It’s almost impossible to keep up with all the new games announced yearly, and they often get overshadowed by the next big thing. With everything that happened worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, many games announced around that time were either delayed or simply cancelled. But what about the games that have completely disappeared off the radar? Where are they? It’s relatively common for studios to go quiet after their game is initially announced because they are hard at work on creating the best game they possibly can. With the sheer volume of updates about games in various stages of active development, it’s easy for some updates to go unnoticed. With these five games, they haven’t just gone unnoticed because there haven’t been any updates.
These projects were announced and seemed to vanish entirely off the face of the Earth, leading hopeful fans to fear the worst, especially when the offered release window passed by without an update, especially without a release. That being said, sometimes no news is good news because it means that the game hasn’t been cancelled…yet. So, what are five games that seem to have disappeared since they were first announced?
1. Plan 8
Plan 8 was revealed at Pearl Abyss Connect in 2019, but no actual release window was announced for the game then. However, it was shared that it would be a third-person MMO shooter and that they had shooter royalty, Counter-Strike co-creator Minh Le, serving as Technical Advisor on the project.
The social media accounts for Plan 8 went utterly silent in January 2020, and we haven’t seen or heard anything about the project since then. The game was mentioned in Pearl Abyss’ Q3 2022 earnings report under their Growth Strategy section. A Redditor also found a news piece from IGC2021 saying that the game’s development was still going well. However, we haven’t seen anything besides these reports.
The reveal trailer took the world by storm with its bombastic action. In this game, players can sport some epic-looking exosuits and simultaneously cause havoc fighting against enemy drones and robots.
Luckily, the developers haven’t given up on the project yet. Still, fans are starting to think they made the mistake of showing off the game too early in the development project. Something like an MMO is a challenging project, after all, and might explain why the game has disappeared.
2. Dustborn
Dustborn was announced at GamesRadar’s Future Game Show in June of 2020 and is being developed by Red Thread Games and Ragnar Tørnquist. The game was said to have a release window sometime in 2021, but as you probably have noticed, this didn’t come to fruition. When the game was first announced, everyone was excited because of its beautiful art style and the engaging gameplay mechanic it introduced. For example, the game’s combat uses words as weapons, not guns. This isn’t a concept we have seen much of, so it would be fascinating.
A little news was released about the game in that we found out that Quantic Dream took over its publishing duties, allowing Red Thread Games to expand and make it a better match. This is hopefully the reason why it’s taking so long. Red Thread was also looking to hire more people to develop the game.
The game is set in 2030 in a post-infodemic alternate version of America, which the characters call the Divided States of America. We play as Pax, a member of a resistance team disguised as a travelling band who must transport an essential package across the country.
Aside from that, there have been no updates since the initial announcement, and it seems the game has just disappeared. Steam suddenly updated the Dustborn page to include an April 1st, 2024, release date. Unfortunately, nothing besides Steam has been updated, so there’s no way to confirm this.
3. Pragmata
This game was unveiled in June 2020 and is being developed by the Japanese game giant Capcom. The target release date was 2022, but the release window was delayed to 2023 in November 2021. There was some new artwork posted when the announcement of the delay came out, but other than that, nothing. It is worth noting that this is the only one on this list that saw an official announcement about a delay. However, there hasn’t been any news since this delayed announcement.
From the initial release trailer, it looks like Capcom has massive plans for this new sci-fi project, which was confirmed when Capcom claimed it wanted to make this IP one of its core brands. This is a gigantic statement because its other ‘core brand’ Resident Evil is ongoing, with Resident Evil 4 Remake coming out literally tomorrow. So, if they want to make this another core brand, it will make sense that they are taking their time and wanting to do it right.
Capcom did also mention initially that the game was being worked on by a branch of the studio that was entirely made up of new and young employees, so they might be taking their time learning from their more experienced colleagues to produce the best game that they can, and taking longer than Capcom initially expected, and possibly why the game has disappeared off the radar.
4. Unknown 9: Awakening
This game was initially announced at Gamescom opening night in August 2020, with a release window set for 2021. Since the initial announcement, there has been no more news about the project. However, we know that the game is being developed by Reflector Entertainment, a relatively new studio publisher acquired by Bandai Namco in 2020, just before their first game, Unknown 9: Awakening, was announced.
Unknown 9: Awakening is based on the popular transmedia created by Reflector Entertainment which includes a novel, comic book, podcast, and a collaborative puzzle. The game is set to be a third-person action-adventure game set in Kolkata, India, where the main protagonist is a young child named Haroona, with the power to manipulate the unseen and access another dimension known as The Fold. The fascinating premise has a lot of potential, which could explain why a lot of work needs to be done to make it epic.
Unfortunately, nothing more is known about the game. Bandai Namco did reference it in its 2022 financial report. There were some job positions related to the project advertised on Instagram in November of 2022, which lets us make a good guess that the game is still coming. We just have to wait and see when.
5. A Quiet Place
This is one of the newer games, announced in October of 2021. Upon the announcement, Saber Interactive told us that more information would come out about the game later that year, and the game itself was slated for 2022. Obviously, that window has come and gone, and we don’t have a game yet. The last time there was a single bit of information about the game was the initial announcement, including social media posts. It might be a coincidence, but the third movie in the series has also been delayed until 2024, so that might have something to do with why the game has disappeared.
A Quiet Place is a story-driven game that makes the world created in the movies interactable. For the first time, we get to be a character in this post-apocalyptic universe where vicious aliens that hunt by sound have invaded the Earth. Of course, the sound-based premise of the world could lend a fascinating mechanic to the game. Still, hopefully, it will be more than just a hide-and-seek stealth game with unbeatable enemies.
The game is being developed by iLLOGIKA and EP1T0ME. At the time, iLLOGIKA’s Creative Director Hervé Sliwa said, “The A Quiet Place video game will let fans experience the tension of the films with a level of immersion they’ve never felt before,” but that was before he left the company in April of 2022.
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Why do you think these games have disappeared?
