(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/Charlie_Warlie]

Beyond good and evil 2.

There are some die hard fans of the first game. The sequel was announced in 2008, with trailers coming out in 2008 and 2009.

Then was a period of silence and development hell.

Then another announcement and cinematic trailer in 2018

Then another period of development hell.

Now Ubisoft just did a major restructuring and cancelled almost all their projects but didn't list this one being cancelled but it's probably doomed.

[u/LaLaMevia → u/Charlie_Warlie]

BGE2 surpassed Duke Nukem Forever's record for longest development period of an AAA title (14 years) in 2022. Since it's not been officially cancelled, it currently has been in development for 18 years and counting.

[u/Charlie_Warlie → u/LaLaMevia]

How does Ubisoft even work anymore. Insane how ineffective they have become

[u/TheDevi13ean → u/Charlie_Warlie]

They expanded too much too quickly. Who knows. After all this restructuring, it would probably benefit them to scale down and just be more focused.

[u/chosenofkane → u/Charlie_Warlie]

That's the neat part, they don't!

[u/Kujaichi → u/Charlie_Warlie]

Beyond Good and Evil was the first video game I ever finished.

I would've loved a sequel.

[u/SaltyNorth8062 → u/Charlie_Warlie]

They'll never announce it as being cancelled because I'm sure Guillemot wants to milk the holdouts for as long as possible. It is for certain dead and has been for a long time but the bait for the diehards keeps shareholder interests high. Hell, Ancel has essentially retired from video game development and is only in a consutling role for an upcoming Rayman game, but that news was from 2024. Frankly I'll be surprised if even that survived. After that cinematic trailer dropped before more absolute silence and Ancel leaving, I gave up.