Whenever a video game is canceled it's always a tough pill to swallow for so many fans. It's especially painful when it's a game from a really popular or beloved franchise. Most of the time we don't know what the final product of the canceled game's would have played like or how good they would have been received critically. You may not agree with a number of the games including in the following list, but if you look in the right places you can always find a silver-lining to even some of the most disappointing situations. There will also probably be a bevy of games that didn't end up on the list that easily deserve recognition for their cancellation resulting in thankful expressions from players around the globe. Feel free to leave a comment for a video game you're thankful was canceled in the comments section. Sometimes games are canceled because the publisher feels they're just not hitting the appropriate quality standards. Other times it's the result of an R.O.I. analysis which takes into account the return on investment in terms of how much money it will cost to finish the game in relation to how much they think it will sell. Simply put, there are dozens of factors that go into making these heartbreaking decisions, but sometimes the company was doing us a favor in the long run. It may not always feel like that, but there are tons of examples that hold this previous statement to be true. Let's now take a look at just 25 console games that were thankfully canceled.
25 Gotham By Gaslight
The Arkham games by Rocksteady and WB Montreal set a new standard for what a superhero video game should be. What would you say if I told you a Batman game based on the Gotham By Gaslight series was planned and canceled, but not by Rocksteady? Day 1 Studios, the developer behind the F.E.A.R. series, developed a prototype of a game based on this iconic Batman story. Unfortunately, the game couldn't find a publisher and the project was scrapped. Batman's a bankable property, so the fact it didn't find a publisher probably meant the game had some glaring issues.
24 Doom 4
In May of 2008, Doom 4 was announced to the world. It was intended to take on what people loved most about the Doom franchise and it was going to focus on the uprising of Hell on Earth. This was a popular theme in the franchise wherein the demon chaos took over Earth as we knew it. The came went quite after its announcement and after 4 years we found out the project was scrapped in favor of a new idea. This idea ending up being Doom which released in 2016 to high critical praise from Doom fans and newcomers. Bethesda stated Doom 4 was scrapped because at the end of the day it didn't feel like Doom.
23 Prey 2
Thankfully this story has a happy ending of sorts, but let's start at the beginning. The first Prey was well-received critically and had a solid base of fans. The sequel was shown off at E3 in 2011 and even played by journalists behind closed doors.
In 2014 Bethesda finally confirmed the cancellation of Prey 2 and broke fans hearts everywhere.
Luckily fans were surprised with a reboot of Prey in 2017 that took the series in a brand new and promising direction. The game has recently received some interesting DLC in the form of a replayable rogue-like mode.
22 StarCraft: Ghost
StarCraft: Ghost was set to be the first Starcraft game centered at capturing the attention of the console market. The game shifted hands through multiple studios and it seems that Blizzard had a hard time finding someone who would meet their lofty standards for a game with their name attached. The game starred a woman named Nova who was a Starcraft unit known as a ghost. It was set to be a stealth/action game that pulled players into the close-up brutality of the Starcraft universe. It was removed from Blizzard's schedule in 2006 but officially canceled in 2014.
21 The Avengers
Now, we're not talking about the upcoming and highly anticipated title from Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics. Let's get that out of the way. Back when the Avengers film was set to release there was a licensed game in development set to release alongside the movie. Strangely enough, it didn't follow the events of the movie and was mostly inspired by the comic event Secret Invasion. It was stated as being a first-person shooter/brawler developed by THQ Australia and set for a 2012 release date. It was canceled in 2011 mostly due impart to THQ's ongoing financial problems.
20 Mega Man Universe
People fell in love with Super Mario Maker on the Wii U and have been clamoring for a Nintendo Switch port ever since. Interestingly enough Capcom had that same idea years ago for its Mega Man franchise. Mega Man Universe was set to allow people to create their own stages and share them with other players. During development, it received tons of tough criticism while at the same time seeing the creator of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, leave Capcom all together in 2010. In March 2011 Capcom finally put the rumors to rest and announced Mega Man Universe's official cancellation.
19 Agent
Many people tend to forget that Rockstar announced a PlayStation exclusive title ever happened. In 2010 Rockstar announced Agent was still in development despite fears it had been canceled. In 2011 Sony's then CEO Jack Tretton wasn't even sure the game was still an exclusive for PlayStation. The game's never been officially canceled but with Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA VI on the horizon, it's safe to say fans think the right choice was made. Not to mention the extreme success of GTA V has had for the past 5 years.
18 Legacy Of Kain: Dead Sun
In 2009-2010 a secret project began development at Square Enix wherein Climax Studios began work on a 6th entry in the Legacy of Kain series where they would be under close supervision by Crystal Dynamics. The game was titled Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun that was meant to be a story-based action adventure game heavily inspired by Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Psyonix, the developers of Rocket League, was working on a multiplayer component for the game. The project was canceled in 2012 before beginning full production.
17 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots
Rainbow Six: Patriots was simply a victim of next-generation consoles providing more power and tools to developers. Much of the team believed the destructible environment capabilities that were shaping up for them as they started to explore next-gen opportunities made them question R6: Patriots' reason for existing. They ultimately decided to scrap the game and hit restart despite being deep in development. They shifted towards a game focused on what their community wanted and Rainbow Six: Siege was born. The game's been a tremendous success and it seems like it was the right decision in the end.
16 Star Wars 1313
With all of the issues surrounding Star Wars games the last decade, none of them hurt in quite the same way that Star Wars 1313's cancellation did.
