Line #91 SavedFromDevelopmentHell/VideoGames


1	Every once in a while, a game manages to [[{{Vaporware}} condense from the vapor]].
2	----
3	* I-Mockery's Roger Barr had the idea for a giant NES fangame starring Abobo back in 2002. The project came to a halt, but in 2006 new developers came to the rescue and thus ''VideoGame/AbobosBigAdventure'' was born. It was finally released as a Flash-based game in January 2012, ten years after the initial drafts.
4	* ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' was first announced way back in 2004, and after several years of trying to come up with a comprehensible story that would accommodate an open-world survival horror setting and redoing the game almost from scratch three years into development into the linear action-adventure with horror elements seen in the final product, it finally released Spring 2010. The PC version took two years longer, only finally seeing light in 2012. Creator/RemedyEntertainment always intended to have a proper direct sequel to the game beyond the GaidenGame ''Alan Wake's American Nightmare'', but it wouldn't be released until ''thirteen'' years later because the first game didn't initially sell well enough for Microsoft to give them the go-ahead, and then Remedy had to buy back the publication rights to the ''Alan Wake'' IP from Microsoft. Finally, ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'' was announced properly in 2021, and released in October 2023.
5	* ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'' was stuck in development for nearly six years before being released, due to Gearbox focusing most of their efforts on developing their other games like ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. Subcontracting game development to a different design studio didn't help either.
6	* ''VideoGame/AmericanHero'' is an adult-oriented InteractiveMovie starring the likes of Creator/TimothyBottoms, Creator/DanielRoebuck, and Creator/MusettaVander that was originally intended for release in 1995, was cancelled, but eventually saw release in ''2021''. It was originally filmed as a TechDemoGame of Creator/{{Atari}}'s nascent proprietary interactive movie format, [=GameFilm=], to be released on the Platform/AtariJaguar, but due to the Jaguar's commercial failure, the game was canned. Most of the project was already complete, and director Jeff Burr planned on reworking the project to be a traditional linear feature film, even filming additional necessary footage, but the film negatives were damaged during the cutting phase, it was deemed a loss for the producers, and the project remained unfinished. However, the footage and source code kept circulating among Atari enthusiasts and archivists (unauthorized fan recreations of the game existed and were shown in conventions from as early as 2003), eventually falling into the hands of retro publisher Ziggurat Interactive and developer Empty Clip Studios in 2021, who did a proper restoration of the game, even managing to get Timothy Bottoms [[RoleReprise to reprise his role for newly-recorded dialogue]]. Later that year, the game was finally released on PC on Platform/GOGDotCom alongside a console release by Limited Run Games.
7	* The Platform/AtariVCS console. Originally announced in 2017 for a 2018 release, the release was pushed back to March 2020. Numerous delays (one to change CPU) have made it a mockery of the PC gamers as well as by fanboys of other consoles. And then, in October 2019, the lead designer of the project quit, leaving Atari with only a prototype motherboard and the schematics. While Atari insisted that the project was on schedule and that they'd contracted a different company to do debugging and troubleshooting work, the project backers were starting to grow restless and some wanted their money back. The first units of the console finally made their way to backers in December 2020, with the console publicly releasing in June 2021.
8	* ''VideoGame/{{Bee}}'', an InteractiveFiction game by Creator/EmilyShort, was released in 2012 for Varytale. When Varytale shut down, its lead developer recreated ''Bee'' for the Dendry platform, but in incomplete form. However, in 2022, the project was finally finished by a new developer working alongside Short, along with general polishing of the game's text and mechanics.
9	* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', a free FanRemake of ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', started development after the release of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' in 2004. The mod's first release came in ''2012'', 8 years later. The game was released without the last chapters of the game taking place on Xen, as the developers want to take extra care to avoid [[DisappointingLastLevel the problems most players had with the original game's Xen levels]]. After a few more delays, the Xen levels were finally officially released in early access in December 2019.
