Heartbreakers: The Most Crushing Video Game Cancellations

Video game cancellations aren't an everyday occurence, but their rarity doesn't offer any succor when it comes to titles we were genuinely excited about.

More common are delays, as was recently the case with Ubisoft's Watchdogs and PS4 launch title, Drive Club. As a consumer, I'd rather have a game delayed in order to assure a finished, bug-free product, but when a game gets cancelled outright, especially when the title is close to completion can be pretty rough. Rockstar delayed Grand Theft Auto V because they wanted to release a product that would reflect their reputation in the marketplace, and, yes, those seven months sucked, but September 17 came and we are all grateful for it. The GTAV online experience is still a work in progress, and because of Rocsktar's reputation, they are afforded capital as the online experience takes shape.

When a game is scrapped out right, as are all on those on this list, we are denied an experience that was, at one point, ostensibly, sold to us. These games all generated heat at one point only to be snuffed out to some combination of politics, fiscal fat-trimming, studio extinction, or some combination thereof.

Here is our list of Heartbreakers: The Most Crushing Video Game Cancellations

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Year of cancellation: 2004

Oh, Peter Molyneux, is there anything you can't sell us as the next greatest leap in gaming, and then dissapoint us time after time?

Molyneux is famous for his hyperbole/dickishness and has sort of been drummed out of game development thanks to one too many hyperbolic flake-outs. When we talk about being sold a false bill of sales, look no further than Molyneux's BC.

The overly ambitous project would have you controlling tribes of cavemen in the paleolithic era, evolving and creating settlements. Those decisions would then be passed onto your breeding colony of cavemen. For example: your cavepeople could have affected the food chain if they killed enough mastadons, which would then cause a rippling chain reaction of a food scarcity in your tribe. Molyneux cancelled production on BC deeming the project too ambitious to meet his hyperbolic standards.

Year of cancellation: 2010

While literally no one on the planet Earth enjoyed Aliens: Colonial Marines, the massive dump on the chest of gamers was made all the steamier when leaked footage from the the scrapped Aliens: Crucible RPG surfaced around the same time. Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart had admitted that the title was completed and ready for publication before it was shit-canned. The reason behind the decision?

According to Sega it wanted to "Carefully consider the type of Aliens game to release" and made the very shit-colored decision to go with Gearbox's Colonial Marines. Crucible looked like a well-layered RPG, but that's just speculation on the leaked footage above.

Year of cancellation: 2012

Say what you want of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, but you know that a horror video game with him at the helm would have been legit. The scrapped project, inSane, was sold as a survival horror game with arrtwork provided by his frequent collaborator, Guy Davis (think Pan's Labyrinth).

Volition went far enough into development to release this teaser trailer. The implosion of THQ saw inSane cease to be and the right to the title were shifted back to del Toro. Del Toro stated that inSane had found new funding and a new publisher, but was still a few years out. Fingers crossed, del Toro, fingers crossed.

Year of cancellation: 2010

Fans of D.C. Comic's Elseworld series should recognize Gotham By Gaslight. The entry into D.C.'s 'What if?' universe showed a Batman prowling the rooftops of a Victorian-era Bruce Wayne story.

Batman vs. Jack the Ripper was the thrust of the story and the team behind F.E.A.R wanted to turn the story into a fully-realized title. Fracture 1, the devs behind the project, even got as far as creating the prototype above. The game never found a publisher, and steampunk/Victorian Batman never happened.

Year of cancellation: 2005

An Ubisoft shooter that was proclaimed as a marvel of physics, much akin to the accolades Battlefield 4 are currently racking up, was cancelled in 2005. The shooter was being developed for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and the trademark to the title was recently reacquired in January of 2013. Since then, not a word on development. Watch the 2005 E3 trailer and decide if the title actually warrants a second lease on life.

Year of cancellation: 2012 (maybe)

Prey 2 was to be the sequel to the amazing 2006 title, Prey. Both titles were in development by Human Head. Human Head set the ambitious sequel around the main character of the first title travelling to the homeworld of the first title's alien species and becoming some sort of space sherrif/bounty hunter. The title was picked up by Bethesda and apparently dev and publisher couldn't figure it out enough to release the title. On August 15, 2013, it was reported that leaked emails confirmed the game was in fact in development, according to IGN, but this is not the first time that the title's fate has been left in an uncertain state.

