It's not unusual to see games leak ahead of time, despite most developers and publishers' best intentions of keeping them under wraps. For example, a Switch port of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was leaked by an Australian and New Zealand retailer earlier this week, and yesterday the box art for a new game called G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout was published online by toy-focused social media news and leak poster anerdydad.
Based on the Hasbro toy line that gained prominence thanks to animated shows in the 1980s, G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is being published by GameMill Entertainment, known primarily for cheaper licensed titles like 2018's Nickelodeon Kart Racers. The box art provided by anerdydad shows the game is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. That being said, they do not cite their source, suggesting they found the "legit cover art" in "one of the many places I check for early info."
While this should be taken with a grain of salt, the game does fit with a July 9 article by G.I. Joe-centric news site HissTank, which published links to listings for the game on PS4, Switch, and Xbox One by the rental and former streaming service GameFly that have since been taken down. According to those listings and other leaked images, Operation Blackout will apparently release on October 13, 2020, for $39.99.
The game appears to be based on Hasbro's G.I. Joe Classified Series of action figures, the current line of toys still being released. However, beyond its apparent 'T' rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), not much — if anything — is currently known about what Operation Blackout might entail in terms of gameplay.
Thanks to the current toy line and other ventures like a Snake Eyes origin film being developed by Paramount, it makes sense for G.I. Joe to be coming back into the world of video games. It will not be the only Hasbro toy property to do so, as Transformers: Battlegrounds was revealed in June, described as a "new and authentic take on what a Transformers video game can be."
It is currently unclear when fans of the long-running toy franchise can expect to hear about this leaked video game. The G.I. Joe brand continues to be strong to this day, with some believing Ed Boon was teasing Snake Eyes Mortal Kombat 11 DLC earlier this year, though that turned out to be a baseless assumption.
G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout may be in development for PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: HissTank