10	* Two Creator/{{Blizzard\|Entertainment}} sequels got shelved for ~12 years to devote resources to the ''Warcraft'' franchise, more specifically ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' was finally released in July 2010, and ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' in May 2012. A trailer for the former famously has Tychus Findlay saying, "Hell. It's about time." To put this into context, after the release of ''VideoGame/DiabloII: Lord of Destruction'' in June 2001, Blizzard would release ''Warcraft''-related games exclusively for the next 9 years, until the aforementioned ''Wings of Liberty''.
11	* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' was to be released in 2014 but spent 4 years in DevelopmentHell due to changes to the project as well as real life-related unforeseen circumstances. It was finally published in 2018.
12	* ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' originally had a publisher in Vivendi Universal, but once they merged with Sierra (who later merged with Activision), developer Double Fine was left out in the cold and had to scramble around for a publisher. They found Activision, who tried to turn it into a music game, so then DF left and went to EA instead. Activision tried to cancel the game and then they and EA fought for quite some time. EA won the battle, and so the game was finally released for the [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 in 2009. A PC port was considered, but wasn't released until February 2013, long after EA dropped the rights to the title.
13	* ''VideoGame/CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth'', originally announced in 1999 and set for release in 2001, until the original publishers went under. Luckily, after seeing the success of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' on the Xbox and PC, Bethesda picked up the publishing rights, so long as they made an Xbox version - which tacked on ''another'' 6 months. By the time it finally came out (fittingly in October) in 2005, it would become the last marquee title released for the Xbox, where it promptly languished with sub-standard sales. After which, the developers Headfirst Interactive were subsequently shuttered and their other two titles planned as sequels, Beyond The Mountains of Madness and Sanity's End, which would form a trilogy were forgotten. The team responsible for making the game splintered off and joined Codemasters, Eurocom and Sega Racing Studio.
14	* ''VideoGame/ChipsChallenge 2'' by Chuck Sommerville was finally released on May 28, 2015, after a successful five-year long negotiation with the trademark owners. It had originally languished for 23 years when the new owners wanted him to fund the publishing.
15	* ''VideoGame/ChocoboRacing 3D'' for the Platform/Nintendo3DS was announced at [=E3=] in 2010, and then supposedly cancelled three years later. It finally came out in much different form as ''Chocobo GP'' for the Platform/NintendoSwitch ''twelve'' years later.
16	* ''VideoGame/TheClosure'', a FanSequel to ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two'', was in development since 2010 and delayed many times, finally being released on February 27th, 2016.
17	* ''VideoGame/CubeWorld'' was released as a purchasable playable alpha in July 2013 where the game received a few updates and then stopped getting updates for six years. The developer basically went into radio silence mode and gave rare updates on his Twitter showing screenshots on what he had planned for the game, but nothing on if the current game itself was getting any updates anytime soon. In September 2019, the developer finally showed off a trailer and a release date of September 30th of that year on Steam with a playable beta on the 23rd for those who purchased the game during alpha. The developer also went on to post an update on his blog to explain why he was silent for so long; he'd gotten anxiety and depression after his site got [=DDoS'd=] when the game's alpha launched and he also restarted the project several times due to him being a perfectionist and feeling that his previous builds of the game weren't good enough to release to the public.
18	* ''D2'', the sequel to ''VideoGame/{{D}}'', was first announced for the stillborn Panasonic [=M2=], and then for the Sega Saturn. Several years and a "Wired Vaporware" award later, it finally was released for the Platform/SegaDreamcast.
19	* ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' from ION Storm. The initial design was done in 1997 and the finished game came out in the year 2000. Horrible publicity and John Romero's decision to switch to the ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' engine after eleven months of work was already done did not help matters.
20	* ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'' series developer Vigil Games had wanted to keep the franchise going, but Creator/{{THQ}} shut down and ceased all development of its video games in April 2013, auctioning off their intellectual properties - as such, Vigil Games was dismantled. THQ would be purchased by Nordic Games (eventually becoming THQ Nordic), and a {{Sequel}} to ''VideoGame/DarksidersII'' was left in limbo for five years until May 2017, when online retailer Amazon leaked a product listing for ''VideoGame/DarksidersIII''. THQ Nordic officially announced its return, developed by Gunfire Games, comprised of ex-Vigil Games staff members who worked on the previous releases, set for a 2018 release.