Year of cancellation: 2010

Steven Spielberg may have lost some credibility as a proponent of legitimate sci-fi, A.I. and Indiana Jones 4 took care of that, but a video game with his name attached still got the geek hearts all a flutter.

Spielberg supposedly signed with EA in 2005 to develop three games. The most impressive of which sounded like LMNO. The science fiction title was reportedly centered around a former special agent and an alien (?) named Eve. Could be an alien, could be a pre-cog, who knows. Concept videos surface online every now and again, clearly showing the influence of Spielberg in the footage. If EA was ever looking for a chance to revive the project, Spielberg is already working on original content for some sort of Halo project for the Xbox One, and now seems like as good a time as any.

Year of cancellation: 2008

How the fuck are you going to cancel a game that's "99 percent" completed?

Developer Steve Ellis ased that same question when the game was slagged in 2008. When LucasArts shut it down, the game was already three years into production. Take a look at the leaked footage above and tell us the game wasn't ready for primetime.

The shuttering of LucasArts, along with the purchase of LucasFilm by Disney, saw the cancellation of other Star Wars games as well. Leaked internal images showed off that games with the titles: Rise Of The Rebellion, Jedi Outlaw, Star Wars: Han Solo, and more were all at least being planned, and then subsequently scrapped, after LucasArts shut for good.

Star Wars Battlefront (no "3") is a new title from DICE and EA and looks to be way different than the title Free Radical was developing before their doors were closed.

Year of cancellation: 2013

Heartbreak City. Population: pretty much everyone.

1313 represents everything that is brutal about a cancelled game. Set in the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe, the game was touted to be a journey to the very darkest parts of Star Wars. Finally a 'mature' title that would focus on bounty hunters, criminals, and the very literal hell of Coruscant's level 1313.

According to one LucasArt developer 1313 was going to be serious.

"It's oppressive. It has all that weight bearing down on the player all the time."

When Disney bought LucasFilm, LucasArts was shut down. And this awesome project, purportedly to secretly be about Bobba Fett, was scrapped. The rights to 'core' Star Wars games farmed out to EA and who knows if we'll ever see 1313 in a disc-tray anytime soon.

Year of cancellation: 2012

The developers of Crackdown 2 were planning a re-make of the classic 16-bit sidecrolling brawler. Streets Of Rage, the prototype, only had this one video posted by one of the developers on YouTube, and even we have to admit that it looked damn pretty. Street thugs ready to meet the buisness end of whatever blunt object you happened upon would never see the ER as the game was cancelled without reason. We do have the above test footage, and sadly that's as close as we're going to get.

Year of cancellation: 2011

Luckily we have Keiji Inafune and the team at Comcept for the upcoming, Kickstarter funded Mighty No. 9. Without the project we probably would have never gotten a proper spiritual successor to the Mega Man franchise. Mega Man Legends 3 was a title that many were hoping to eventually be released and carry on Mega Man's legacy, but it was cancelled and hopefully Mighty No. 9 delivers on the promise of viable Mega Man sequel.

Years of cancellation: 2005-present

Since the release of Shemue II, Shenmue III has been announced for development and cancelled a total of two times. Shenmue III was supposed to be a compilation of the first and second installments plus the lost final chapters. Too bad, Shemue III is never going to see the light of day. Shenmue III has apparently fallen by the wayside, and, according to head developers, is "worth forgetting about."

Year of cancellation: 2012

How could you not want to play what was essentially a Bonnie and Clyde, the video game?

Faith and a .45 not only sounded catchy as hell, but it was supposed to be a genius two-person shooter. You played as Ruby and Luke, two action heroes in love and on the run from an oil baron during the Great Depression. Much was made about the ability to switch between characters in real-time and the rumored option to bestow the 'kiss of life' to revive your wounded lover.

We only have the above leakes footage to gauge just how ridiculously awesome this game could have been had it not been sandbagged.

Year of cancellation: 2006

When a game goes on "indefinite hold" you are pretty much assured that you will neve be playing it.

When Blizzard announced the action/stealth title in 2002, fans of the StarCtraft series were understandbly creaming their collective jeans. The now cancelled Blizzard title was supposed to take place four years after the conclusion of StarCraft: Brood War and was meant to give fans of the series a much more personal and intimate experience with a single psychic operative in the form of Nova. We only have this trailer from the cancelled project, and it still bums us out eight years later.