10 Canceled Games We Wish We Could Play

10. Silent Hills

• Revealed On — August 12, 2014
• Canceled On — April 27, 2015

This one hits me personally. On my 18th birthday, Silent Hills P.T. took the world by storm during Sony’s press conference at Gamescom. Hideo Kojima is one of the greatest minds we have in gaming and with him at the helm of the sinking ship that is the Silent Hill franchise was a sight to behold. The playable teaser ditched every cliche of survival horror. It made great use of the uncanny valley and pulled from real-world scenarios and literature to flesh out the environments. Now with the 10th anniversary of the Silent Hills announcement coming up, maybe there is hope we’ll still get Silent Hills, even if Kojima is no longer involved and if Bloober team’s Silent Hill 2 Remake is good.

9. Star Wars 1313

• Revealed at — E3 2012
• Canceled in — April 2013

Star Wars video games have always been a mixed bag. But it was more so like a mixed bag of candy. Some titles are universally loved, others are more of an acquired taste, and a lot of them are terrible entries. During E3 2012, Star Wars 1313 was revealed. It showcased a more gritty and dark narrative set in the Star Wars universe. Many fans were excited to see where trusted developer LucasArts was going to take the IP. Unfortunately, Disney shut down LucasArts in April of the following year which inadvertently canceled Star Wars 1313.

8. Zelda 3

Nintendo has hinted at wanting to take the Zelda series in a science-fiction direction multiple times and we almost got a futuristic entry a few times too. Before A Link to the Past was released there was an earlier iteration of the title with a more sci-fi setting. That wasn’t the only thing either, this title was meant to be a JRPG. Not only would the aesthetic be taken into a completely new direction, but the gameplay would change as well. After the success of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, it seems time to reinvent the wheel. Who knows, maybe the next Zelda will be something in a similar vein as this.

7. Conker’s Other Bad Day

After the release of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Rare started developing a sequel titled Conker’s Other Bad Day. Many fans of Rare would’ve loved a sequel to their hilarious cartoony platformer but when Microsoft bought Rare in 2002 they opted to remake the original for the Xbox. This is one of the worst outcomes of an acquisition of a game developer, especially since the market is currently oversaturated with remakes and reboots. According to some rumors, this sequel picked up right when the first left off. The entire scenario was written already and they even had the Nintendo GameCube picked out for the console. Truly unfortunate.

6. Scalebound

• Revealed at — E3 2014
• Canceled in — January 2017

As Xbox continues to struggle as time goes on it’s easy to reminisce on a simpler time when the Xbox One was going to be a competitive console. Scalebound was a very interesting concept introduced as an exclusive title developed by the action game veteran studio, Platinum Games. Unfortunately, the game struggled during development and was eventually canceled by Microsoft. Many Xbox fans believe that this was the beginning of the end of Xbox gaming dominance but who knows? Maybe there is still hope for it in the future.

5. Megaman Legends 3

• Revealed On — September 29, 2010
• Canceled On — July 18, 2011

Many hardcore fans of Megaman were excited by the announcement of the third title in the Mega Man Legends franchise. However, due to struggles in development, Capcom decided it was best to just cancel it. The Megaman Legends franchise has been left dormant for the last decade and now many fans feel like there just isn’t any hope in the beloved franchise. The worst part is that Capcom themselves blamed fans for the cancellation, saying “It’s a shame the fans didn’t want to get more involved if we saw there was an audience for MML3 people might change minds“.

4. Starcraft Ghost

• Revealed On — September 2002
• Canceled On — March 2006

Technically, Starcraft Ghost isn’t canceled, it’s just indefinitely postponed. Now this could be perceived as just a hiatus and there are even some rumors that this title might be returning soon. However, there are no official updates regarding its status. The game was originally announced as a PS2, Xbox, and GameCube title but as development continued the game faced many delays. At this point, Blizzard just decided to move on to other projects but the fact they didn’t just come out and say it was canceled provides hope to Starcraft fans.

3. Final Fantasy Versus XIII

• Revealed At — E3 2006
• Canceled At — E3 2013

Originally intended to be a companion title to Final Fantasy XIII, this title met some of the same problems as Starcraft Ghost. Instead of putting the title on hiatus, the fat was trimmed and the game became Final Fantasy XV. You could argue we DID get this title but I would argue that the rebranding of Versus XIII got rid of most of the interesting aspects that made that game what it is. Many would love for a chance to play Versus XIII as Tetsuya Nomura intended it but a lot of the game’s essence is now scattered throughout Kingdom Hearts 3.

2. Persona ASA / Persona Grand Stage

The Persona franchise has become a worldwide phenomenon and luckily fans of the series haven’t missed out on anything, except for Persona Grand Stage / Persona ASA. The game was intended to be a sort of compilation game with all of the characters of the series interacting with each other. Fans of the original Persona trilogy were excited to see the old cast engage with the new cast. However, with the release of Persona 5X, Persona ASA was canceled. Since the Gacha game has found success in Asia rumors say that the game will become a worldwide effort. Unfortunately, at least Persona fans still get something new out of the scenario.

1. Primal Rage 2

The original Primal Rage was a successful fight released in 1994 that featured a cast of prehistoric animals battling each other. Despite the game’s success, the sequel just couldn’t get off the ground. The game was showcased multiple times and even had some locations testing the game but unfortunately, the project was still shelved. Some fans theorize this happened due to the gaming market changing, others think it was due to internal issues with Atari. Whatever happened, it’s sad that a great and unique concept didn’t get its fair shot. Some prototypes of the sequel are available online. So if you’re truly interested you could get a glimpse of what could have been.