Top 10 Video Games That Took Forever To Make
Top 10 Longest Video Game Release Delays
Top 20 Ways Video Game Logic Makes NO SENSE
Well it’s about bloody time! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 longest video game release delays. For this list, we’ll be looking at the longest breaks between initial announcement and eventual release. The overall quality of the finished product will not be a factor. We also won’t be including rumors and speculation - we will only be counting the reveal itself, whether that be through official or “unofficial” means.
#10: “Resident Evil 4” (2005)
10 Times Leon Was A Badass In Resident Evil Games
6 Years Way back in December of 1999, producer Shinji Mikami officially revealed that a new “Resident Evil” game was in the works for the PlayStation 2. For context, “Resident Evil 3: Nemesis” was released on the original PlayStation less than three months before the announcement! However, the earliest version of the game was eventually morphed into “Devil May Cry,” and work began again at the end of 2001. At least four different versions of the game were created and scrapped when all was said and done, and Mikami eventually took over for director Hiroshi Shibata. Development finally had a clear vision under Mikami, and the highly acclaimed “Resident Evil 4” was released on January 11, 2005 - some six years from the original announcement.
#9: “L.A. Noire” (2011)
Top 10 Video Games That Are Gone FOREVER
7 Years Team Bondi, a newly formed Australian developer, announced their first project in October 2003, which was going to be released for “a next-generation Sony platform.” And it wasn’t until 2005 that we finally got the title - “L.A. Noire.” This leisurely pace would be a portent of things to come. Development of the game proved costly and difficult, owing to the custom engine and the use of MotionScan technology, a state-of-the-art piece of tech meant to replicate the expressions of a human face. We didn’t receive the debut trailer until November 2010, and the game was finally released on May 17, 2011 - more than seven years after its initial and ambiguous announcement.
#8: “Galleon” (2004)
7 Years “Galleon” was a pirate-themed video game developed by “Tomb Raider’s” Toby Gard. Despite the promise and anticipation, it received relatively poor reviews and came and went without much fanfare. Which is disappointing, considering it took seven years to get it! “Galleon” was initially announced through Edge magazine back in 1997. The game suffered a troublesome development, including numerous delays, changes in console, and a shift of publisher from Interplay to SCi Games. “Galleon” was released in Europe in June of 2004 and in North America the following August, a full seven years after its announcement in Edge. Toby Gard’s Confounding Factor quickly disbanded following the release of the game, and Gard went back to work on the “Tomb Raider” series.
#7: “Darkfall” (2009)
7 Years In August 2001, Norweigan developer Razorwax simultaneously announced “Darkfall Online” and launched its official website. It wasn’t until 2005 that a closed clan beta was planned, although this eventually fell through. What we got instead was a one-and-a-half-minute-long gameplay video released in February 2006, about five-and-a-half years after the game’s initial announcement. Following more gameplay trailers and the announcement of a beta, “Darkfall” was released in Europe on February 26, 2009 - three years after the first gameplay trailer. When it finally rolled around to North America the following July, it had been nearly eight years since the initial announcement. Just one more month would have done it...
#6: “The Last Guardian” (2016)
Top 10 Video Games That Can MAKE YOU RICH!
8 Years “The Last Guardian” officially entered development in 2007, and it was leaked on PlayStation Lifestyle the following year with the working title “Project Trico.” However, the game wasn’t officially announced until E3 2009, the electronic entertainment expo where Sony showcased an improved render of the leaked footage. It was also announced that Sony was planning an ambitious 2011 release date. The game then suffered an agonizingly slow and troubling development, and it was eventually pushed back to the PlayStation 4. The game was finally re-introduced at E3 2015 and released in December of 2016. By then it had been nearly eight years since its existence was made known. And the finished product was...frustrating, to say the least.
#5: “Team Fortress 2” (2007)
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Review | Did Activision Ruin CTR?
8 Years The “Team Fortress” brand began back in 1996 as a “Quake” mod developed by Robin Walker and John Cook. Valve were so impressed by their product that they officially hired them on as employees, and work quickly began on an official standalone sequel. The product was unveiled at E3 1999 looking absolutely nothing like it does today. Following years of silent development and endless speculation, it was re-introduced at the EA Summer Showcase in 2006, complete with its now-signature Gooch shaded animation style. It was eventually released as part of “The Orange Box” in October 2007, over eight years from its official unveiling at E3 1999.
#4: “Too Human” (2008)
Top10 Best Video Games of 2018 So Far
9 Years “Too Human” was announced and officially unveiled in 1999, and it was scheduled for release on the original PlayStation. However, the game’s development was fraught with difficulty and changing business dealings. Silicon Knights swapped from Sony to Nintendo and moved development over to the GameCube. They eventually swapped yet again to Microsoft and the Xbox 360. Silicon Knights also abandoned development of the game to focus on other projects, including “Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.” After nine years and upwards of $100 million, “Too Human” was finally released on August 19, 2008. And it was bad. Oh, and lets not forget that Silicon Knights was then disbanded after being sued by Epic Games.
#3: “Final Fantasy XV” (2016)
10 Times Final Fantasy Infiltrated Other Games
10 Years This game began life as “Final Fantasy Versus XIII,” which was revealed all the way back at E3 2006. However, the game’s scope proved far too ambitious, and it was quickly re-designed into the next major entry in the series. It was officially re-branded as “Final Fantasy XV” in 2012, a full six years after its E3 announcement. But there was still a long way to go. It was ported over to the new generation of consoles, the engine was changed to take advantage of the new hardware, and the staff underwent some major shuffling. The game was finally released on November 29, 2016, over ten years after its radically different unveiling at E3 2006.
#2: “Prey” (2017)
10 Years The original “Prey” was released in July of 2006, and it was such an immediate success that a sequel was announced the following August. What followed was one of the messiest development periods in gaming history. The IP rights were eventually transferred from 3D Realms to Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media, and rumors soon circulated that Arkane Studios had taken over development from Human Head. The rumors were seemingly confirmed in 2014 when Bethesda officially cancelled the game and announced that they were rebooting the IP under Arkane. The reboot, simply titled “Prey,” was released on May 5, 2017, more than ten years after “Prey 2” was announced.
#1: “Duke Nukem Forever” (2011)
Video Game Duel: Doomguy Vs Duke Nukem
14 Years This will forever remain firmly ingrained in gaming history. Just not for the right reasons. Development of “Duke Nukem Forever” began back in 1996, the same year that “Duke Nukem 3D” was released. And George Broussard, the creator of the series, officially announced the title in April 1997. But following some initial promotional material, development went radio silent, and fans began to slowly lose hope. The release date was pushed back. And back. And back. 2K Games finally revealed that development was being completed by Gearbox, and the game was released on June 10, 2011 - fourteen years after George Broussard announced its development in 1997. The children born immediately after its announcement were now freshmen in high school! Oh, how time flies.
1
0
flagged