We often get to see plenty of information about games before they're even released, with companies giving us a sneak peek behind the curtain at the development process and building the hype for the forthcoming title. However, having seen what the game would have been like makes it even harder for fans to take the news that the game has been canceled.
With all the news of things being delayed or canceled due to COVID-19, such as the recent Gamescom 2020 cancellation, we've decided to take a look at ten games that were canceled that everyone wanted to get their hands on. Some of these games were so close to being finished that we had betas for them, but unfortunately, they bit the dust before they hit the shelves.
10 Disney Infinity 4.0 Kingdoms
Remember when the world went crazy for toys-to-life style games? Disney Infinity was Avalanche Software's answer to the fan demand of more interactive games similar to Skylanders, and the franchise was a huge success. It went on to have two sequels as well as a host of additional figures and merchandise.
However, the toys-to-life fad eventually died off and Disney Infinity 4.0 ended up being an unintended casualty, along with the studio itself. Some alpha footage of the game was released last year via Vimeo and it gave us some insight into what it would have been like, showing that it was subtitled Kingdoms and was based in Agrabah. Additional figures for 3.0 and 4.0 were also axed when Disney Infinity shut down, and you can check some of them out here.
9 Fez 2
Fez released in 2012 on the Xbox 360 to critical acclaim and was eventually released on PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation Vita at a later date. Naturally, fans were delighted when a sequel was announced at E3 in 2013. Unfortunately, just a few months later, Fez 2 was canceled with the official Polytron account and the game's creator, Phil Fish, sharing the news on Twitter.
The cancellation came after a heated internet debate between Phil Fish and Marcus Beer, also known as Annoyed Gamer, which ultimately ended with Fish declaring that he was canceling Fez 2 so he didn't have to "put up with this abuse anymore".
8 Fable Legends
After multiple successful Fable titles, Lionhead studios decided to branch out with an online co-operative game titled Fable Legends that was set several hundred years before the original trilogy took place. The game featured a team of four heroes who were set against a villain who could use an army of creatures to impede the heroes. Players could work with others online, or play solo and utilize the AI system to fill the other roles.
Fable Legends was pretty far in development with a closed beta available to fans at the time when Lionhead Studios was closed, taking the unfinished game down with it.
7 Star Wars: 1313
Star Wars: 1313 was unveiled to fans at E3 in 2012. Players would have taken on the role of an unknown bounty hunter, before eventually stepping into the suit of fan-favorite, Boba Fett, while exploring a subterranean metropolis named Level 1313 on the planet Coruscant. The game promised to be a more mature take on the franchise and was hotly anticipated by many players.
Unfortunately, when LucasArts closed its doors in 2013, the development of Star Wars: 1313 ended. Last month more screenshots of the game leaked online, reminding players exactly what they were missing out on.
6 Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots
Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots was announced in 2011, the plot of which would follow Team Rainbow as they traveled to New York City to deal with the terrorist group the True Patriots. In 2012, multiple members of the development team were let go and rumors began to circulate that the game was in troubled waters. Fan's fears were put to rest at E3 of 2013 when Ubisoft confirmed the game was still in development and released further information that players would additionally be able to take on the roles of the True Patriots in addition to playing as Team Rainbow.
Despite this reassurance, in June of 2014 Rainbow 6: Patriots was officially canceled and it was announced that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege would replace it.
5 Prey 2
The original Prey released in 2006 and was met with positive reviews and praise, so there was no surprise when a sequel was announced to be in development just a few months later. The rights to the game changed hands in 2009 and Prey 2 was acquired by Bethesda Softworks, leaving fans hoping that work on the sequel would now begin in earnest.
However, at PAX in 2014, Bethesda Softworks' vice-president Pete Hines announced that Prey 2 had officially been canceled. However, there was a small silver lining as at E3 in 2016, Bethesda announced a reimagining of the franchise, and fans received a new Prey title by Arkane Studios in 2017.
4 Scalebound
Scalebound was an action RPG being developed by PlatinumGames that was set to be a Microsoft exclusive, with it launching solely for Xbox One and PC. Scalebound would allow players to take on the role of Drew and work together with his dragon Thuban throughout the game.
Regrettably, the game was canceled in 2017, the same year that it had originally planned to release for. PlatinumGames recently commented that it would love to return to Scalebound, but that Microsoft currently owns the IP. Perhaps there's still hope for this game yet.
3 Silent Hills
Silent Hills was set to be the ninth installment in the Silent Hill franchise and garnered much excitement after fans were able to get a taste of it via the P.T. demo. Kojima Productions was at the helm and it was set to star Norman Reedus as the protagonist.
Despite being a promising game, Konami and Kojima Productions parted ways and it led to Silent Hills being scrapped entirely. The cancellation was met with much criticism and fans even tried to petition for its revival, to no effect. Fans can still keep their fingers crossed that the franchise will continue though, as there are rumors that a Silent Hill announcement will be coming next month.
2 Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned was set to be an ambitious project; an open-world action-RPG based on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise that would release for Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3. The game was set before The Curse of the Black Pearl film and players would take control of Captain James Sterling as he traveled the open seas to make a name for himself as a pirate.
In October of 2010, Disney Interactive Studios announced that it would lay off some of Propaganda’s staff, the developers behind Armada of the Damned, as part of a restructuring process. The remaining staff worked to finish Tron: Evolution, but after this title bombed on release, the entirety of Propaganda was shut down. Unfortunately, this also meant the end of Armada of the Damned.
1 Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun
The Legacy of Kain franchise has multiple titles to its name and a large fan base, so it was unsurprising to hear another sequel was in the works. What was surprising was that fans found out about it after it had already been scrapped. Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was set to release on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 4 and was set in the distant future of the Legacy of Kain world, introducing players to new protagonists in the gothic world of Nosgoth.
The game was canceled in 2012 after it had been in development for three years. Fans would later discover its existence when someone at NeoGAF unearthed details about it from a report that was published about a forthcoming title named Nosgoth. It turns out that Square Enix and Psyonix had repurposed the multiplayer mode they had originally planned for Dead Sun into its own standalone game, Nosgoth, and that was how fans discovered the truth.