Top 10 Painfully Long Video Game Waits
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VOICE OVER: Dan Paradis
WRITTEN BY: Briana Lawrence
They made us wait how long?! These are the games that took their sweet time getting onto store shelves, whether good or bad. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we'll be counting down for our picks for the Top 10 Painfully Long Video Game Waits.
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To have your ideas turned into a WatchMojo or MojoPlays video, head over to http://WatchMojo.comsuggest and get to it!
Top 10 Painfully Long Video Game Waits
Anything worth having is worth waiting for... right? Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down for our picks for the Top 10 Painfully Long Video Game Waits.
For this list, we’ll be looking at those games that were in the purgatory known as development hell, but they somehow managed to crawl out of the pits and make it to release day. The quality of the game doesn’t matter on this list, and we won’t be looking at games that don’t have any chance of being released -- sorry Half-Life.
Welcome to Doom 4 -- sorry, we mean Doom, just Doom. Plans for the next installment in the franchise began in 2007, 3 years after the release of Doom 3. Things seemed to be going fine as the game was announced in 2008, and throughout the years, fans were told that the game was in “deep development.” Then... 2013 happened, where we found out that development had restarted in 2011 because the game wasn’t turning out the way the team wanted -- which is the nicest way we can put it. Fortunately, a reboot was exactly what the game needed, and in 2016 we killed every monster that crossed our paths.
12 years. 12 years since the release of the original StarCraft in 1998. We suppose we shouldn’t complain too much, after all, the game’s development was officially announced in 2007. Oh wait... it actually started in 2003 after the release of the Frozen Throne expansion for WarCraft III? Then it was delayed because of World of Warcraft? All right, we can understand needing some extra hands for WoW, a few months of assistance isn’t too bad... oh, they couldn’t work on StarCraft II for an entire year? In 2009, fans got a glimmer of hope as beta sign ups were opened for the game, and even if it was delayed until 2010, the game did actually hit shelves the same year.
Compared to some other entries on this list, 6 years isn’t too long of a wait, but Resident Evil 4 went through so many changes that it created an entirely new series: Devil May Cry. Talk of the game began in 1999 after Jill Valentine faced off against Nemesis. Initially meant to be a PS2 exclusive, development started over after DMC’s release... and RE4 became a GameCube exclusive in 2002. After another series of revisions in 2003, it was decided that it was time to reinvent the series, leading to one of the best Resident Evil’s of the franchise.
Hello, Blizzard. We meet again. To be fair, Blizzard went right to work on Diablo III shortly after the release of Diablo II. Since there was about 4 years of development between the first two games, and Diablo III’s production began in 2001, we expected to get something around 2005. Instead? Blizzard North -- the division of Blizzard that was responsible for Diablo’s development -- closed down. We wouldn’t hear anything about Diablo for another 3 years, but it was, at least, good news: Diablo III was officially announced, and following the tradition of 4 years of production, the game was released in 2012.
The third game in this post apocalyptic franchise would’ve been a completely different experience had the original team still been around. Developed under the codename Van Buren, Black Isle Studios, the original developers behind the first two games, was set to make the next installment... but the entire team was laid off in 2003 after Interplay Entertainment -- who owned Black Isle Studios -- went bankrupt. The license was sold to Bethesda, who started work on the game in 2004, and fans would have to wait four more years before they were treated to a game that was vastly different than the original.
There are certain developers who you’re willing to wait for because you want to see the full scope of their vision. Fumito Ueda is one of those developers... usually. Development for his latest work began in 2007, with the game being showcased at E3 2009 with plans of a PS3 release in 2011. Cue several delays due to hardware difficulties, Ueda and members of Team Ico leaving Sony, and a sudden move to PS4 with no foreseeable release date. Fortunately, Ueda returned with his new studio, genDESIGN, and became a creative consultant for the game, and in 2015, the game returned to E3 with plans of an actual release.
We don’t need to remind you how much of a terrible experience “Aliens: Colonial Marines” is. Upon release it was littered with bugs, terrible AI, and a complete disregard for the films that inspired it. Enter Sega in 2006, who purchased the rights to the Alien franchise, and later, they announced a team up with Gearbox to make Colonial Marines. In 2010, we got the intense Alien adventure we wanted: Alien vs. Predator... wait what? What happened to Colonial Marines? Ah, delays, and... outsourcing to other developers ? Forget development hell, this was a development nightmare!
We first got a glimpse of those stylish, heart taking thieves in 2013... or rather, we got a glimpse of a row of chairs. Apparently, prep work for the game began in 2008 while Persona 4 was in its final stages. P5 went through various draft styles -- and it kinda shows in the final product, as the game has a much different look and sound than past releases in the franchise . Set to be a PS3 exclusive in 2014, Japan wouldn’t see a release on PS3 AND PS4 until 2016, and the U.S. had to wait until April 2017.
Believe it or not, talk of Final Fantasy XIII started back in 2004 for the PS2. Why are we bringing up XIII in an entry about XV? Well, in 2006, we were treated to a trailer to a game called “Versus XIII,” which was supposed to be released alongside XIII. Cue XIII’s release in 2010, and Versus... well... let’s just say that Noctis didn’t get up from that lavish chair for about a decade. At least he became more than a spinoff, and hey, now that the game is out, maybe we’ll finally get Kingdom Hearts 3... right Nomura?
After the release of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, the next installment was announced in 1997. Four years later, 3D Realms stated that the game would be ready... when it was ready. That’s... never a good sign. We finally got a teaser trailer in 2007, ten years after the game was first announced, and just when we thought we’d be able to go get some... downsizing, lawsuits, and in 2010, Gearbox Studios continued where 3D Realms left off. Wait, haven’t we talked about Gearbox already on this list? Well we’re sure Duke’s return faired better than Colonial Marines, right?
