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Five Most Disappointing Cancellations - News

by VGChartz Staff , posted on 23 July 2011 / 12,388 Views
Five Most Disappointing Cancellations
Recently, the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 reminded us the harsh truth of the video game industry – Like any other business, it all comes down to money. If a companies' market research finds that a title won't make a dime, it's hard to justify creating software, even if your most die-hard fans want it. There are other factors, but every single one traces back to the green paper we all so desire. It's not uncommon to see titles and come and go before even reaching a retail release, but some are more disappointing than others when they don't hit. We look at some of gaming's pasts most devastating cancellations. 
Shenmue III
Alright, you knew this was coming so let's go ahead and get this out of the way. Shenmue III, the III sub title imply it would be the sequel to Shenmue II. Instead, Shenmue II was followed up by absolutely nothing.  The title was confirmed and canceled multiple times over the last ten years. And with recent comments from Yu Suzuki suggesting that there is a possibility for Shenmue III, fans may have their hopes slightly elevated at the moment. But considering the consistent off and on nature of the development of the title, I'd wait until we actually see some solid signs of a revival. Some may consider it to be one of gaming's largest disappointments. But what may be a bigger disappointment is...
Shenmue Online
It's not that Shenmue Online is more desired than Shenmue III, but Shenmue Online's cancellation was more disappointing in the fact that it was our best shot at finishing the Shenmue series. The title was an massively mutliplayer online title, so over time it could be updated with expansion packs, quests, missions etc. Why pour tons of money into a couple of titles to wrap up the story when you can make one title that can play through the whole story? Of course, the title never came to surface. As of today the title is in a pending state. But there is shred of hope for Shenmue fans, as a social game called Shenmue City is in the works that may further the plot. 
Star Fox 2
Star Fox 2's initial cancellation may have just seemed like a natural step as Nintendo moved from the Super Nintendo to the Nintendo 64. Much of what went in Star Fox 2 found its way to Star Fox 64. But it wouldn't be until a decade later that we would truly understand how painful Star Fox 2's cancellation was. What makes it painful is the fact that the game was finished. Why pull the plug? Because Miyamoto didn't want to release a graphically inferior 3D title so close to, what was believed to be, the Nintendo 64's launch at the time. The Nintendo 64 eventually ended up seeing significant delays anyways, so the title was sacrificed for nothing. We would love to eventually see the title for a Virtual Console release, but we've been asking for that since the service went live in 2006.
StarCraft Ghost
Blizzard is a busy company that demands perfection when releasing titles. Because of that, they have extremely lengthy development cycles, but, in most cases, it is all worth it in the end. StarCraft Ghost, like many of their other titles, went through a long development process. The difference here is that the final product never emerged. After being delayed three years past its original promised release window, the title was shelved to focus on the ever growing World of Warcraft. What makes the title such a painful loss is the anticipation of seeing Blizzard step into the third person shooter and stealth action genre. It is always exciting to see what a talented developer can bring forward in unfamiliar territory. Technically, the title is still suspended. But considering World of Warcraft is still pushing strong, Diablo III is getting somewhat close to release and Blizzard has more work to do on StarCraft II, it's hard to see when Blizzard will ever have time for this project in the foreseeable future.
Sonic Xtreme
Looking back at it today, Sonic Xtreme didn't look very promising. At the time most developers were still experimenting with early 3D gameplay, and many titles were hit and miss. And while we will never know how Sonic Xtreme would have turned out, from today's standpoint, it looked like a surefire miss. The title used a strange fisheye lens style camera that, really, just didn't seem to make all that much sense, especially in a Sonic title. Either way, the title's cancellation wasn't so much the disappointing factor. It was that the series was taking forever to make its way onto the SEGA Saturn. And by 1997, the title was officially canned and the Saturn never received a its full-fledged 3D Sonic title.
Duke Nukem Forever brought about some encouragement that, even if a title disappears or get in some development trouble, there's always a chance it will make a comeback. In Duke Nukem's case, that outcome was unfortunately not so great, but it is a little bit encouraging for fans of these titles, and even Mega Man Legends 3, that they may one day see their most anticipated titles of the past arise. Although, it's a once in a blue moon occurrence, so I wouldn't start saving up for Shenmue III just yet. And I think it's a little too late for SEGA to release an original SEGA Saturn Sonic title.

