From Hype to Hope: 10 Games Whose Sequels Were Cancelled

Introduction

At this point, it's a tale as old as time if you follow video game news. A game comes out, people really enjoy it, and then the publisher or the big corporation behind the game comes out and says that the game failed to meet their expectations, AKA it didn't sell enough copies. A lot of times, you read headlines about that happening, and then suddenly the next game or any potential sequel or follow-up is canceled. Kaput. Gone. Fairy dust. That's disappointing, and it happens a lot. So today, we're going to talk about 10 games that underdelivered by the standards of the publisher, and then they canceled the sequel.

Titanfall 3

Starting off at number 10, a big one for me personally: Titanfall 3. Look, Titanfall 3 was apparently in development for like 10 months. Apparently, it never really got off the ground and eventually ended up pivoting into Apex Legends, and the rest is history. The developers, Respawn, really knocked it out of the park with the previous Titanfall, Titanfall 2. It was absolutely awesome. It had great multiplayer, boots on the ground first-person shooting, as well as mech stuff. It also had a really, really great single-player campaign, one of the best first-person shooter single-player campaigns we'd seen in a while. There was a lot of hype behind this one; it was great, but it just launched at a bad time.

It released right next to another flagship EA first-person shooter, so it seems like it just never really got off the ground. Apparently, Titanfall 2 sold 6 million copies less than the first game, and the first game was almost like a launch title for the original Xbox. So that really shows that Titanfall 2 just did not really move the needle for the parent corporation, I guess. Still, the fact that they were trying to do a Titanfall 3 at a point and then pivoted, that's one thing. There had been rumors and stuff for years and years suggesting that we still might see more Titanfall. As of right now, the most recent thing we have is Respawn's CEO going on record saying that they would love to see a Titanfall 3, but it probably won't be anytime soon. So we're just going to have to continue to hold out hope.

Dishonored 3

Next, over at number nine is Dishonored 3. Dishonored 3 wasn't like a guarantee; it wasn't written in stone, but reports came out that a Dishonored 3 was being considered at developer Arcane. Unfortunately, this all came out after the release of Redfall, a pretty much disaster of a hybrid live service game. Easily Arcane's worst game, and unfortunately, it ended up resulting in the closure of one of Xbox's first-party studios, specifically the Arcane Austin wing. According to a report from Bloomberg, the developer had not started to work on their next game but was looking to really "go back to their roots." Obviously, Redfall was a bit of a departure, and with that, it was also a failure, so it made sense that they were going to try and pivot to what they were good at: stealth, great worlds, immersive sims, that type of thing. 

Apparently, the word "immersive sim" was floating around at job listings and stuff like that, but unfortunately, Dishonored 3 is not a thing. Some of the people behind the original Dishonored game went off to work at different studios, so we may see a spiritual successor one day. The game has inspired so many people, but for now, no Dishonored 3. It's also worth noting that the word going around always is that immersive sims like modern ones just didn't sell very well. I think that's unfortunate, but I think there is a world where more people can see these games and fall in love with them. We just hope that happens at some point.

Unknown 9 Awakening

Next, over at number eight, we have Unknown 9 Awakening. This is a recent game from 2024, and this was originally pitched as this big transmedia thing, meaning it was kind of like in multiple mediums. It was going to be a game, a comic book, books, stuff like that, but the game released and was not a success. The quote from the developer CEO is that the game didn't come near the company’s expectations. I mean, there was a lot riding on it. 

The fact that they were hoping to build not just a successful game but a whole big IP around it, a whole franchise in different mediums, just kind of stacked even more against them. If a game fails, it all collapses, and it seems like Unknown 9 Awakening did, because the entire Unknown 9 Awakening franchise was canceled due to underperformance. To be completely honest, I think some of it was also marketing; I didn't even know this game was coming out. Part of my job is just following video game news and obsessing about video games all day, and this thing totally slipped under my radar.

Days Gone 2

Next, over at number seven, we have Days Gone 2. Oh boy, have the fans been wanting another Days Gone for years and years now because the original Days Gone was really, really unique. There's nothing quite like it out there. I mean, yes, some of the open-world stuff is very much open-worldy, but beneath all that, an interesting story with very unique characters, the motorcycle game mechanics absolutely awesome, and you have Deacon, an incredible main character. People just wanted more of this. Bend Studio is a Sony first-party studio that has been working on games for quite some time now, all the way back to the Siphon Filter days. 

So Days Gone seemed like it was going to be their next big franchise, but unfortunately, I guess it didn't do enough or something because the word really is that apparently Sony's first-party game studios denied or declined a pitch for a sequel from the developers. So a sequel was not necessarily canceled because there never was a sequel; it was never greenlit. But the fact that a sequel wasn't greenlit, we're looking at it the same way because that's unfortunate. Days Gone really could have had a bright future.