21	* ''VideoGame/DeadIsland2'', the third game in the Dead Island series, was announced in 2014. In 2015, the original developer was dropped and replaced. In 2019 the second developer was removed and replaced with the current one, Dambuster. The game was given a March 2021 release, which came and went. By August 2022, the publisher targeted the game to be released in February 2023, only to later delay it. The game was finally released in April 2023.
22	* ''Diddy Kong Pilot'' was first revealed in 2001, but was nearly scrapped due to Creator/{{Rare}} being bought out by Microsoft, and thus losing the rights to use Diddy Kong. It would be reworked into a GBA game making use of the developer's own ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' characters, reappearing in 2005 as ''VideoGame/BanjoPilot''.
23	* Creator/LucasArts' ''VideoGame/{{The Dig\|1995}}'' began in 1989 and looks like it - the graphical style and serious tone are more similar to ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' and ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' than any of the comedic games [=LucasArts=] was later known for. The game was written by Creator/StevenSpielberg and intended to tell a movie over a game, though this meant that the pacing frequently did not work. Over the years, the game was passed through several development teams, with the graphics, story and interface changing a little, though the bulk of its later additions were voice acting and FMV sequences. A novelization of an early draft of the game was released, featuring a character cut from it. When ''The Dig'' was finally released in 1995, it failed to attract popularity except from hardcore [=LucasArts=] fans, and the development history suggests that the developers were not hugely enthusiastic about it either. Despite this, it does have a following among fans of hard sci-fi.
24	* ''[[VideoGame/Doom2016 Doom 4]]'' was first announced in 2008, but repeatedly hit delays due to Creator/IdSoftware being bought out by Zenimax, as well as development resources being channeled into ''VideoGame/Rage2011''. As the years went on, leaked concept art, screenshots, and later a development video of pre-rendered cutscenes came out from a version of the game that was canned as by [[http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/24/8839643/bethesda-doom-4-call-of-duty Bethesda's own admission it was basically]] ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty Call of]] [[FollowTheLeader Doom]]''. A completely new version of the game was shown to a tightly controlled private audience at Quakecon 2014 where any video recording was banned. The word from those who saw it was that it was much closer to the first two ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' games in style. At E3 2015 the game was finally shown off to the public, now simply titled ''[[RecycledTitle Doom]]'' and finally released on May 13th, 2016.
25	* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' {{game mod}}s:
26	** In the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' community's annual Cacowards, the Mordeth Award (named after a community-famous example of {{Vaporware}}) is awarded to examples of this trope with ''Doom'' [[GameMod WADs]]. The first recipient was [[http://www.doomworld.com/11years/others.php 2004]]'s ''[[http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?file=levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/hellcore.zip Hellcore]]'', which not only spent a record ''nine years'' in development, but was started in ''1995, a year after the modding community began''.
27	** [[http://www.doomworld.com/12years/others.php 2005]]'s ''[[http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?file=levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dmdjm02.zip Jägermörder 02 Terra Nova]]'' is no slouch either. It was developed for six years starting just after the original ''[[http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?file=levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dmdjm01.zip Jägermörder]]'', which seems paltry compared to the above--until you learn that it's a ''single level'' that took that long to make.
28	--->''Build Time: Started in 1999. [[LampshadeHanging Yeah.]]''
29	** While not a Mordeth winner, the 2015 arcade-style mod ''[[https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/skuldash Skulldash]]'' was initially created for the Skulltag source port and took "Over Seven Years" to develop, during which Skulltag died and its off-shoot Zandronum took its place. This technically means ''Skulldash'' took so long to make that it outlived its original target engine by just over three years. For all its effort, ''Skulldash'' was met with critical acclaim and [[https://www.doomworld.com/22years/best1.php one of the Cacowards of 2015]].
30	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' entered development in 1996 for the Nintendo 64DD, but switched to the [=PlayStation=] in 1997. It was not released until 2001, and its release basically let it get OvershadowedByAwesome considering that the Xbox and [=PlayStation=] 2 were already out and the [=GameCube=] was ''just around the corner''. Not to mention, it was complained about because it looked dated, and still does seem quite dated translation-wise with the [[BlindIdiotTranslation engrish]]-y names for some things.
