These 10 Upcoming Video Games Got Cancelled – And Nobody Noticed

10 Cancelled Upcoming Games You Probably Didn't Know About

Pulling the plug on a game isn’t just disappointing—it’s like losing a pet you didn’t even get to meet. You see the trailer, get hyped, maybe even mark your calendar, and then... poof. Vanished. Whether due to budget cuts, internal chaos, or just bad luck, some highly anticipated titles got axed before they even had a chance to shine. Here are 10 video games that were quietly cancelled—and yeah, you probably didn’t even know it happened.

1. Wonder Woman (Monolith Productions)

This one hit harder than it should’ve. Monolith—yeah, the same folks behind Shadow of Mordor—were working on a Wonder Woman game that sounded like it had real potential. Open world, nemesis system, DC universe vibes? I was in. But in early 2025, Warner Bros. announced “restructuring,” which turned out to be code for “we’re shutting stuff down.” Monolith got the axe, and Diana’s next big adventure went with it.

Honestly, with the way Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League faceplanted, it’s no surprise WB got cold feet. Still stings, though.

2. The Division: Heartland

Ubisoft has had a weird run with its Tom Clancy IPs. Heartland was supposed to shake things up—a rural, survival-driven spin-off of The Division. You’d scavenge gear, dodge viruses, and battle AI threats at night when they got extra creepy. It had this “against-all-odds” tone I was genuinely curious about.

Sadly, after endless delays and a dwindling buzz, Ubisoft pulled the plug in May 2024. If The Division 3 ever happens, maybe it can borrow some of Heartland’s DNA.

3. Hyenas

Remember Hyenas? No? You’re not alone. Sega was apparently so confident in this space pirate shooter that it became their most expensive game ever. Let that sink in—it cost more than Shenmue. But mismanagement, a mid-development engine swap, and the nightmare of competing in a free-to-play shooter space doomed it.

By the time Sega pulled the plug in late 2023, it was clear Hyenas had gone feral. RIP to what could’ve been a wild ride through zero-G heists.

4. Spider-Man: The Great Web

Imagine this: You, your friends, and a multiversal roster of spider-powered heroes—teaming up in glorious co-op chaos. That was the promise behind Spider-Man: The Great Web, a multiplayer spin-off from Insomniac Games that would've brought Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man 2099, Scarlet Spider, and Silk together to face a cross-dimensional Sinister Six. It was Avengers-level hype but with webs and cooler quips.

The game was supposed to expand the Spider-Verse concept in a massive, interconnected way, giving players a chance to explore different versions of New York City across universes. The leaked trailer in March 2024 showed just enough to get fans frothing with anticipation. Unfortunately, that leak turned out to be more of a tombstone than a teaser.

Insomniac never issued a formal statement about the cancellation, but word on the street is they want to stick to what they do best—polished, single-player narratives. And hey, Spider-Man 2 was incredible, so it's hard to be mad… but still. The Great Web felt like something truly special that just didn’t get its shot. Maybe someday.

5. Football Manager 25

When you've got a franchise that releases like clockwork for two decades, skipping a year is practically unheard of. That’s why the cancellation of Football Manager 25 was a genuine curveball. Sports Interactive has been at the top of the football sim game, delivering intricate stat-tracking, tactical nuance, and database wizardry that spreadsheet fans eat up.

After Football Manager 2024 became their most-played title and even won multiple awards, expectations for the next entry were sky high. However, behind the scenes, FM25 was apparently a mess. Developers cited inconsistent AI behavior, frustrating UI flaws, and poor performance that couldn't be patched in time. Rather than rush out a buggy mess, the studio made the tough call to scrap the 2025 edition entirely and focus on building a better engine for FM26.

It’s rare to see a studio skip a release to preserve quality, and honestly, it's a respectable move. But man, if you’ve ever spent 50+ hours rebuilding a fourth-tier English squad into Premier League champions, this one hurts deep. Here's hoping FM26 brings the beautiful game back in style.

6. Wild

Wild was one of those games that sounded almost too ambitious for its own good. First teased in 2014 by Michel Ancel (yep, the Rayman guy), Wild promised a prehistoric open-world survival experience like no other. You’d play as a shaman with the power to possess animals—from wolves and birds to snakes and even bears. Set during the Neolithic era, it combined mystical totemic magic with gritty survival elements in a procedurally generated world the size of a continent.

