10 Video Games That Were Cancelled (But Not Why You Think)
1. Scope Creep & Staff Issues At The Studio - Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
Why You Thought It Was Cancelled
In the early 2000s, Army Men developers 5000ft Inc. got to work on Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a video game based on the iconic Marvel superhero which publisher Encore owned the rights to.
For the most part the game is accepted to be one of the many video games based on popular IP that never came to fruition due to philosophical disagreements between parties of interest, in this case Sony and Marvel.
And while their differing visions for the game certainly didn't help things, The Man Without Fear's 2004 cancellation was actually caused by two far more specific factors.
Why It Was Actually Cancelled
The Man Without Fear is one of the most egregious victims of scope creep in video game history.
Originally designed by 5000ft as a low-budget, standalone, linear Daredevil game for PS2, once the 2003 Ben Affleck movie was announced Sony and Marvel stumped up significant cash to make the game a movie tie-in set to release around the same time as the film.
More than that, the gameplay would be expanded into an open-world style and additionally be released on Xbox and PC.
It was a lot for a smaller outfit like 5000ft to take on, without even getting into the fact that Sony, Microsoft, and Marvel all had approval privileges on every major aspect of development.
Sony and Marvel did indeed argue about the game's direction, but the wheels truly came off when Encore refused to pay licensing fees for the RenderWare engine and instead insisted that their own proprietary engine be created.
Realising the game's scope had gotten out of control, 5000ft scrapped the open-world elements in an attempt to get the game ready in time for the movie's release, but amid an exodus of employees and rumours of drug abuse in the studio's offices, they missed the deadline.
Ultimately the game received its de facto cancellation after Marvel refused to approve it for release, though some beta gameplay footage did arrive online last year: