10 Video Games We Still Can't Believe Got Cancelled
Sadly, cancel culture isn't just for celebrity Twitter.
Nowadays, when we hear about something being cancelled, we expect a story about a celebrity who had the audacity to write a drunken, edgy Tweet twelve years ago, only for it to ruin their career forever. Unfortunately, cancellations don’t just happen to these no-good scoundrels; they happen to our beloved video games as well.
It’s unlikely that a video game’s cancellation will be a result of it using the wrong pronouns in 2008, but there are still a variety of issues that can plague a game’s production. Lack of funding, publisher interference, poor receptions to early marketing and prolonged periods in Development Hell can all lead to a game’s eventual demise.
Regardless of the reason, video game cancellations are devastating for fans on the hype train. This is especially true when a game passes the ideas phase and enters into some stage of production. Arguably the most painful is when developers go as far as releasing a trailer for a soon-to-be-cancelled title.
Much like the time you told your partner you’d been working on your stamina and were ready for a long night of unforgettable passion, the announcements of these games were setting up nothing but disappointment.
10. InSane
Famed director Guillermo del Toro was working on a survival-horror game with Volition and THQ back in 2010. This title was to be called inSane and made it far enough to have a 30 second teaser released before its cancellation in 2012.
According to del Toro, the game would be something new in terms of format and would leave players questioning their reality throughout. This could suggest that we were headed for a title similar to Amnesia, but with his weird and wonderful mind putting its own spin on it. Surely, this would have been enough to catch the attention of survival-horror fans worldwide?
There’s not a huge amount of information on why this game was cancelled, other than a brief statement from THQ, advising they were no longer supporting the product and had returned the rights to del Toro. However, given that THQ was liquidated the following year, it could be speculated that they were cutting any costs that weren’t absolutely essential at this time.
Guillermo del Toro does still own the IP for inSane, so the particularly optimistic of us could argue that it’s in Development Hell. The realists, however, will acknowledge that it’s been ten years now and it’s probably time to give up hope on this one.