From Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills to the Avengers, 10 Canceled Video Games We Desperately Wanted

1. Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills (P.T.)

Back in 2014, PlayStation 4 had a free and mysterious game called P.T. It was a disturbing, and claustrophobic horror puzzle game that to date many consider to be the scariest game ever made. In fact, the title gave even the bravest and cleverest players a tough time. After escaping a seemingly endless corridor of a haunted house, there appeared a cutscene that revealed that “P.T.” meant “Playable Teaser.”

Interestingly, the P.T. was part of a larger plan to reveal a sequel to Silent Hill that was supposed to be headed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro. It was also revealed that the protagonist would be played by Norman Reedus.

Just when players were obsessing over the P.T. and eagerly awaiting its release, Hideo Kojima and Konami fell apart with the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Now that Kojima was no longer with Konami, the studio decided to alter their business strategies, and soon Silent Hills was out of the window.

2. Star Wars 1313

Star Wars 1313 was revealed with beautiful graphics and gameplay at E3 2012. Although it seemed similar to Uncharted, it was set in Coruscant and the planet’s seedy Level 1313. At first, the devs announced the protagonist to be a strapping young bounty hunter Rak Jaren, but later changed it to a young Boba Fett.

Star War 1313Interestingly all the details revealed about the game hinted that the game could be one of the most promising Star Wars projects ever. Even a decade later in 2022, leaked footage displayed Boba walking through the underbelly of the planet.

Star Wars 1313 was satisfactorily into production before Disney decided to chop it to pieces. And thanks to Disney’s high ground, Star Wars 1313 was dead.

3. Rockstar Games’ Agent

During the E3 2007 event in July 2007, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed that Rockstar Games was at work on a new franchise for the PlayStation 3. This was ‘Agent,’ a stealth action game under development by Rockstar North. Two years later, it was officially announced along with an official name via a press conference at E3 2009.

The game was set to take place in a 1970s Cold War setting. A press release published by the devs stated that the title was planned to “take players into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage, and political assassinations”.

Close to a decade later, on 19 November 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office stated the “Agent” trademark had been abandoned. A former technical director at Rockstar North, later revealed that the studio was split between developing Grand Theft Auto and Agent. Consequently, the pressure to complete Grand Theft Auto V resulted in the Agent’s team being reassigned.

4. Scalebound

Scalebound was an action role-playing game that was developed by PlatinumGames and published by Microsoft. Being in development since 2013, the game was all set to release in 2017, before things headed down south. The game would allow players to assume control of Drew, as he advanced through the world of Draconis.

The game was officially revealed at Microsoft Studios’ press conference at E3 2014 along with a cinematic trailer. It missed the E3 appearance the following year, however, the gameplay of the title was showcased at Gamescom 2015.

Just before its scheduled release in 2017, the game was officially announced as canceled in January 2017. In a video interview with Cutscenes, director Hideo Kamiya apologized for the game’s cancellation stating that the development team was not experienced adequately to create a title focusing on online features.

5. Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun

Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was an action-adventure video game being developed by Climax Studios for Square Enix Europe. Similarly, an accompanying multiplayer component was developed separately by Psyonix.

After spending three years under development, it was canceled in 2012. When it was canceled the motion capture and casting had begun, however, the full production was not yet reached. Psyonix continued the development of the War for Nosgoth multiplayer, however it was disconnected from the original game.

6. Prince of Persia: Redemption

Although not officially announced, Prince of Persia: Redemption was reportedly a proposed title in the Prince of Persia series under the banner of Ubisoft Montreal in 2010-2011. However, the pitch was never picked up.

A pre-rendered game pitch created by animation director Khai Nguyen and the team was leaked online in 2012. Meanwhile, Christophe Prélot’s LinkedIn profile revealed that he was also reportedly working on an unreleased Prince of Persia game around the same time.

7. Prey 2

Prey 2 was initially announced by 3D Realms in 2006, just a few months after the release of the first game, Prey. However, the development did not start at Human Head Studios until 2009. Bethesda later officially announced the title in early 2011, revealing modifications in the player’s main character and gameplay.

Later that year, Human Head quietly ceased development on the title for undisclosed reasons just when the game had progressed to a near-alpha release state. Subsequently, Bethesda formally canceled the game in 2014, saying that it was not meeting their expectations.

8. The Avengers

Just when the first Avengers movie was about to make a huge impact on pop culture, THQ was all set to have an Avengers game to capitalize on the movie’s hype. The game was said to include Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk as the default heroes, while Hawkeye and Black Widow as ones that could be unlocked.

A still from The Avengers movie — A still from *The Avengers* movie

It was believed to be a first-person shooter combining beat ’em-up design elements. No matter how promising this title looked, it couldn’t see the light of day. Reportedly, THQ was hurting financially and they did not have the funding to make the Avengers game a reality.

9. Star Wars Battlefront III

In 2006, the president of LucasArts, Jim Ward, wanted to publish a third installment of Battlefront as part of the company’s ongoing strategy. Thus the developer reached out to Free Radical Design to sign a deal in the Summer of 2006. The development of Battlefront 3 started soon after, and it was said to be released in October 2008.

Notably, Battlefront 3 was never officially announced or even acknowledged. In 2008, things went down south as LucasArts witnessed major changes in its management. At the same time, Free Radical was worried about not being able to reach its deadlines, even though it was making good progress. From there on the publisher-developer relationship began to deteriorate.

Eventually, the title was canceled in October 2008. An ex-LucasArts employee revealed that LucasArts assumed that Free Radical would not be able to deliver on its August and September deadlines. They also speculated that Free Radical had used the funds from LucasArts for Battlefront 3 to support the development of Haze, and later TimeSplitters 4.

10. Resistance 4

Resistance had two more sequels that followed, with a fourth one eagerly awaited. Amid much speculation and reports of Resistance 4 being on cards, the title never saw the light of the day. Besides, not much was known or revealed about it either.

Later during a PlayStation podcast, it was revealed that Insomniac Games had pitched a fourth Resistance game to Sony. However, the pitch was reportedly rejected since Sony had way too many other post-apocalyptic games already under development.