Anything worth having is worth waiting for... right? Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down for our picks for the Top 10 Painfully Long Video Game Waits.
For this list, we’ll be looking at those games that were in the purgatory known as development hell, but they somehow managed to crawl out of the pits and make it to release day. The quality of the game doesn’t matter on this list, and we won’t be looking at games that don’t have any chance of being released -- sorry Half-Life.
#10: “Doom” (2016)
Welcome to Doom 4 -- sorry, we mean Doom, just Doom. Plans for the next installment in the franchise began in 2007, 3 years after the release of Doom 3. Things seemed to be going fine as the game was announced in 2008, and throughout the years, fans were told that the game was in “deep development.” Then... 2013 happened, where we found out that development had restarted in 2011 because the game wasn’t turning out the way the team wanted -- which is the nicest way we can put it. Fortunately, a reboot was exactly what the game needed, and in 2016 we killed every monster that crossed our paths.
#9: “StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty” (2010)
12 years. 12 years since the release of the original StarCraft in 1998. We suppose we shouldn’t complain too much, after all, the game’s development was officially announced in 2007. Oh wait... it actually started in 2003 after the release of the Frozen Throne expansion for WarCraft III? Then it was delayed because of World of Warcraft? All right, we can understand needing some extra hands for WoW, a few months of assistance isn’t too bad... oh, they couldn’t work on StarCraft II for an entire year? In 2009, fans got a glimmer of hope as beta sign ups were opened for the game, and even if it was delayed until 2010, the game did actually hit shelves the same year.
#8: “Resident Evil 4” (2005)
Compared to some other entries on this list, 6 years isn’t too long of a wait, but Resident Evil 4 went through so many changes that it created an entirely new series: Devil May Cry. Talk of the game began in 1999 after Jill Valentine faced off against Nemesis. Initially meant to be a PS2 exclusive, development started over after DMC’s release... and RE4 became a GameCube exclusive in 2002. After another series of revisions in 2003, it was decided that it was time to reinvent the series, leading to one of the best Resident Evil’s of the franchise.
#7: “Diablo III” (2012)
Hello, Blizzard. We meet again. To be fair, Blizzard went right to work on Diablo III shortly after the release of Diablo II. Since there was about 4 years of development between the first two games, and Diablo III’s production began in 2001, we expected to get something around 2005. Instead? Blizzard North -- the division of Blizzard that was responsible for Diablo’s development -- closed down. We wouldn’t hear anything about Diablo for another 3 years, but it was, at least, good news: Diablo III was officially announced, and following the tradition of 4 years of production, the game was released in 2012.
#6: “Fallout 3” (2008)
The third game in this post apocalyptic franchise would’ve been a completely different experience had the original team still been around. Developed under the codename Van Buren, Black Isle Studios, the original developers behind the first two games, was set to make the next installment... but the entire team was laid off in 2003 after Interplay Entertainment -- who owned Black Isle Studios -- went bankrupt. The license was sold to Bethesda, who started work on the game in 2004, and fans would have to wait four more years before they were treated to a game that was vastly different than the original.
#5: “The Last Guardian” (2016)
There are certain developers who you’re willing to wait for because you want to see the full scope of their vision. Fumito Ueda is one of those developers... usually. Development for his latest work began in 2007, with the game being showcased at E3 2009 with plans of a PS3 release in 2011. Cue several delays due to hardware difficulties, Ueda and members of Team Ico leaving Sony, and a sudden move to PS4 with no foreseeable release date. Fortunately, Ueda returned with his new studio, genDESIGN, and became a creative consultant for the game, and in 2015, the game returned to E3 with plans of an actual release.
#4: “Aliens: Colonial Marines” (2013)
We don’t need to remind you how much of a terrible experience “Aliens: Colonial Marines” is. Upon release it was littered with bugs, terrible AI, and a complete disregard for the films that inspired it. Enter Sega in 2006, who purchased the rights to the Alien franchise, and later, they announced a team up with Gearbox to make Colonial Marines. In 2010, we got the intense Alien adventure we wanted: Alien vs. Predator... wait what? What happened to Colonial Marines? Ah, delays, and... outsourcing to other developers ? Forget development hell, this was a development nightmare!
#3: “Persona 5” (2017)
We first got a glimpse of those stylish, heart taking thieves in 2013... or rather, we got a glimpse of a row of chairs. Apparently, prep work for the game began in 2008 while Persona 4 was in its final stages. P5 went through various draft styles -- and it kinda shows in the final product, as the game has a much different look and sound than past releases in the franchise . Set to be a PS3 exclusive in 2014, Japan wouldn’t see a release on PS3 AND PS4 until 2016, and the U.S. had to wait until April 2017.
#2: “Final Fantasy XV” (2016)
Believe it or not, talk of Final Fantasy XIII started back in 2004 for the PS2. Why are we bringing up XIII in an entry about XV? Well, in 2006, we were treated to a trailer to a game called “Versus XIII,” which was supposed to be released alongside XIII. Cue XIII’s release in 2010, and Versus... well... let’s just say that Noctis didn’t get up from that lavish chair for about a decade. At least he became more than a spinoff, and hey, now that the game is out, maybe we’ll finally get Kingdom Hearts 3... right Nomura?
#1: “Duke Nukem Forever” (2011)
After the release of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, the next installment was announced in 1997. Four years later, 3D Realms stated that the game would be ready... when it was ready. That’s... never a good sign. We finally got a teaser trailer in 2007, ten years after the game was first announced, and just when we thought we’d be able to go get some... downsizing, lawsuits, and in 2010, Gearbox Studios continued where 3D Realms left off. Wait, haven’t we talked about Gearbox already on this list? Well we’re sure Duke’s return faired better than Colonial Marines, right?
