Canceled Open-World Games That You Never Knew Existed

Key Takeaways

• Open-world games face challenges like budget constraints and shutdowns, leading to many intriguing cancelations.
• Games like
  The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2, South Park,
  and
  Star Wars: Project Orca
  were canceled despite promising concepts.
• Developers like EA, Zeus Software, and DarkSkyne tackled ambitious open-world projects but faced cancelations due to various factors.

The open-world genre is an ever-expanding landscape with developers seemingly trying to outdo one another. X game is ten times bigger than Y game and so on. Developers like Rockstar Games even try to outdo themselves with each new release. One could argue that their games are perhaps too big.

That’s the tricky part about creating open-world games. Some companies could make the biggest in the world, but if said world is desolate and without much to do, then there’s little point in exploring it. So they then have to figure out what to stuff it with, and serve it up on budget and on time. These issues, and many more, have seen many open-world games get canceled before they even got started, like these examples.

Updated on November 30th, 2024, by David Heath: Like Zeno’s Paradox, it’s a wonder any game gets completed and released. Developers have to go through multiple steps before their projects even reach the alpha stage. That’s why canceled games can be so interesting, as they could’ve been fun final products if time constraints, budget concerns, shutdowns, and plain bad luck didn’t work against them.

Some of the most interesting canceled games are open-world games, as companies have tried offering players these sandbox experiences way before Shenmue and Grand Theft Auto 3. Some companies managed to offer whole worlds for players to explore at their leisure, and others fell by the wayside, including some that could’ve revolutionized the industry if they made it to release. With that in mind, this list has been updated with some more intriguing canceled open-world games, alongside format and info tweaks to the older entries.

15 The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2

Publisher Give Up IP License During the Developers’ Pre-Planning Stages

• Developer: Radical Entertainment
• Potential Platforms: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
• Canceled: 2004-2005

The Simpsons: Hit & Run was one of the better Simpsons-based games, if not the best, as it was essentially GTA: Springfield. Players took each Simpson (bar Maggie in favor of Apu) as they tackled different missions in seven levels based on their hometown. They could run around the city collecting coins and other items, or smashing boxes (and people) with melee attacks or from behind the wheel of various vehicles. The game was a one-off that’s been kept alive today by Simpsons fans and a keen speedrunning community.

However, YouTube channel Did You Know Gaming discovered Radical Entertainment had plans to make The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2. It would’ve had a wider variety of missions, taking inspiration from GTA: Vice City, while offering a wider world where different characters could access different parts of Springfield. With the first game being a hit, Radical thought the sequel would be greenlit soon after talks. Instead, they lost the license to EA, who’d get Rebellion Developments to make The Simpsons Game instead. Everyone lost out on that deal.

14 South Park

The Crude Cartoon’s Open-World Adventure Was Shut Down By A Problematic Producer

• Developer: Buzz Monkey Software
• Potential Platforms: PS2, GameCube, Xbox
• Canceled: 2005-2006

Did You Know Gaming also revealed that players almost got to explore the podunk little mountain town in 2005 through Buzz Monkey’s South Park game. Players can even emulate and play a rough alpha build of their work. It would’ve been similar to The Simpsons: Hit & Run, as players would’ve taken on different GTA-ish missions with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny, but with more focus on puzzles and adventure.

For example, the alpha build shows Cartman sneaking into a sanitarium to try and get a straitjacket, complete with cutscenes with voices by the show’s cast (sans Parker and Stone). It might’ve been finished if it wasn’t for one of the producers, who put extreme pressure on the developers to complete the game, among other issues. The game only got as far as pre-production when Ubisoft stepped in, canceled the project and, according to sources, fired the problematic producer shortly afterward.

13 Star Wars: Project Orca

EA Ends Vancouver Studios’ Attempts to Revamp Visceral Studios’ Star Wars Project

• Developer: Visceral Games
• Potential Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Canceled: 2019

Visceral Games had the worst sort of luck with their Star Wars games. First, their Project Yuma game about a Han Solo-esque space pirate got canceled when EA needed more developers for Battlefield Hardline. Its replacement, Project Ragtag, didn’t get far either. It would’ve been an Uncharted-like third-person adventure game, with former Naughty Dog producer Amy Hennig at the helm. It proved too expensive, and led to Visceral’s shutdown in 2017.