31	* The [=PlayStation=] Plus edition of ''VideoGame/{{Driveclub}}'' was meant to be launched along the main game on [=PS4=]'s launch day. Then, the main game got delayed until October 8, 2014, and ''then'' the disastrous online launch saw the PS Plus version delayed indefinitely until they could fix the servers. Finally, it saw the light on June 25, 2015, eight months after the main game launched, and two years since it was announced.
32	* ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'', the third game in ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' series, was first mentioned in 2007 and only started production in November 2012, due to designer Ragnar Tornquist working on ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' (itself also delayed frequently). Also, it's apparently not even going to be the proper conclusion to the series, which is going to have to wait for ''The Longest Journey Home''... expected to be released some time around '''''2030'''''--[[https://twitter.com/ragso/status/741008032528801794 if at all]].
33	* ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' is the most infamous case of development hell in video games. First announced in 1997, it wouldn't be released until 2011. [[http://duke.a-13.net/ Here an incomplete list of things that happened during DNF's development.]]
34	* ''[[VideoGame/{{Elite}} Elite IV]]'' was announced by series creator David Braben back in 1997, and languished for ''17 years'' before Frontier Developments (the company working on the game) announced an endeavor to fund the final development of the game via crowdfunding in 2012. The effort succeeded, and the game released in December 2014, under the title of ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous''.
35	* Roughly half of the plots and quest lines from the canceled Interplay ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' project ''VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren'' made their way into ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' after being stuck in limbo for about 15 years.
36	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
37	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' started development as early as the beginning of the 2000s. It had originally been slated for release in 2004, but then was pushed back to 2005 due to the lead designer leaving the project, but was pushed back ''again'' and finally saw release in late 2006, after the ''Fabula Nova Crystallis'' (see below) metaseries had been announced.
38	** The ''Fabula Nova Crystallis'' media project, announced at E3 2006, was so fraught with internal issues that ''all'' of its debut games experienced significant delays in some form, and the franchise ended up effectively dead, its installments all being [[DivorcedInstallment distanced from one another]].
39	*** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' was revealed for the first time via a CG trailer. It had already been in development for at least a year prior to its announcement at the E3, and later interviews revealed that the game had been in development even ''longer'' (the battle system had existed on a [=PS2=] as a prototype). It [[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30640/Exclusive_Behind_The_Scenes_Of_Square_Enixs_Final_Fantasy_XIII.php got into development hell right after its initial trailer]], reasons varied from an underdeveloped Crystal Tools engine to late play testing. Every subsequent year they released a slightly modified version of the same trailer with a few new scenes mixed in, any new information being slowly drip-fed. It wasn't until 2009 that Square Enix showed some actual gameplay footage and revealed significant plot details, the game finally seeing retail later that year.
40	*** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' was announced as ''Final Fantasy Agito XIII'' and initially envisioned as a mobile phone game. Like ''XIII'', its development was halted right at the beginning, because its developers were busy working on ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. When it was put back on track in 2008, Square Enix decided to redevelop it for PSP, owing to the scale of the project posing serious difficulties had it remained on mobile phones. Then it was delayed ''again'' as the developers were diverted to work on ''VideoGame/The3rdBirthday'' and came close to being cancelled. Finally, it was "reannounced" in 2011 as ''Final Fantasy Type-0'', as Square Enix disclosed that the change to PSP had made the lore incompatible with ''XIII''. It finally saw release later that year. The original mobile phone project was later resurrected, simply named ''Final Fantasy Agito'', and released in 2014 ([[NoExportForYou although only in Japan]]).\
41	''Type-0'' deserves another mention because around the time of its Japanese release, Square-Enix had planned for an English version of the game as well. Unfortunately, perhaps largely due to the flagging PSP market in the U.S., the effort stalled and no word was spoken of it for years. It got to the point that a fan translation of the game which took over two years managed to be completed. THEN at E3 2014, a mere few days after the release of the fan translation, Square Enix made the announcement that ''Type-0'' was getting an HD Remastered release on the [=PS4=] and the Xbox One, and this did get localized.
