Cancelled games are an unfortunately common occurrence in our industry. The reasons given for their premature demises can be any one of many: A developer might either run out of money or decide to re-focus on some other project in the works, where publishers have been known to pivot on dimes and give up on games the moment the going gets rough. In other cases, a game simply can’t come together in time for a deadline, or otherwise lingers so long in development hell as to see no way forward. In any case, the consensus ultimately reached in all these verdicts is that it is better for these games to not see the light of day, rather than to de-value the companies involved — to see them fail to turn a profit, or turn dissatisfied consumers against them. Frankly speaking, the fact that video games ever actually manage to get released at all is something of a miracle, considering the staggering odds stacked against them.
Sometimes, though, something particularly odd happens: A game can be completely finished, make its way onto shelves and digital storefronts, and only later be discovered to be “cancelled” after the fact — leaving consumers and distributors alike to collectively scratch their heads while staring at the apocryphal product already in their hands. We’re not talking about games that simply sell through their allotted copies, disappear digitally due to expiring license agreements, or otherwise get delisted due to changing distribution or publishers going out of business: We’re talking about games that are put up for sale on a given day, before being promptly pulled from circulation on the next — issuing refunds to their small handfuls of purchasers, and seeing publishers apologize for ever having sold them in the first place. It’s not every day that you see game companies voluntarily turn down the opportunity to try and turn at least some sort of profit where they can, even off of knowingly sub-par products. As such, the small number of known instances where they have are all fairly noteworthy.
Needless to say, we’ll be going over several examples of this rare phenomena today — covering the subject of games “cancelled” after already being released. In order to qualify for this list, a game must have been available for purchase for at least a brief moment in time (whether appearing at physical retailers or as an online offering) and unexpectedly pulled from circulation shortly thereafter, with no plans for the game to be re-released in the future. This discounts cases like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas being temporarily pulled in the wake of the “Hot Coffee” controversy; where after having their ESRB rating changed to an ‘AO’ and seeing the title briefly pulled off shelves, Rockstar Games quickly worked to “fix” the game before just as promptly re-issuing it. Similarly, we won’t be counting cases where the games have been pulled due to unforeseen legal troubles (such as The Guy Game and X-Men Destiny), since that warrants something like its own list. Seeing publishers offer refunds is to be expected – as a gesture of goodwill and humility – but not a requisite in my books. Same goes for apologies being issued by developers / publishers in the wake of cancellation. With those ground rules laid, let’s get to listing.