Sleeping Dogs 2

Next, at number six, Sleeping Dogs 2. The original Sleeping Dogs kind of rose from the ashes. It was really a smart pivot from a true crime game that was in development. Sleeping Dogs carved out its own identity in the open-world crime genre and was absolutely awesome. The combat was great, the driving was sweet, the exploration satisfying, the story really surprisingly good—just good action movie stuff. Sleeping Dogs really had it all. Unfortunately, for publisher Square Enix, the game failed to meet expectations. Yes, that famous line I mentioned at the start. This game was well-received, it had killer reviews, and it sold well over a million copies pretty close to launch. 

But apparently, that just wasn't good enough for Square Enix. The way I look at it, it seems like the big execs at the top were expecting this to be the next Grand Theft Auto or something, but it really isn't. It's its own unique special thing, and it shouldn't have had those massive ambitious expectations dumped on it. Now, unfortunately, the developer United Front Games was shut down, but they had some pretty big ideas for a sequel. Thanks to reporting via Waypoint, we knew that it was going to be way bigger, in a new city, and the main character, Wei Shen, would have a partner leading to potential co-op gameplay and more over-the-top action, also involving controllable helicopters. 

There were also plans to do some sort of weird cloud save thing. Depending on where you were playing in the game and what crime you were committing, it would actually upload to a server and then affect the kind of crime rating or difficulty of certain areas of the game. Weird, crazy, ambitious ideas. Even if they didn't all work out, it would have been cool to see them attempted, but unfortunately, we never got to see it.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 3

Next, over at number five, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The original game was absolutely awesome. Star Killer is a badass. There's a lot of fun "what if" Star Wars stuff there. They went even further with that "what if" Star Wars stuff in Force Unleashed 2, which just went bat crazy. Look, the series has its fan base; it always has. I like a lot of it, but I'm also a really hardcore, annoying Star Wars nerd that has issues with little things, but that's beside the point. Unfortunately, it seems like even as cool and fun and weird and zany as Force Unleashed 2 was, it didn't meet expectations sales-wise. It definitely had some success; it hit charts, and of course, many people have fond memories of it. 

But it seems like it didn't do as well as the first game. Yes, even despite topping best-selling lists and stuff like that, it seems like it just wasn't enough. Essentially, there were ideas for the game; the developers had concepts and stuff like that. Voice actor for Star Killer, Sam Witwer, did go on record saying that he wanted to return and that there was a possibility at some point, but in 2013, LucasArts' parent company Disney, at that point, shut down the studio. They pivoted their business model and canceled a bunch of projects, and apparently, one of those was The Force Unleashed 3.

 Apparently, this one was supposed to be centered around Star Killer and Darth Vader actually teaming up, and also the intention was to finish Star Killer's weird crazy story almost like a three-part trilogy type thing. But unfortunately, now we'll never really see what that was supposed to be.

Bulletstorm 2

Next, over at number four, Bulletstorm. Bulletstorm was like a breath of fresh air, man, for a first-person shooter, where at the time, everything was muddy and brown and either World War II or modern warfare or whatever. Bulletstorm really just was like a wacky, zany, fun, good time, taking the gleeful fun action killing nature of something like Doom or Duke Nukem, given a little bit of a fun sci-fi spin and also feeling very distinctly mid to early 2000s. It was just special; it was really fun. It was kind of like the Burnout 3: Takedown of first-person shooters with how you would rack up points for creative killing. A sequel, Bulletstorm 2, was apparently planned with Epic Games publishing it, backing it, working on it, and the developers People Can Fly returning.

 But in an interview in 2012 with Epic President Mike Capps, apparently, and I quote, "It didn't do very well on PC, and I think a lot of that was due to piracy. Piracy was a pretty big problem." Now, I don't think that's the only reason; I think that's a very small thing to blame in the big picture. But that's the official quote from Epic. They also went on to say that they thought a lot about a sequel and had done some initial development on it but found a project that they thought was a better fit for People Can Fly, which I guess at that point was putting them on 2013's Gears of War: Judgment. 

I don't know, weird pivot, but thankfully, People Can Fly as a studio ended up continuing to go on and make stuff like Outriders, which was interesting and cool but not quite Bulletstorm. But then even still, Bulletstorm got a little resurgence in 2024 thanks to Bulletstorm VR. So maybe there's hope of Bulletstorm returning. It got a re-release and stuff like that. Could we get a sequel? Who knows; I think crazier things have happened.

Dead Space 4

Now at number three, Dead Space 4. Dead Space was a historic video game franchise. If you were around at that time, they were awesome. There was excitement around them. They were cool; they felt like a breath of fresh air. Dead Space 1 brought back third-person core survival horror stuff with a sci-fi spin. Dead Space 2 ramped up the production quality, the action, and the terrors. Then three kind of messed the bed with some things. It really drew the eye of gamers for a variety of reasons. Tim, where are you? Hey Doc, I'm hanging from a cliff, but I got whatever this is, the codic. You know, pivoting from what the original two games felt like, sure, that can be argued. But also, microtransaction stuff, just general EA shenanigans. So after three, it seems like EA kind of lost interest in this franchise. Apparently, to them, it was never a gangbuster seller, which I mean, I think ultimately these types of games can only appeal to so many people. 

