out to be a less than stellar motion tracker and the complexity off Milo was too much to handle. Still, it’s nice to dream of a day when we’ll be able to interact with our games like real people… then we won’t have to bother with all this friendship nonsense in the real world.
SimMars
Earthlings have always been intrigued by the planet Mars, more so than any other planet in our universe. That's why a game where you could travel there and build a civilization seemed like such a good idea. Unfortunately,
NBA Live 13
It's no secret that EA Sports has had its share of difficulty getting a new NBA Live game out of the door. When news broke that the basketball franchise was coming back, fans were anxiously awaiting its comeback in 2012 but because EA wasn't confident enough in the quality of the NBA Live 13, they pulled the plug. Maybe next year.
Starcraft: Ghost
Blizzard has a history of cancelling projects they don’t deem worthy of release. It’s why they’ve never released a sub-par game and fans recognize their commitment to quality. When word of the point-and-click Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans got out, it was disheartening to hear about its cancellation but completely understandable; the game did not look like it would have been a knockout.
Starcraft: Ghost on the other hand seemed like a legitimate title and an excellent first-step into the world of action gaming for the company. The idea of delving into the Starcraft universe at such a close level was intensely appealing and the sci-fi Splinter Cell gameplay looked like a lot of fun.
What stung the most about this cancellation was that before the announcement, the game had been heavily promoted with trailers, gameplay demonstrations, and plenty of praise from industry magazines. That’s Blizzard for you though, willing to trash a buzz-worthy game if it doesn’t meet their internal expectations; it’s an ideology you have to respect.
True Fantasy Live Online
Known as one of the most disappointing cancellations ever, True Fantasy Live Online was poised to be a flagship title for Xbox to usher in the next generation of massively online multiplayer role playing games.
What ultimately killed the anticipated game was the developer's inability to meet the demands of Microsoft's online features. After a lot of back and forth, MS killed the title and so evaporated another would've-been awesome game.