42	*** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' was originally named ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII''. Following its announcement at E3 2006, it changed enough over the years that it was made a separate title entirely. Actual discernible information on the game for a long time after 2006 was very sparse, and up until early 2010, trailers for it only contained CG and cutscene footage. The game languished for so long that the main character's costume hadn't even been finalized until some time in late 2009. Development picked up after the release of ''FF XIII'', and really got into gear after its team, also a part of the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' franchise, fully switched over to it around 2011, though it also switched from the Platform/PlayStation3 to the Platform/PlayStation4. E3 2013 confirmed its name change to ''FF XV'', with a few [[BitingTheHandHumor subtle jabs to its own lengthy development cycle]]. The game was finally released on November 29, 2016, over ''a decade'' after its initial announcement, making it the most delayed ''Final Fantasy'' game ever.\
43	Following this, elements of ''Versus XIII'' (with the SerialNumbersFiledOff) show up prominently in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' as a [[ShowWithinAShow Game within a Game]] titled ''Verum Rex'' and again in its secret ending, [[spoiler:which itself is named after a character seen earlier in ''Verum Rex.'']] Although series creator Tetsuya Nomura has stated on multiple occasions that ''Verum Rex'' is ''not'' ''Versus XIII'', it's clear that future ''Kingdom Hearts'' games will incorporate ideas planned for ''Versus'' but dropped in the game's transition to being ''XV''.
44	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake''. The game was planned since the early 2000s as a [=PS2=] release, but nothing came of it, because everyone was too busy with ''Fabula Nova Crystallis''. It was then teased in 2005, with a CGI test project of the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' opening rendered in the Crystal Tools engine. An official announcement finally happened in E3 2015, where a teaser trailer showing cutscenes and some gameplay footage was released. Then a four-year silence ensued, broken only by occasional reveals of screenshots. It wasn't until May 2019 that it got a release date and significant gameplay coverage, before seeing retail March the next year.
45	* ''Fire Emblem 64'' was a game intended to be released for the 64DD expansion pack for the Nintendo 64. When it first started development in 1997, it was planned to be released after ''Super Mario RPG 2'' (Now ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''). However, it was hardly brought up in interviews, and development was further stalled due to the game being too overly ambitious for its time. At the turn of the millennium, it ended up getting pulled from release, and the game shortly after became ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' for the Game Boy Advance, released in 2002.
46	* Creator/CliffJohnson began work on ''The Fool and His Money'', a sequel to ''VideoGame/TheFoolsErrand'', in 2003. Nine years and countless delays later, the game was finally released in October 2012. Even more unbelievably, according to nearly all fans, it was ''still'' well worth all the wait.
47	* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' was announced in 1999, and the first demo was shown at E3 in 2000; back then, Digital Anvil promised entire worlds with moving transports, changing weather, dynamic economies, lots and lots of side quests and a non-linear story, [=NPCs=] with their own personalities, and the ability to buy and set up your own base. However, Digital Anvil soon ran out of money, the owners had to sell the company to Microsoft Games, and while they were gathering up the needed money, they had to stop and scale down the goals of the project. Four years later, in 2003, the game was finally released: the economy was now static, the [=NPCs=] had a painfully generic personality, the worlds were reduced to pretty-looking menus, the storyline was made 100% linear (and oddly ends fairly early in the game before 80% of the content is even unlocked), and the side quests were removed. However, the final product ''did not suck'', and still stands today as an example of excellent game design. The graphics ''were'' extremely outdated though.
48	* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' is a fairly recent example; The first 7 Weeks of the game were released, then a Kickstarter campaign was released, with stretch goals galore. The developers kept extending the deadline for the next update, and then a period of mostly unbroken radio silence until the 04/30/2024 update, which overhauled the source code ("This is not the Ludum Dare game held together with sticks and glue you played three years ago," the changelog says), added a new Week (Weekend 1, featuring Darnell and Nene from Pico's home series) and in general fixed many issues (aside from the infamous [[Memes/FridayNightFunkin Null Object Reference]]).