It was rooted in exploring the underbelly of Curoscant.
Whenever it was shown Star Wars 1313 never failed to impress. It's cancellation was simply due to the shutting down of LucasArts after Disney had acquired LucasFilm. People believed that EA might one day release it under their new deal. Thankfully we don't have to see how that might have turned out in the care of Electronic Arts.
15 Silent Hills
If you're even remotely familiar with horror video games or Let's Play culture, then you'll remember when the P.T. demo took the gaming world by storm. It took a bit of time, but players quickly solved the puzzles and navigating their way to an amazing reveal and P.T. demo was revealed to be Silent Hills.
The game's cancellation ultimately led to Kojima Productions and the creation of Death Stranding, so it's not that bad in hindsight.
If the relationship between Konami and Kojima was really that bad then who knows what the final product of the P.T. demo would have been considering Konami's questionable decisions.
14 Project Rap Rabbit
Everyone remembers playing PaRappa the Rapper on their PlayStation 1. The classic and beloved rhythm game embraced it's oddball humor and story and completely leaned into it. Project Rap Rabbit was pitched through Kickstarter as a spiritual successor to both PaRappa the Rapper and Gitaroo Man from both of those series creators. It aimed to build on the history and legacy of story-based rhythm games. Sadly, Project Rap Rabbit failed to secure financial backing on Kickstarter and the game was put on the shelf for the time being.
13 Insane
Insane was meant to be a survival horror game developed by Volition in partnership with accomplished director Guillermo Del Toro and published by THQ. With the publisher being stated it's not hard to predict why or how exactly this project was canceled.
Insane was canceled in 2012, but the IP rights for the game were given to Guillermo Del Toro.
Unfortunately, we've seen that Del Toro has had some bad luck considering another game he was working on, Silent Hills, was also canceled. Here's hoping he's not cut from Death Stranding before release.
12 LMNO
Do you remember when Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts partnered together to make a video game in 2004? Well, you probably wouldn't, considering that game in question is LMNO and never saw the light of day.
The game centered around the player's relationship with an alien named Eve.
LMNO slowly morphed into a less-inspired more marketable product called The Escape Artist. Though it drastically changed from its origin this iteration was ultimately canceled in 2009. Fans were thankful the game was canceled considering it shifted so much from its original vision.
11 Streets Of Rage
Many people have forgotten about Ruffian Games' (Crackdown 2) attempt at bringing Streets of Rage into the modern age. They uploaded a video of a prototype they made in just 8 weeks showcasing how they turned the classic 16-bit brawler into a 3D modern-day adaptation. Tons of hype was generated about what could possibly be a new generation of Streets of Rage games, but sadly this seed bared no fruit. Sega turned away from Streets of Rage in order to focus on the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Football Manager. If Sega's heart wasn't in it then we're glad it got canceled.
10 Mega Man Legends 3
This game was initially announced for the Nintendo 3DS in 2010 right before series creator Keiji Inafune decided to leave Capcom. That shows you that this game was destined to fail and hopes for its eventual release should have quickly faded. Mega Man Legends 3 was just another victim of the Mega Man purge of 2011. In recent years we've seen a resurgence in love for Capcom due to them showing love to both fans and fan favorite series. The recent announcement of Mega Man 11 and it's upcoming release seems like a direct product of fan backlash, and apparently, the Mega Man 11's looking real good according to previews.
9 Titan
Titan was meant to be Blizzard's big MMO follow-up to World of Warcraft. Though it was massive in ambition it apparently never had anything that drastically set it apart from other current and ongoing MMO games on the market.
Despite never becoming official, Titan was canceled internally in 2013.
The core Titan team of about 40 was asked to come up with a new idea in 6 weeks which led to the birth of Overwatch via Jeff Kaplan and team. Without the cancellation of Titan, we would have never seen the birth of the worldwide phenomenon known as Overwatch.
8 Heavenly Sword 2
Heavenly Sword was a surprise hit developed by Ninja Theory on the PlayStation 3 that sold over 1 million copies in its first year. Because of its success, Sony immediately greenlit development on a sequel from a different studio. In 2013 the studio working on Heavenly Sword 2 was folded into Guerilla Games and Sony canceled the project. With Microsoft's recent acquisition of Ninja Theory, there's a possibility we might one day see this sequel come to fruition. In place of a Heavenly Sword 2, Ninja Theory delivered both Enslaved and Hellblade to the world, of which both were home runs.
7 Fez 2
In 2012 the indie gaming world fell in love with a darling title called Fez. Its art-style and craftsmanship was critically lauded and praised by almost everyone in the gaming industry.
It did so well in-fact that a sequel titled Fez 2 was pushed into development and announced.
Though the game was praised, many people in the gaming community had issues with the game's lead creative, Phil Fish. After only a month following Fez 2's official announcement the game was canceled. This was due in large part to a Twitter argument between Phil Fish and a journalist in which Fish expressed his frustration with the industry.
6 Dawngate
Once publishers realized how much money League of Legends and DOTA 2 were raking in they wanted a part of that cash cow for themselves. We saw numerous companies try their hand at the genre with the only success stories being from Hi-Rez Studios and Blizzard. Electronic Arts tried their hand at the genre with the help of developer Waystone Games and they began work on Dawngate. Dawngate differentiated itself by including an ever-evolving story alongside gameplay. The beta never shaped up to set standards and the project was officially canceled.