The unfortunate reality of video game development is that it's arguably one of the most cutthroat and merciless industries in the entertainment landscape. Regardless of how successful or beloved a particular game or franchise is, sequels or spin-offs to even the biggest games of their respective years can be suddenly canceled with little to no explanation.
All that remains of these games are leaked art, builds, and their developers' descriptions of what they had in store. If these games were ever made, it's possible that they would either be good or bad. Sadly, no one will ever know because these games never escaped development, and are only remembered now for their lost potential.
10 Mega Man Legends 3 Was A Great Spin-Off's Continuation
By all accounts, Mega Man Legends 3 was shaping up to be a great sequel. First announced in 2010 for the Nintendo DS, Legends 3 was set to be the highly-anticipated reunion for Legends' developers, who even got Mega Man artist Keiji Inafune's blessing. But in 2011, Capcom canceled Legends 3 and its prologue, Prototype Version.
Capcom hasn't released an official reason for the cancelation, but it's been theorized that the studio just lost faith and interest in Legends 3. Despite passionate fan campaigns and even Inafune's offer to finish the game with his own team, Capcom maintained that Legends 3 would remain canceled, leaving the Legends sub-series dormant as well.
9 Saints Row: Money Shot Could've Been A Fun Spin-Off
For some fans, the link between the gritty urban sandbox Saints Row 2 and the cartoonish Saints Row: The Third is non-existent. THQ Digital Phoenix was set to fill in this tonal gap with the DLC Saints Row: Money Shot which, according to what little information there is and a leaked demo, was a rail-shooter starring an assassin named Cypher.
In Money Shot, players helped Cypher kill targets by guiding her bullets through obstacles. Money Shot was set to be available on the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, but THQ quietly scrapped it to work on other Saints Row DLCs. Now that THQ is defunct after filing for bankruptcy in 2013, Money Shot will never be officially completed.
8 StarCraft: Ghost Could've Helped The StarCraft Series Evolve
During their peak in the '90s and 2000s, the real-time strategy (RTS) genre tried to branch out into other genres. Blizzard Entertainment was one of the most prominent studios to attempt this, as seen in StarCraft: Ghost: a stealth-based third-person shooter set in the world of StarCraft, starring the elite Terran Ghost, Nova Terra.
Blizzard announced Ghost in 2002, but then delayed it so many times that it was outright canceled in 2014. Despite promising teaser materials and cutscenes, Ghost could never live up to the developers' standards. Nova may have never gotten her solo game, but she was still incorporated into StarCraft canon, and even appeared in Heroes of the Storm.
7 Thief II Gold & Thief III Would've Continued Looking Glass Studios' Streak
The unfortunate thing about the Thief series was that it fell victim to circumstances beyond its control. In the '90s, Thief was regarded as one of the premier stealth-action series, with Thief II: The Metal Age even being declared one of the genre's best sequels. Looking Glass Studios planned to make more but went bankrupt in 2000.
LGS planned an expansion pack in Thief II Gold and even started mapping out Thief III, but their financial troubles halted any projects, regardless of their development stage. The Thief franchise was sold to Ion Storm, where some former LGS developers moved to and finished an entirely different sequel in Thief: Deadly Shadows.
6 Epic Donald Was An Ambitious Reimagining Of Donald Duck's Mythos
When Junction Point Studios turned Mickey Mouse into the star of an edgy dark fantasy in Epic Mickey, they envisioned a four-part epic that would branch out into spin-offs. One of these was Epic Donald, starring Donald Duck and Disney's other ducks in a fantastical reimagining of Donald's adventures, particularly those written by Carl Barks.
The Epic Mickey franchise's longevity rode on the success or failure of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, which, unfortunately, sold poorly and earned a middling critical reception. Not helping matters was Junction Point Studios' closure in 2013, which put the final nail in the coffin of the ambitious Epic Donald and many more Epic ideas.
5 Star Wars: Battlefront III & TimeSplitters 4 Were Some Of The Most Anticipated Sequels Of The 2000s
The early 2000s were great for Free Radical Designs. Not only did FRD create the hit TimeSplitters franchise, but they were also in charge of the Battlefront series, which is regarded as one of the all-time best licensed games and multiplayer shooters. FRD planned to make more of these games, but Crytek bought them out.
FRD's newest title, Haze, bombed hard in 2008, and this loss was a major contributor to FRD declaring bankruptcy in 2009. Not helping matters was FRD's slow development time, which caused Battlefront III's delays and later cancelation. Similarly, TimeSplitters 4 was scrapped after Haze's failure disillusioned the developers.
4 Conker's Other Bad Day & Conker: Gettin' Medieval Could've Helped Conker Escape Cult Status
Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of those cult games that fans really wish was a series, and if its developers at Rare had it their way, this would've been the case. In the sequel, Conker's Other Bad Day, King Conker would be dethroned because of how bad a king he was. What's more, a multiplayer game titled Gettin' Medieval was also planned.
However, the problem was that Rare was absorbed into Microsoft in 2002, and the publishing giant was not interested in Conker's brand of raunchy irreverence and gameplay. As a result, Conker's sequels were scrapped, and the most he got was an Xbox remake called Conker: Live and Reloaded. Meanwhile, Rare was forced to prioritize Kinect Sports instead.
3 ClayFighter: Call Of Putty & ClayFighter (2016) Could've Revived Their Obscure Series
ClayFighter is the kind of fighting franchise that could've been a legitimate blockbuster and not a mere cult favorite if only its producers actually wanted it to succeed. Unfortunately, Interplay didn't seem too interested in investing the time and resources to turn ClayFighter into its flagship title, and this apathy came to a head in the 2010s.
ClayFighter was set to be revived with the Sculptor's Cut remake, Call of Putty, and an untitled franchise crossover simply referred to as ClayFighter (2016). In 2016, an anonymous ex-employee revealed that both titles were canceled because Interplay CEO Herve Caen kept railroading the projects to the point where the developers quit.
2 Castlevania: Resurrection Could've Been A New Step Forward For The Series
In the late '90s, Konami revealed Castlevania: Resurrection to the world. Resurrection would've been Castelvania's first game on the Sega Dreamcast, and it would also be the first to star Sonia Belmont and introduce franchise newcomer Victor Belmont. However, midway through production, Konami shut down Resurrection's development.
Although there's no official reason for the cancelation, it's widely believed that Konami lost faith in the Dreamcast since Resurrection was canned the same day Sony revealed the PlayStation 2. In 2021, Resurrection's rough demo was unearthed, allowing players to get a feel of what Castlevania's Dreamcast debut could've been like.
1 Silent Hills Could've Changed Survival-Horror & Gaming Forever
There will probably never be a canceled game as controversial yet desired as Silent Hills. Directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, developed by Kojima Studios and Junji Ito, and starring Norman Reedus, Silent Hills was hyped up as its troubled franchise's much-needed return to form and a surprisingly heavyweight reboot.
Unfortunately, Silent Hills was too good to be true. Konami restructured its gaming divisions for the worse, and it got so bad that Kojima quit the studio. Konami retaliated by effectively wiping out Kojima and Silent Hills (plus its demo, PT) from existence; a move declared one of the worst and most spiteful executive decisions in entertainment history.