Games can get canceled for a lot of reasons. It can be due to a loss of funds, drama within a company, and/or just taking so long to make that the company eventually gives up. It is a sad affair, as a lot of love and passion can go into these projects that are never fully realized. Even people who have made successful games can get on a project that gets canceled, as you will see from this list. Here are ten video games that were canceled.
10 OZombie
Ever played American McGee's Alice? This game was going to be just like that, except in the land of Oz instead of Wonderland. The concept art looked amazing and the story was dark, with Scarecrow being the main villain of the story.
A Kickstarter was made for the game in 2013 with a funding goal of $950,000 but it only got $141,513 pledged so it never came to be. Out of all the canceled games in this list, this one is one of the most disappointing since the American McGee games are so fantastically dark and creative. But who knows? Maybe OZombie can one day come back from the dead.
9 Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2
This game was not a huge loss even to Fallout fans, as it was a sequel to what is known as the worst game in the Fallout series. Unfortunately for those who worked on it though, the game was nearly complete when it got canceled. It was canceled due to a huge layoff of employees.
The was was going to be set in Texas and follow a war between a raider group, The Cyphers, and the Brotherhood of Steel. The Cyphers were written to be the opposite of the Brotherhood and seek to destroy all technology.
8 Human Element
An indie game company, Robotoki, was creating this game as a online multiplayer before it shut down. The game was planned for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The games' premise was pretty interesting, as it was about humans fighting each other 35 years after a zombie apocalypse began. The game focused on the fact that humans are the greatest threat, not zombies.
The game was announced in 2012 but Robotoki shut down in 2015
7 Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
This game was going to be for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. It was going to be an open-world game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. It was going to be set before the events of the Curse of the Black Pearl and follow a pirate captain named James Sterling who is trying to make a reputation for himself.
Little was released about the story before the games' cancellation, but it was said to have a different story and a whole new cast of characters from the film franchise. A lot of video game journalists and critics wrote about the game being very promising and similar to Assassins Creed. Despite those reviews, the game was canceled due to layoffs from Disney Interactive Studios.
6 Star Wars 1313
The plot of this Star Wars game was going to be centered around Boba Fett during his early adulthood. It was under development from the company LucasArts and the plan was for the game to be a little more mature and gritty than other Star Wars video games. Unfortunately though, the game was shelved due to layoffs from The Walt Disney Company which had purchased LucasFilms. Then Disney never renewed the games' trademark, which makes it seem that the project is now abandoned.
5 Whore of the Orient
This action-adventure game was going to be for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC but was confirmed to be canceled in 2016. What we know about the game is very little. It was going to be set in 1936 and in a corrupt Shanghai. Knowing what development teams were working on it, such as Team Bondi, the game may have been similar to L.A. Noire in terms of story and mechanics. L.A. Noire was a stunning game, so this cancellation is a tragedy.
The title of the game didn't do it any favors either, for obvious reasons.
4 Jurassic Park: Survival
Jurassic Park inspired many video games, but not all of them made it to gamer shelves. Initially, this game was going to be based on Jurassic Park III. Development changed its mind though and the game was going to be merely inspired by Jurassic Park rather than based on it. The plan was for the game to be released for PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC, and Xbox.
Players of the game would take on the role of David Vaughn, a member of security and the gameplay was described to be similar to Tomb Raider to some survival horror elements.
3 Tremors: The Game
This game was going to be based on the monster series, Tremors. It was announced in 2002 as an upcoming game for the Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and PC. It was going to be a third-person survival-horror action game. You would both have to fight the creatures and hide from them by finding various ways to hid your body heat signature. While based on the films, the game was going to have its own independent story.
Luckily for Tremor fans, though this game was canceled, there are other games based on the film series that were not such as Tremerz and Dirt Dragons.
2 Project Ragtag
Project Ragtag as less of a title and more of a code-name for this canceled Star Wars game. It was going to be a linear game about a heist that takes place during the events of Star Wars IV: A New Hope. What really killed this game was the release of Star Wars Battlefront and its success. Due to its popularity, EA drew away from Project Ragtag and got focused on a sequel to Battlefront. Eventually EA decided to cancel Ragtag. What is very fascinating is part of the beginning of EA becoming one of the most hated companies in the gaming community. EA got a ton of backlash about their decisions ever since they made this one.
1 Insane