Recently, the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 reminded us the harsh truth of the video game industry – Like any other business, it all comes down to money. If a companies' market research finds that a title won't make a dime, it's hard to justify creating software, even if your most die-hard fans want it. There are other factors, but every single one traces back to the green paper we all so desire. It's not uncommon to see titles and come and go before even reaching a retail release, but some are more disappointing than others when they don't hit. We look at some of gaming's pasts most devastating cancellations. 

Shenmue III

Shenmue III

Alright, you knew this was coming so let's go ahead and get this out of the way. Shenmue III, the third roman numeral implied it would be the sequel to Shenmue II. Instead, Shenmue II was followed up by absolutely nothing. The title was confirmed and canceled multiple times over the last ten years. And with recent comments from Yu Suzuki suggesting that there is a possibility for Shenmue III, fans may have their hopes slightly elevated at the moment. But considering the consistent off and on nature of the development of the title, I'd wait until we actually see some solid signs of a revival. Some may consider it to be one of gaming's largest disappointments. But what may be a bigger disappointment is...

Shenmue Online

Shenmue Online

It's not that Shenmue Online is more desired than Shenmue III, but Shenmue Online's cancellation was more disappointing in the fact that it was our best shot at finishing the Shenmue series. The title was an massively mutliplayer online title, so over time it could be updated with expansion packs, quests, missions etc. Why pour tons of money into a couple of titles to wrap up the story when you can make one title that can play through the whole story? Of course, the title never came to surface. As of today the title is in a pending state. But there is shred of hope for Shenmue fans, as a social game called Shenmue City is in the works that may further the plot. 

Star Fox 2

Starfox 2

Star Fox 2's initial cancellation may have just seemed like a natural step as Nintendo moved from the Super Nintendo to the Nintendo 64. Much of what went in Star Fox 2 found its way to Star Fox 64. But it wouldn't be until a decade later that we would truly understand how painful Star Fox 2's cancellation was. What makes it painful is the fact that the game was finished. Why pull the plug?  Miyamoto didn't want to release a graphically inferior 3D title so close to, what was believed to be, the Nintendo 64's launch at the time. The Nintendo 64 eventually ended up seeing significant delays anyways, so the title was sacrificed for nothing. We would love to eventually see the title for a Virtual Console release, but we've been asking for that since the service went live in 2006.

StarCraft Ghost

StarCraft Ghost

Blizzard is a busy company that demands perfection when releasing titles. Because of that, they have extremely lengthy development cycles, but, in most cases, it is all worth it in the end. StarCraft Ghost, like many of their other titles, went through a long development process. The difference here is that the final product never emerged. After being delayed three years past its original promised release window, the title was shelved to focus on the ever growing World of Warcraft. What makes the title such a painful loss is the anticipation of seeing Blizzard step into the third person shooter and stealth action genre. It is always exciting to see what a talented developer can bring forward in unfamiliar territory. Technically, the title is still suspended. But considering World of Warcraft is still pushing strong, Diablo III is getting somewhat close to release and Blizzard has more work to do on StarCraft II, it's hard to see when Blizzard will ever have time for this project in the foreseeable future.

Sonic Xtreme

Sonic Xtreme

Looking back at it today, Sonic Xtreme didn't look very promising. At the time most developers were still experimenting with early 3D gameplay, and many titles were hit and miss. And while we will never know how Sonic Xtreme would have turned out, from today's standpoint, it looked like a surefire miss. The title used a strange fisheye lens style camera that, really, just didn't seem to make all that much sense, especially in a Sonic title. Either way, the title's cancellation wasn't so much the disappointing factor. It was that the series was taking forever to make its way onto the SEGA Saturn. And by 1997, the title was officially canned and the Saturn never received a its full-fledged 3D Sonic title.

Duke Nukem Forever brought about some encouragement that, even if a title disappears or get in some development trouble, there's always a chance it will make a comeback. In Duke Nukem's case, that outcome was unfortunately not so great, but it is a little bit encouraging for fans of these titles, and even Mega Man Legends 3, that they may one day see their most anticipated titles of the past arise. Although, it's a once in a blue moon occurrence, so I wouldn't start saving up for Shenmue III just yet. And I think it's a little too late for SEGA to release an original SEGA Saturn Sonic title.


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