Loads of video games come out and almost immediately fade into obscurity. As sad as this is, at least, they got to see the light of day and earned a fair shot in the market. Many more never get this chance, with their development time cut short for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes the studio pulls the plug themselves after the work in progress fails to meet certain standards, or financial reasons force the game to whittle away and deteriorate. The following list presents ten games announced for the PS3 that never finished production. A few of these looked promising; in the case of some others, barely enough evidence exists to determine whether the game might have been interesting or not.
10 Stranglehold 2: Gun Runner
The original Stranglehold served as a sequel to John Woo's legendary Hong Kong action flick Hard Boiled. It successfully translated the film's fast-paced, haphazard gun battles into the virtual space. Some critics lambasted the repetitive level design, but the destructive environments were unmatched at the time.
A sequel was in the early stages of development before Midway Games' financial straights forced the publisher to close its doors, dooming the project. Test footage exists showcasing new levels of environmental destruction and a team up between Tequila and a character played by Vin Diesel.
9 Dirty Harry
One Dirty Harry game already exists for the NES, but this game would have been a next-gen showcase. The only material shown to the public at the time was a trailer featuring voice lines from the film, though Clint Eastwood was expected to reprise his role as the overzealous detective Harry Callahan.
Unfortunately, the studio making the game, The Collective, underwent some changes and a merger with another studio, and the promising game fell victim to the transition. Clint Eastwood is still making movies though, so there's no reason they can't start production on another Dirty Harry game in 2019.
8 Eight Days
Eight Days made its first appearance as a tech demo at Sony's infamous E3 2005 press conference. It was not until the next year's conference when the game got a proper announcement and trailer. The action-adventure shooter looked to be a set piece-driven romp that generation would later see in games like Uncharted. Despite several shots from the trailer showing a HUD, the footage was clearly not in-engine.
Eight Days was canceled in 2008. Fortunately, the SIE London Studio has found recent success with the VR title Blood & Truth and recently released Erica.
7 Legacy Of Kain: Dead Sun
With the exception of the multiplayer spin-off Nosgoth, the Legacy of Kain series has been dormant since 2003's Defiance. However, it almost came back earlier this decade with Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun. The title was set to put players in the shoes of a new protagonist and boasted gameplay akin to Soul Reaver, along with a multiplayer component.
It would have bridged generations, earning both PS3 and PS4 versions. Dead Sun got the ax in 2012, and fans of the series are still waiting for a proper comeback.
6 Fortress
Some of Grin's last projects included Bionic Commando and Terminator: Salvation. One work in development which never saw the light of day was Fortress, a Final Fantasy XII spin-off set several years after Revenant Wings. Word on the street insinuates immediate friction developed between Square Enix and the developer, suggesting the publisher failed to pay them and was unenthusiastic about the game's aesthetic.
With no money coming from Square, Grin was forced to close its doors in 2009. It is hard to say if Fortress would have been worthy of the series, but most fans would have taken the leap just to spend more time in Ivalice.
5 Killing Day
Few mysteries are larger than just what exactly Killing Day was meant to be. These days, all the game has to show for itself is a 30-second trailer and a slew of trademark filings by Ubisoft, the most recent of which was in 2013.
The second word of the logo in the trailer is stylized with Cyrillic letters, implying some connection with Russia or another Eastern European country. The trailer looks hilariously quaint by today's standards, but that small snippet of footage was mind-blowing in 2005.
4 The Getaway 3
The Getaway and its sequel were graphically impressive PS2 games that strived to deliver a cinematic experience. Its narrative about London's criminal underground made it feel like Guy Ritchie: The Game. The sequel, Black Monday, didn't receive the same amount of love but was successful enough for SCE London Studio to start development on a PS3 sequel.
Other than a tech demo showcasing London streets rendered with PS3 tech, no other footage was shown. The game went to a farm upstate in 2008, and the developer made SingStar games for years after until the aforementioned VR title, Blood & Truth.
3 The Fixer
The Fixer was a third-person action game seemingly taking place in the middle east. Judging by the message at the end of the game's only trailer, it seemed like player choice would have impacted the story based on the decisions they made. No word on whether this would have felt like Obsidian's Alpha Protocol or something entirely different.
Even on the Internet's vast sea of information, it is difficult to locate any additional details regarding the game. Afterwards, the developer, Climax, made several Silent Hill games before shifting its attention to VR.
2 Indiana Jones And The Staff Of Kings
This game eventually came out on the Wii, PS2, Nintendo DS, and PSP to a lackluster reception, but a PS3 version was in development. The 7th generation edition was set to use similar tech showcased in 2008's The Force Unleashed. At the time it had no subtitle, but the impressive trailer and gameplay clips showing the titular character fighting enemies atop a trolley in San Francisco was enough to hype up fans.
No word on why the technically ambitious versions got the ax, but the Wii version was largely considered underwhelming. As a result, the PS3 never got an Indiana Jones game that was not preceded by Lego.
1 Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots
Rainbow Six Siege revitalized the long-running franchise, but it did not scratch the itch left by the canceled Rainbow Six: Patriot. Patriots saw the protagonists facing domestic terrorists taking their grievances out on Wall Street corruption.
Unlike many of the other games on the list, this one got a cover story on Game Informer magazine. Patriots was officially canceled in 2014 and the multiplayer-only Rainbow Six Siege came out instead. It's never too late for the concept to come back in another game, but its return is highly doubtful.