From its ashes, EA Vancouver planned to make Star Wars: Project Orca, an open-world game where players would explore mini open-worlds on different planets as a “scoundrel or bounty hunter”. It was worked on for 2 years before being shut down in 2019 to make way for a smaller, more budget-friendly Star Wars game. While it’s not an open-world game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order at least managed to give players a taste of what Orca‘s forebear Project Ragtag might’ve been like.

12 Mercenaries 3: No Limits

Sequel Scuppered By Financial Woes And Studio Closure

• Developer: Pandemic Studios
• Potential Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
• Canceled: 2008-2009

Speaking of Star Wars, Pandemic Studios made their name by developing the Star Wars Battlefront games for LucasArts. But they also had their own original IPs, like Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. It was a third-person shooter that let players go all around the North Korean setting on foot or in various vehicles to blast their way through opposing forces for one faction or another. It led to a follow-up, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, which offered minor improvements, but wasn’t as popular as its first installment.

Still, Pandemic planned to make a third game, Mercenaries 3: No Limits, alongside an unnamed racing game for the Wii, and a tie-in game for The Dark Knight. Based on its few screenshots and one gameplay video, it would’ve been set in Cuba, and would’ve had a new lead character over the original blond, mustachioed Mercenary. Alas, that was as far as the game got before Pandemic was closed and reintegrated within EA.

11 The Lord Of The Rings: The White Council

EA Skips Open World LotR RPG For A Standard Action Game

• Developer: EA Redwood Shores
• Potential Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
• Canceled: 2007

Before EA struck down Project Orca and Merc 3, they brought the dwarven axe down on The Lord of the Rings: The White Council. It would’ve taken inspiration from both Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy and the original books to produce an open world where players could go on different Story Quests across its different locations. The player would make a custom character, be they Human, Dwarf, Elf, or Hobbit, and they’d aid the White Council on an adventure when they weren’t doing side quests.

The game met its end shortly after its announcement, when it was put on indefinite hiatus in February 2007 before being canceled outright. The reason given was management issues, with EA opting to make The Lord of the Rings: Conquest with Pandemic Studios instead. All that’s left of the project is some concept art, which Unseen64 helpfully compiled in their article on the game.

10 Steambot Chronicles 2

The Sequel To Bumpy Trot Gets Bumped Off By The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

• Developer: Irem
• Potential Platforms: PS2, PS3
• Canceled: 2011

Steambot Chronicles, aka Bumpy Trot, is an unusual action RPG, where players can choose to make protagonist Vanilla R. Beans (seriously) a hero or a villain by roaming the world in their Trotmobiles. All trade, transport, and battles take place through the Trotmobile’s controls, and they can be modified in a variety of ways, be they fast but frail, strong but slow, or (if players work hard to get them) perfect in all stats. It got fair reviews, and it was popular enough to get two PSP spin-offs, in Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament and Blocks Club with Bumpy Trot.

Irem also planned to give it a sequel, tentatively titled Steambot Chronicles 2 (or Bumpy Trot 2 in other territories), via a teaser trailer. It suggested it would’ve been less RPG-like and more like an open-world action game. The game was originally made with the PS2 in mind before development shifted to the PS3. Given most developers had trouble getting the hang of the PS3, it’s assumed Irem already had trouble working on the game before the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake scuppered its further development, so it was quietly canceled soon afterward.

9 The Getaway 3

London-Based GTA Clone Goes Through 3 Developers Before Fizzling Out

• Developer: Kainco Games
• Potential Platform: PS3
• Canceled: 2008

The Getaway was one of many Grand Theft Auto clones in the PS2 era, which aimed to do things differently by being more realistic. On top of taking place in a (for the time) accurately modeled version of London, it avoided using a heads-up display to show stats in favor of other, more subtle elements. For example, the car would let players know which way to go by flashing its blinkers left or right. It did well enough to get a sequel, The Getaway: Black Monday, albeit by a different team of developers.

Original developers Team Soho broke up, with founder Brendan McNamara spending the following decade making L.A. Noire with his new studio, Team Bondi. Black Monday developers London Studio switched to making EyeToy, VR and Singstar games. But The Getaway 3 almost became a reality via Kainco Games, who teased its reveal via a tech demo at E3 2005, before confirming it would take place in London and Amsterdam. The game was officially canceled in 2008, likely due to the dour response to the series’ PSP spin-off Gangs of London.

8 Crimson Skies 3

World’s First Open-World Flying Game Gets Shut Down For Shadowrun Game

• Developer: FASA Studio
• Potential Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
• Canceled: 2005

Calling this canceled game Crimson Skies 3 is a bit of a misnomer. It would’ve been the third video game, after 2000’s Crimson Skies and 2003’s Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. But it began life as a board game in 1998, playing like FASA’s other tabletop games like Shadowrun. Only it used airplanes in a steampunk 1930s world instead of being a sci-fi future world.

The first two video games played more like a cross between a flight sim and an arcade flying game. But Crimson Skies 3 would’ve broadened its scope by letting players roam at their leisure, taking part in on-foot missions in cities as well as flying around, expanding on High Road‘s open levels by being the first open-world flying game. But it was canceled to free more developers to work on Shadowrun‘s 2007 game, which ended up being a so-so adventure game.

7 Pirates Of The Caribbean: Armada Of The Damned

A Promising Pirate Game Shut Down In Favor Of A Tron Game

• Developer: Propaganda Games
• Potential Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
• Canceled: October 2010

There are plenty of games based on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and most of them have been the usual licensed tie-in guff. But one project, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, showed promise. It would’ve been an open-world action RPG set before the first movie, where players would help Captain James Sterling (not that one, son) sail across the Caribbean Sea and make a name for themselves. Through him, players could explore different islands, find different treasure hordes, amble about the shoreside towns, etc.

In short, it would’ve been like a third-person version of Sea of Thieves. It had a lot of coverage too, like screenshots, interviews with developers, and even firsthand descriptions of the gameplay from reporters who got to try out its demos. Unfortunately, it was shut down when Disney Interactive Studios restructured Propaganda Games, who focused their efforts on finishing Tron: Evolution before getting shut down. The only trace left of it was some of its musical score, which ended up in the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean video game instead.

6 Strider

Ninja Fans Almost Got A Reboot From The Bionic Commando Developers

• Developer: Grin
• Potential Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
• Canceled: 2009

The defunct developer Grin had a pretty good run for a while, producing the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games, and a revival of Capcom’s Bionic Commando series. That being Bionic Commando Rearmed. The more notorious Bionic Commando reboot ended up being a fiasco that only lives on through its awkward plot turns, and its version of Nathan ‘Rad’ Spencer being a pretty decent character in the Marvel Vs Capcom games.

Before Grin closed its doors in 2009, the developer was hard at work on several promising titles. There was an original hack & slash game called Vultures, a potential sequel to Wanted: Weapons of Fate in The Cult, a Final Fantasy 12 spin-off called Fortress, a remake of Streets of Rage, and an open-world reboot of Capcom’s other arcade classic, Strider. It didn’t get far into development before Grin’s end, but judging by its concept art on Unseen64, it would’ve been as gritty as Bionic Commando‘s reboot, complete with a more generic-looking Strider ninja.

5 The Outsider

Famed Developer Almost Makes Open-World Political Thriller

• Developer: Frontier Developments
• Potential Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
• Canceled: 2011

David Braben made video game history in the early 1980s when he and Ian Bell made Elite, one of the earliest (if not the first) open-world games. It saw people flying around the galaxy in a spaceship, trading items, mining asteroids, and hunting bounties for one set of clients or another to earn enough credits to upgrade their spacecraft. By 2005, Braben wanted to make something more up-to-date. The Outsider would’ve been an open-world action game version of thrillers like the Bourne movies and 24, with a few elements from Elite mixed in.

Its plot would’ve followed John Jameson, a CIA agent framed for a crime he didn’t commit. He’d have to keep a low profile as he tried to find evidence to clear his name, and perform different missions in the process. Whether players tackled them silently and stealthily or guns blazing would have consequences that would affect the plot later on. The game met its end when co-developer Codemasters pulled out three years into pre-production. The game was almost revived as a Bourne tie-in via a deal with EA in 2011, but it ultimately didn’t go through.

