Canceled Video Games

A definitive list of all the games that companies have canceled over the years could fill a book. Here are just a few video games that gamers never had the chance to play:
“Journey to the Centre of Arcanum” was meant to be a sequel to the computer role-playing game (CRPG) “Arcanum” by Troika Games. “Arcanum’s” mythology combined fantasy creatures like elves and dwarves with steampunk technology. Unfortunately, the company faced financial troubles and dissolved before developers could complete the game.

Black Isle Studios’ game “Fallout 3” suffered a similar fate. It was supposed to be the third game in the Fallout series, role playing games set in a postapocalyptic environment. Black Isle Studios dissolved before the game was finished. Bethesda Software plans to publish a game in 2008 called “Fallout 3” set in the Fallout universe, though the company designed the new game from scratch.
“Call of Cthulhu: Destiny’s End” is another game that fell apart along with a company. Game publishing company Hip Interactive went out of business in 2005 before the game was finished. The game’s developers tried to find an alternative publishing company without success. The game was set in a world inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Gamers would have been able to play this third-person survival horror game on the Xbox, PlayStation 2 or PC.
An Xbox game called “BC” would have given gamers the chance to control a tribe of primitive humans in a prehistoric environment. The player’s task was to help the tribe survive in a hostile world inhabited by vicious dinosaurs and other creatures. Lionhead Studios scrapped the game in order to focus on other projects.

Game publisher 2K Sports canceled its basketball video game “College Hoops 2k9” when negotiations with Collegiate Licensing Company stalled. Without the licensing agreement, 2K Sports wouldn’t be able to use real college team names, logos and players. Rather than publish a game with fictional teams, the company decided to scrap the project.
Designed with the Xbox and PC systems in mind, Micro Forte’s “Citizen Zero” was an online game set on a prison planet. Players would be able to form groups with other players, stake out turf in the game and battle with other players. Micro Forte worked on the project for several years, but eventually left it behind it to begin work on a different game.
It’s rough when you find out a company has scrapped a game you wanted to play, but it can be even worse if you don’t hear anything at all. In the next section, we’ll look at some games that may or may not ever hit store shelves.
 
For more detail: What are the best video games that were never made?