Development hell happens. It's an unfortunate reality in most collaborative mediums that sometimes a project can't come together, whether it be because of fiscal issues, timing issues, or simple mismanagement. Since, in general, video games take longer to make than films or tv shows, video game development hell can last a long time. For Rockstar Games, a prohect called Agent has been long-fabled while sitting in development hell for over a decade. However, Rockstar has recently delisted the game on their website, which had been sitting there since 2007.
This comes at a time where many longtime Rockstar fans are waiting for new games from the developer. The Grand Theft Auto 5 remastered edition trailer that Rockstar recently dropped was pretty much immediately dislike bombed. Furthermore, the developer has a very public history of exploitative working conditions, especially the company's crunch culture. Though, as mentioned, development hell does happen unavoidably sometimes, the history of Agent's development hell does nothing to inspire faith in Rockstar's labor practices.
What Agent Would Have Been
Agent was conceived of as an homage to James Bond films and Cold War conspiracy thrillers, while also being described as a genre-defining and cutting edge game. The initial announcement of this open-world spy game happened at 2007's E3. This was just a year after Rockstar had acquired the publishing rights to L.A. Noire, but the developer promised that Agent would be a different game entirely. The details of Agent, including its name, were then announced at 2009's E3. Importantly, Agent was set to be a PS3 exclusive. The timeframe at this point was not unreasonable, especially with Rockstar focusing its energy on the Grand Theft Auto series. However, after 2009, the news about Agent got scarcer and scarcer until Rockstar finally seemed to abandon the project completely.
What Happened Inside Rockstar
Over the years, higher-ups at Sony and Rockstar have generally avoided questions about Agent. However, there have been multiple leaks of concept art and screenshots and various purported inside sources detailing what happened to the game. In 2013, the announcement of the PS4 meant that Agent, which was already in development hell, could be adapted to be a PS4 exclusive. Take-Two Entertainment (Rockstar's parent company) renewed its trademarks for Agent twice after the announcement of the PS4, before finally abandoning the trademarks in 2018.
Evidence from developers who were actually working on Agent, interviews with other Rockstar developers, and the game released by Rockstar instead of Agent paint a pretty clear picture of what happened to the game. The announcement of Agent came after Grand Theft Auto IV, but before the mammoth success of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Reports generally agree that most of what existed of Agent was absorbed into GTA5. As has become increasingly apparent over the years is that Rockstar depends on this title, and because of the culture of the crunch at the company, developers are usually spent by the time they've met Rockstar's level of work demanded.
Even without the accounts of developers working on Agent, Rockstar has not been shy about devoting its time to already established franchises. Even despite the exposes on workplace conditions at Rockstar that occurred before the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, the game was an enormous success. In 2018, when the trademarks for Agent were abandoned, Rockstar had two massive titles to rely on. However, with no official news of Grand Theft Auto VI, a Red Dead followup, or indeed any other releases aside from the remastered Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar has put itself in a perilous position. The future of the developer is uncertain, though there is a loyal fanbase of its franchises. A such, a return to form is not off the table, even if Agent is.