10 More Video Games Cancelled For Ridiculous Reasons
8. The Publisher Pursued Another Fallout Game Instead (Which Also Got Cancelled) - Fallout: Van Buren
Van Buren was the original version of what would eventually become Fallout 3, as developed by the series' original Black Isle Studios outfit in the early 2000s.
However, publisher Interplay Entertainment were decidedly more interested in bolstering their console division, developing their PS2/Xbox Fallout game Brotherhood of Steel at the same time.
In fact, Interplay so high on the idea of Brotherhood of Steel that they actually commissioned a sequel before it had even been released.
Worse still, they pulled Black Isle team members off development of Van Buren, which was very nearly complete, so that many of them could work on Brotherhood of Steel 2 instead.
Ironically, Brotherhood of Steel 2 never came to fruition after the critical and commercial failure of the original in 2004, and amid major financial issues, Interplay ended up laying off the entire Black Isle team in late 2003, effectively killing any prospect of Van Buren's completion.
Fallout 3 was of course eventually made by Bethesda and released in 2008, while numerous former Black Isle staff members went on to work for Fallout: New Vegas developers Obsidian Entertainment, allowing them to incorporate some of their ideas from Van Buren in the process.