10 Video Games That Were Scrapped AFTER Being Almost Finished
These games were infuriatingly cancelled at the finish line.
The world of games development is considerably more secretive than those of, say, film, TV, and music.
So much happens in a clandestine fashion behind closed doors, and as players there are so many games whose cancellation we never even learn about - because they weren't ever announced in the first place.
And while it's not uncommon for games to be scrapped during early stages of development or even a few years in, it's decidedly less frequent that games are canned when they're approaching the finish line.
After all, with so much time and money already invested in a product, it surely makes sense to get it out the door and recoup at least some of that investment, right?
But despite these 10 games all being in the latter stages of production, each never saw the official light of day, being killed in the home stretch for one of many reasons.
Perhaps the publisher reacted to a changing trend in the games industry, felt that it wasn't up to par with a previous game in the series, or more tragically, was derailed by dire financial straits behind-the-scenes.
Whatever the reason, these games all got really damn close to being in our hands...
10. Fable Legends
Fable Legends was a free-to-play co-op entry into Lionhead Studios' beloved RPG franchise - an asymmetric multiplayer game in which four Heroes battle an omnipotent Villain who hurls obstacles in their way.
Fable Legends began development in 2012 and was officially announced in 2013, with Lionhead reportedly spending $75 million on the game and intending to support it as a live service title for 5-10 years.
Despite the game having a closed beta in 2014 and being in the final polishing stages of development by 2015, it was unexpectedly cancelled in March 2016 when Microsoft suddenly closed Lionhead.
Numerous reasons were cited for Microsoft's decision, from the game's sizable budget to the difficulty of monetising it, the mixed response to the closed beta, few at Lionhead actually wanting to work on it, and Microsoft strategically shifting award from free-to-play multiplayer fare.
Though the live service space is wildly overcrowded today, it's rare for a game as far along as Fable Legends to get the chop.
Ultimately though, its cancellation is an indication of just how expensive and time-consuming it is to continually manage and operate "ongoing" games.