I don't think everybody who plays Fortnite or Grand Theft Auto is going to buy a Dead Space game, right? But that doesn't matter; there's still absolutely an audience for these games. And in crazy news, Glenn Schofield, one of the series creators and the guy behind the original Dead Space who eventually went on to make his own studio and games like the Callisto Protocol and stuff like that, still apparently went to EA with a lot of the creative team from the original game to pitch a Dead Space 4. With that pitch and with them making a Dead Space 4, he said that EA wasn't interested in the pitch. This was in a great interview with Dan Allen Gaming, but he did go in-depth and say, like, you know, EA having huge sales expectations for what kind of things they're spending money on right now. They need to ship a lot of units, and it seems like Dead Space just did not align with what they were currently doing. They want to make the next FIFA; they want to make the next big Fortnite smash-hit thing. 

That being said, he left off saying if EA were to call them back to make Dead Space 4, he'd be down. So we'll have to see where this goes, because with Dead Space 3 and then the DLC, there's definitely an opportunity for more storytelling. And I think with the Dead Space 1 remake, you'd think it would prove to EA to continue the franchise, but again, this Dead Space 4 pitch, this meeting apparently happened after that, and they still didn't want to do it. So I don't know what they're thinking. I don't know what they're smoking over there. Hopefully, this series makes a return at some point.

Alice: Asylum

Now down at number two, we have Alice: Asylum. This was the ill-fated third game in American McGee's Alice franchise. At this point, it is a franchise with a cult following, but it seems like there's no future for it. Series creator American McGee has been very upfront and pretty transparent about all this. A few years back, he put out a video called "Asylum: Final Word." He had been very transparent about him trying to get a third game greenlit by EA called specifically Alice: Asylum. Apparently, he, his team, and some of the community put together a full pitch for a third game with artwork, concept, story, all that stuff, and pitched it to EA. Unfortunately, they declined the proposal. On his Patreon, he wrote, and I quote, "EA has ultimately decided to pass on the project based on an internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal. On the question of licensing, they replied that Alice is an important part of EA's overall game catalog and selling or licensing it isn't something they're prepared to do right now." 

With him continuing, he was pretty emotionally destroyed because he invested so much of his life into that project and so much time and energy into a proposal for a third game. It's a really upsetting thing to read, especially for anybody out there who even has a little bit of creativity, you know, a creative spark. This sucks to hear because, on the one hand, EA declining to pursue this game citing current market conditions, okay, as much as it sucks, you can understand EA. Like I said earlier in this video, they just want to make big games. They want the Fortnites, the Battlefields, the Call of Duties, those heavy hitters. They're not interested right now in supporting a creative endeavor that might make them money but not as much as they want. But the worst part, the real kicker, is them saying, "No, we don't want to make this," while also saying, "Well, but it's ours, and it's important to our portfolio, and so we're keeping it, and we're not letting you do anything with it. We're not even going to sell it to you."

In my opinion, that is brutal. That's what really sucks because, to me, it just reads like EA is holding something hostage. Yes, I get it; they technically own it. It's their right to refuse to sell it. But come on, man, when you're not doing anything with it, and you clearly have no interest in it, and then claim that also, on the other hand, you still want to hold on to it, like it's just BS. Not to mention it's based on something in the public domain technically. It's, you know, the classic Alice in Wonderland story that it's based on. So I've not come back here looking for a fight, really. That's a pity, one certainly looking for you. There's wiggle room, but even American McGee noted that even with that wiggle room, he is still barred from working on something like this for the rest of his life unless it's under EA's whims. An absolute shame, and I really hope that something changes eventually.

Forspoken

Now down at number one, Forspoken. Yes, the game from early 2023 that kind of came and went, was quickly forgotten about. Unfortunately, it released to not the greatest critical acclaim, and while it definitely did have a couple of people that enjoyed it, it didn't really set the world on fire. Once again, Square Enix, the publisher here, was expecting so much more, to the point where they ended up dissolving the developers, Luminous Productions. According to RPG Site, this development studio, before they were dissolved, was in the quote-unquote preliminary stages of working on new projects and specifically an outline for a sequel to Forspoken. Along with that, they had also worked on a new engine for Forspoken, and that might not end up going anywhere either. Look, I don't know how many people actually wanted a sequel to Forspoken, but at the very least, it could have really turned things around and made a better game.

 We've had a lot of examples of games where the first game releases, it's not that great, and then the second game really refines it and knocks it out of the park. I'm not saying that was a guarantee for Forspoken 2, but hey, they could have given it a shot. Unfortunately, Forspoken and hopes of any future sequel or anything like that is going the way of the dodo. "Did I just do that?" Well, definitely with my assistance. "I did not just do that. We did." "Did I just move stuff with my mind?" "Perhaps our connection has somehow awoken some abilities." 

Conclusion

So those are 10 games that did not deliver to expectations and had to cancel all hopes of any future sequels or expansions or anything like that. But there are plenty of other examples out there, so if you can think of any, let us know, and we'll make a follow-up to this blog. But thank you very much for reading. If you like what we do, we put out blogs every single day. We'll see you guys next time.