It was like Far Cry Primal meets Okami, if Okami had ants and weather patterns. Players would explore ancient landscapes, spy through eagle eyes, or attack enemies using a wolf’s claws. It was all beautifully weird. But after a decade in limbo, constant revisions, and rumors that it had morphed too far from its original concept, Sony finally pulled the plug in July 2024.

Ancel had already retired from game dev years earlier, and the studio couldn’t keep up with Wild’s scope. It’s the kind of game that might've changed the open-world genre—but we’ll never really know. The Stone Age dream is dead.

7. Nier Mobile Sequel

NieR fans are a special breed—part scholars, part philosophers, part cosplayers with impeccable taste in tragic androids. So when NieR Re[in]carnation, the mobile spin-off, racked up over 15 million downloads, it made sense for Square Enix to greenlight another mobile entry. This time, they handed the reins to Tencent, hoping to make the next NieR mobile installment even more successful.

The idea sounded like it had potential: accessible gameplay, deep lore, and some slick anime-style visuals—all optimized for handheld chaos. But behind the scenes, Tencent quickly ran into a wall: licensing the NieR IP long-term just wasn’t cost-effective. Even with the game well into development, they decided to shut it down entirely.

Was it the right call? Maybe. Mobile gaming is a battlefield, and not even NieR’s brand power could guarantee survival. Fans still mourn the lost sequel, but most agree: NieR belongs on consoles, where its haunting narrative, existential dread, and butt-sliding robots can shine in full glory. Square hasn’t ruled out more NieR in the future—just maybe not on your phone. And let’s be honest, that’s probably for the best.

8. Deus Ex Sequel

Let’s take a second to appreciate how Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided absolutely slapped. Slick cyberpunk aesthetic? Check. Moral dilemmas with real weight? Check. Hacking, sneaking, punching through walls? Triple check. So when Mankind Divided ended on a cliffhanger, fans assumed a sequel would be right around the corner.

Yeah… no.

The planned follow-up was quietly canned in 2017, largely due to lukewarm sales and internal shifts at Eidos Montreal. Fast forward to 2022: Embracer Group buys the studio, fans get excited again, and we’re promised remakes, spin-offs, and—finally—a real sequel. But just as the hype started to bubble, Embracer pulled an Embracer. Layoffs. Budget cuts. And yep, Deus Ex got axed again.

We’re now pushing a decade with no new entry in sight. Eidos says they still want to revisit the franchise "someday," but fans have learned not to hold their breath. If cybernetic augmentation becomes real before the next Deus Ex drops, I’m gonna be mad. We deserved closure, Jensen. We deserved it.

9. Disco Elysium Sequel

If you’ve played Disco Elysium, you already know—this game doesn’t just tell a story, it becomes a philosophical fever dream inside your head. So when whispers of a sequel (codenamed Y12) emerged, fans lost their collective minds. Sadly, it all unraveled as fast as a doomed detective’s sobriety.

The game was initially greenlit but quickly ran into problems. Reports of brutal crunch, internal power struggles, and poor management leaked online. The writers, Argo Tüll and Dora Kinic, were eventually let go after raising concerns about working conditions. Before they were ousted, they managed to create a DLC prototype called X7, but even that got shelved.

By February 2024, Y12 was officially dead. Instead, the studio behind Disco Elysium, ZA/UM, announced a mobile title called M0O (yeah… we’re confused too). Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there—some former ZA/UM devs have started their own studio with hopes to make a spiritual successor. That’s the glimmer of hope we’re clinging to, even if the golden age of Disco feels like it's long gone. This one hurt. Deeply.

10. TimeSplitters Next

If you're a TimeSplitters fan, you’ve been through too much. Teased, cancelled, rebooted, cancelled again—it’s the Half-Life 3 of time-travel shooters. The latest attempt, TimeSplitters Next, had Free Radical reformed and ready to go.

But then Embracer Group did what Embracer Group does: laid off developers and shut the studio down in December 2023. This franchise is cursed, and I hate it. But I’ll never stop hoping. Fourth time’s the charm… maybe?

Game development is brutal. For every Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s a graveyard of abandoned projects we barely even hear about. Whether it’s corporate meddling, budget disasters, or just bad timing, these cancellations remind us that even the coolest ideas can vanish in an instant.

But hey, some of these might rise again in a new form. And if not, we’ll always have the trailers, rumors, and what-ifs.

Stay on the lookout for more development deep dives and industry shake-ups at Land of Geek Magazine!

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