It's common knowledge that video game development can take years to finish, but, for one reason or another, there are some games that can take more than a decade to even reach the testing stages.
At times, the games are worth the almost 10-year wait, but most of the time, they aren't. In fact, some of these games are more recognized more for their messy development periods than the final product's quality (or lack thereof).
10 Final Fantasy XV Kept Getting Remade During Its 10-Year Cycle
Originally announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PlayStation 3 in 2006, Final Fantasy XV (which ended up on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016) was meant to be a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy spin-offs (which may or may not be a part of a multiverse). Unfortunately, Square Enix was stretched too thin to give it the attention it deserved.
Final Fantasy XV was plagued by many production issues, such as a sudden change in directors, heavy rewrites, and numerous false starts to accommodate the change in consoles. Though it sold well, Final Fantasy XV was criticized for being unfinished, as seen in its patchy story. One of four planned DLC was released before the initiative was scrapped altogether.
9 Prey (2006) Stayed In Development For 11 Years Because Of Technical Issues
When it was advertised, Prey's gravity-defying levels and mechanics were put front and center. Unsurprisingly, this groundbreaking physics engine took years to finish, which is what led to its drawn-out development. Prey was first announced by 3D Realms in 1995, but it was released in 2006 even though a working build was actually completed in 1997.
Not helping were the creative teams' constant problems, such as the original director Tom Hall leaving the project to found Ion Storm and developers struggling to perfect the game's physics and portal engine. The sci-fi shooter met mostly positive feedback, but these weren't enough to greenlight the planned sequel and avert Bethesda's reboot.
8 Diablo III Was Delayed By 11 Years Because Of Corporate Infighting
The influential co-op dungeon crawler Diablo may be one of Blizzard's most successful series, but even it fell victim to restructuring. Diablo III began production in 2001, a year after its predecessor, but then its developers at Blizzard North clashed with Blizzard's parent company, Vivendi. Blizzard North was shut down and its developers left, leaving the sequel in limbo.
Diablo III was finally pulled out of its purgatorial state in 2008 but would take another four years before it was completed. Unlike previous games, though, Diablo III inspired mixed reactions. While the gameplay was praised and it sold incredibly well, many took issue with the inclusion of the controversial always-online DRM system.
7 Mother 3 Took 12 Years To Come Out Because Of Nintendo's Worries
Also known as EarthBound 2 internationally, Mother 3 took the better part of a decade to release because of Nintendo's concerns. In brief, Mother 3's story had some explicitly adult content and themes that Nintendo was convinced would anger Western censors. Given some of the company's old ads, this isn't unsurprising. Besides that, Mother 3's production cycle was problematic since its start in 1994.
Originally, the sequel was envisioned as a 3D game for the N64, before it was reworked into a top-down 2D game for the Game Boy Advance. Though released in Japan in 2006, Mother 3 has yet to get an official English localization. To this day, Western gamers' only way to play it is through fan-translated ports.
6 Fallout: Van Buren Languished For 13 Years Before Transforming Into Fallout: New Vegas
Shortly after 1998's Fallout 2, Black Isle Studios began working on a follow-up, codenamed Van Buren. Its publisher, Interplay Entertainment, had other plans and made the developers prioritize Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel instead. Brotherhood Of Steel bombed on release, and Interplay canned Van Buren in response before going under.
When Bethesda acquired Fallout, the remains of Van Buren were refitted into NPCs, stories, or Easter Eggs in New Vegas. Many of the highly acclaimed spin-off's elements came from Van Buren, most notably Caesar's Legion and Hoover Dam. What didn't fit the main game came back in the 2011 DLC, like Old World Blues' Big MT which was originally the domed Tibbets "Big Top" prison.
5 Half-Life: Alyx Was Kept Under Wraps For 13 Years To Perfect Its VR Interface
After leaving the consistently good Half-Life franchise on a massive cliffhanger with Half-Life 2: Episode 2 in 2007, Valve went radio silent when it came to information about its flagship title. Fans speculated that the follow-up would be Half-Life 3, only for it to be the VR-exclusive interquel Half-Life: Alyx, which came seemingly out of nowhere.
Alyx began production in 2016, and it was the only Half-Life concept to escape the conceptual stage in the 13 years after Episode 2. Valve's well-known high standards contributed to Alyx's long development cycle, as they wanted the story and the game's VR controls (plus Valve's own VR console, the Index) to be as perfect as possible.
4 Duke Nukem Forever Was Released After 15 Years Of False Starts & Trend Chasing
After the groundbreaking Duke Nukem 3D changed the first-person shooter genre in 1996, the sequel Duke Nukem Forever seemed like a sure thing. Instead, the highly anticipated sequel came out in 2011 after years of unrealistic expectations and hype. Unfortunately, Duke's comeback didn't only disappoint but it outright killed his franchise.
Duke Nukem Forever took forever because George Broussard, its director at 3D Realms, constantly restarted production to keep it up to date. This trend-chasing was so intrusive that not only were entire builds scrapped, but it partially led to 3D Realms' dissolution. Gearbox Software then acquired Duke's license and promptly rushed the game into being.
3 Psychonauts 2 Was Shelved For 16 Years Because The First Game Was A Flop
Despite its critical acclaim and fan rapport, Psychonauts' sales flopped. Double Fine's plans for a franchise for Raz and friends were shelved since it demanded more money than the studio had. Fortunately for Psychonauts 2 (which had a successful crowdfunding campaign), Microsoft's acquisition of Double Fine guaranteed more resources.
Psychonauts 2 finally came out in 2021, though the generally praised sequel was criticized for its dated story and gameplay, both of which felt like they came right out of 2005. As a bonus, Double Fine's original vision of a Psychonauts franchise took shape with 2018's VR game, Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin.
2 Star Fox 2 Was Completed 23 Years After Nintendo Cancelled It
Following the success of the original Star Fox on the SNES, production for Star Fox 2 immediately started, and it was set to be one of the console's most ambitious titles. But when the game was 95% complete in 1996, Nintendo scrapped it. Reportedly, Nintendo got cold feet when it saw the graphical innovations of its competitors.
As state-of-the-art as the sequel's graphics and gameplay were, Nintendo felt they paled in comparison to what was seen on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. Nintendo canceled the game's intended '90s release but continued development and QA testing. In 2019, Star Fox 2 finally made the jump from the SNES to the Nintendo Switch and SNES Classic Edition.
1 UnReal World Needed 26 Years To Realize Its Ambitious Goals
The roguelike RPG genre that consists of games like Hades is often dismissed as a gaming cliché of the 2010s, but it could've become a massive trend as far back as the '90s if UnReal World were completed on time. Made by the two-man development team of Erkka Lehmus and Sami Maaranen, UnReal World was first announced in 1990 as an open-world roguelike survival sandbox.
Since then, this adaptation of Finnish folklore saw multiple beta and freeware releases. Besides the lack of manpower, it took decades to finish due to elements like open-ended narratives and real-time combat being ahead of their time. UnReal World was finally finished in 2016, and it received positive reviews, even though some said it was little more than a relic of the '90s.