4 Energy

The Developers’ Ambitions Proved Too Much For Their Reach

• Developer: Zeus Software, Dinamic Multimedia
• Potential Platform: PC
• Canceled: 1997

When Tomb Raider began ruling the roost on the PS1 (and Sega Saturn), other developers took note and tried making their own femme fatale gaming heroes. The most ambitious of the bunch was likely Spanish developers Zeus Software, who wanted to combine Lara Croft with The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall to create Energy. It would’ve been an early open-world game where the rebel Yiria searches the land for a magic portal that would help her avenge her fallen friends by finding their killer, the demon Yoell.

Yiria could travel on boats, motorbikes, and horses to get from location to location, and help NPCs with different quests along the way. The game would’ve used advanced AI as well to provide the most realistic experience players could have in the mid-1990s. However, these ideas ended up being too ahead of their time, as the project’s main source of income, Dinamic Multimedia, began to run dry after two years of development. The game was scrapped in 1997, and Zeus Software closed shortly thereafter.

3 Project Overdrive

First-Person Crime Game Could’ve Been A GTA Killer

• Developers: Vistage
• Potential Platforms: PC
• Canceled: 2001

If Vistage managed to complete and release Project Overdrive, GTA 3 might’ve ended up feeling like its diet console equivalent. The game was basically first-person GTA, except it started development in 1999 and was scheduled to come out at the start of 2001, well before Rockstar’s magnum opus. GTA 3 would still have the edge in characters and celebrity VAs, as Project Overdrive didn’t really have a plot. It just puts the player in the shoes of a savvy ex-con in a city offering multiple ways to climb up the criminal ladder.

Players could earn cash by working as a courier, being a bodyguard for mob bosses, or taking out targets as a hitman. If they needed a ride, they could buy a car, or steal one and do some drive-bys on any nosy cops. Players could move in and out of buildings without load times, and even blow people up into Fallout 3-ish gibs. Considering that some open-world games still have trouble with these elements today, it’s not surprising it was canceled due to programming issues. Its alpha build is still available to play for anyone who wants a taste of what could’ve been.

2 DK Project: The Last City Of Heaven

Small Studio Aims Big With Cyberpunk Criminal Adventure

• Developer: DarkSkyne
• Potential Platform: PC
• Canceled: 2010

Despite how the name sounds, this game had nothing to do with Nintendo or their prime primate. Instead, DK Project: The Last City of Heaven was going to be the flagship game for DarkSkyne, a French company made up of ex-Ubisoft and Eden Games employees. It took inspiration from GTA, Deus Ex, and the Mafia games to follow Nina Stovakov, a woman in Skyne City in 2030, who dives into its criminal underworld to discover who killed her father.

It would’ve had a morality system akin to InFamous, where NPCs would react differently to Nina depending on if she was good or bad. She’d join the mafia to get closer to her father’s killer, but she could also build up her own gang, and make her own house if she couldn’t buy one. Then players could upgrade her bio-implants to give her different abilities and attacks. It sounded great, but also like it was too much for a small studio like DarkSkyne to handle. They managed to make a prototype before they were closed down for liquidation.

1 Black ICE/White Noise

An Unexpected GTA Clone That Could Have Been The Atari Jaguar’s System Seller

• Developer: Atari Corporation
• Potential Platform: Atari Jaguar CD
• Canceled: 1996

In its early run, the magazine Retro Gamer would close off its retrospectives on famous consoles with their ‘Perfect 10’ feature. It would basically show off what they thought were 10 of the console’s best games in no specific order. This was easy enough to do with classic machines like the SNES and Genesis. But then they had to find 10 games for the maligned Atari Jaguar, where they had to mix its genuine hits with games for its malfunctioning CD add-on.

One curious addition was Black ICE/White Noise (formerly Chaos Agenda), an ambitious third-person open-world game that played similarly to GTA and Yakuza/Like a Dragon. Players could go wherever they wanted in the city, taking taxis for fast travel, while switching between three protagonists like in GTA 5. It was canceled to save on expenses, but a few of its playable prototypes hit the web, showing how the Atari Jaguar CD almost had a groundbreaking game on its hands. Hence, why Retro Gamer included it in their Perfect 10 list.