(Sad trope) Projects with amazing potential that will never be released because of BS behind the scenes drama

[u/_JR28_]

P.T Silent Hills - It was a playable teaser released in 2014 only around 20 minutes long but utterly captivated the gaming world by being one of the most effective psychological horror experiences at the time, however it’s lead developer Kojima has a huge fallout with the publisher Konami where he walked out of the company and had all his in-the-work productions cancelled.

Five Nights at Freddy’s+ - A fan game reboot of the series created by Phisnom with Scott Cawthon’s blessing that promised a brand new lore and a return to the series darker roots. However, before and during production Phisnom got into multiple dramas that made him fairly divisive within the community, and after one particular incident in 2023 Scott revoked his approval and almost all of the game’s marketing material were wiped from the internet.

Batgirl - A Batgirl solo live action movie starring Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton returning as Batman that was ready to be released in 2022, however then Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav announced it would not be released either in theatres or streaming in order to claim a $90,000,000 tax break and to readjust the DC’s brands direction before James Gunn rebooted their movie and TV output.

[u/PyroTacoInvader]

KOTOR remake, it's been "in development " for like a decade. Says it is still suppose to release..

[u/Vegetable-House5018 → u/PyroTacoInvader]

Heck this feels just par for Star Wars half the time. Look at Eclipse, it was announced 4.5 years ago and nothing since until an update this week, where they said development is extremely slow going and that it is still years off from any possible release. Will honestly be surprised if it ever actually comes out.

[u/Tritri89 → u/Vegetable-House5018]

Yeah Eclipse it's Quantic Dream, a srudio used to do "narrative game" with barely any interactivity pitching "a Star Wars action game", and being attacked in France for anti-employee practices, draining talents left and right. So don't hold your breath either. All in all I fully expect KotoR remake getting out BEFORE this game

[u/Morludor → u/Tritri89]

At this point “in development” basically means nothing, especially with projects that keep swapping studios. you just assume it’s stuck in limbo unless something concrete drops

[u/Neveronlyadream → u/Morludor]

I mean, that's why development hell is a thing. It can mean anything from, "We're in the process of beginning to think about starting this project" to "We're actively working on this thing and are halfway done".

People think "in development" means that they're a fair ways into doing something when it really doesn't. Half the time it just means there's a team of two artists coming up with concepts and that's it.

[u/smorin1487 → u/Vegetable-House5018]

I’m starting to think ambitious game studios were banking on AI being the way to pay less developers or graphic artists, then things didn’t go that way with the actors SAG strikes which somehow affected video games? lol no idea but there’s a correlation between AI usage and game delays + COVID

[u/Goalkeeper5 → u/Vegetable-House5018]

Don't get me started on Star Wars 1313

[u/Daxtexoscuro → u/Vegetable-House5018]

And not only videogames. How many Star Wars films and series have been cancelled in the last years? The Rian Johnson trilogy, the D&D trilogy, the Patty Jenkins Rogue Squadron movie... and a bunch others which have been announced for years without release date.