10 Hyped Video Games In Development (That Will Never Be Released)

Though it may seem like a dream day job to those unfamiliar with he rigors of the field, video game development is often about as difficult as a creative process can possibly be. Reports of eighty hour weeks and exhaustive development cycles are widespread, and the industry has chewed up and spit out untold amounts of studios and dedicated coders, writers, and artists.

With that in mind, it is important to realize that even delivering a pre-rendered teaser or small in-engine demo can become a near herculean task in some cases, and it is far from uncommon to see a once-captivating game fall limp and dead in the hands of a developer unsure how to progress.

An unfortunate byproduct of an industry so laser-focused on deadlines and results, some would-be bestselling experiences have landed on the cutting room floor. From small, basement-based independent game studios to massive triple-A publishing houses with thousands of employees and seemingly limitless resources, just about everyone in the business has at least made mention of a project which never came to fruition.

Rather than outright cancel these concepts, some publishers opt to let these titles languish in Development Hell. Here are ten games which, despite technically remaining in development, will almost certainly never be released.

Released in 2011, Techland's Dead Island was a relatively-well regarded tropical take on the well-tread zombie apocalypse concept. Though a little wonky and unpolished in places, it garnered enough interest to warrant a few spin-off titles and an eventual sequel.

Announced all the way back in 2014 and originally scheduled for a release some time in 2015, Dead Island 2 has seemingly gone colder than the D.B. Cooper case. Nonetheless, publisher Deep Silver has remained adamant that the game is still in development and will see eventual release. The recent announcement of Dying Light 2—the sequel to one of Techland's other successful IPs—lends a dubious air to these claims, however.

Worse still is that, aside from a short trailer and a brief snippet of gameplay made available in 2014, we have yet to see any meaningful footage of Dead Island 2. While that doesn't necessarily indicate that the project has been completely abandoned, it would be nice to see what Techland has been up to over the four year period since the title's announcement.