49	* ''VideoGame/GoodbyeVolcanoHigh'' was conceived of in 2018 and revealed during Sony's June 2020 "Future of Gaming" online event with a release window of 2021. Complications immediately followed; remote work due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic slowed production, anti-LGBT+ harassment afflicted the team's mental health, and the developers let go of their lead writer and replaced her with a new team that wrote a heavily revised story with a rebooted narrative. The game was delayed first to "late 2022", then to "summer 2023". The trailer from the February 2023 "State of Play" gave a release date of June 15th, but this was delayed again to August 29th, with the devs stating they wouldn't meet the date without crunch. The game went gold on August 21st, and was released eight days later.
50	* ''VideoGame/GranTurismo 5'' was revealed at E3 2005. In 2008, a demo version, ''Gran Turismo 5 Prologue'' was released and sold well. In 2009, the full version was announced, and got a release date for February 2010... which was then delayed to November 2010 due to technical issues.
51	* ''VideoGame/GrimoireHeraldsOfTheWingedExemplar'', a ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}''-styled game, started development in around 1997. A crowdfunding campaign from 2012 promised a May 2013 release date, which didn't pan out as planned, but the game was finally released on Steam in 2017.
52	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'':
53	** For several years, it was considered one of these, due to the mysterious nature of the release dates and an infamous delay announced ''on the day it was supposed to come out''. That the game not only came out a year later but turned out to be one of the greatest games of 2004 is truly mind-blowing considering its difficult development cycle. A common rumour alleged that the game was delayed so that Valve could restart development due to a leak of half-finished code. The truth is, no power in this or any other universe could've got a game like that out in the timeframe Valve set themselves.
54	** The ''Half-Life 2'' sequel episodes (''Episode One'', which came out in mid-2006, and ''Episode Two'', a year and a half later), while they were greatly praised by critics and players, lasted only a few hours each and there were no justifications for such delays. Multiple critics noted that content of this type was designed to be released ''quickly''. With that in mind, the final entry (''Episode Three''), has firmly been in the realm of {{Vaporware}} since 2007.
55	* ''VideoGame/HeartOfDarkness'' took six years to develop, and had its release date reported over and over for four years, before finally being released in 1998. In France, its development hell was so well known the game was sarcastically nicknamed "L'Arlésienne des Jeux Vidéo" [[note]]"The Arlésienne of Video Games", referring to the character in the play of the same name [[TheGhost who never actually appears in it]][[/note]] by the French video game press.
56	* ''VideoGame/ImperiumGalactica III: Genesis'', was being developed by Digital Reality. However, the publisher GT Interactive went bankrupt, and the title was "borrowed" by Philos Laboratories. When their lease expired, the project was renamed to ''Galaxy Andromeda''. Then Philos Laboratories went bankrupt, and Mithis Entertainment picked up the development, resulting in ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident''. While the game in its current state has nothing to do with the ''Imperium Galactica'' series, its storyline remained largely unchanged from the original project, becoming the [[SpiritualSuccessor unofficial prequel]] to the series.
57	* ''VideoGame/KameoElementsOfPower'' was originally announced as a launch title for the [=GameCube=]. It later came out as a launch title for the Xbox 360, four years after it was supposed to come out (having a cancelled Xbox development on its way). The same thing happened to two other Rare games, ''VideoGame/PerfectDark Zero'' and ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Threeie]]'' (renamed to ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts''), which were also planned to be [=GameCube=] games, but were shelved when Rare was sold to Microsoft, and then cropped up on the 360.
58	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' was teased way back since ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' was first released, but was continuously delayed because of series creator Creator/TetsuyaNomura's interest in expanding the lore around the series, his erstwhile focus on ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'' (which was redeveloped into ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' after he left the project), and the switch to Unreal Engine 4 midway through development. It didn't get an official announcement until E3 2013[[note]]as a fun piece of trivia, the TV Tropes page for the game was created the same day it was announced at the [=E3=]. Needless to say, it was collecting dust until 2017 or so.[[/note]] and didn't see release until 2019.
59	* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
60	** ''VideoGame/KirbyAirRide'' was in development since 1995 for the Nintendo 64 as ''Kirby's Air Ride'', shelved a few years later, and surprisingly resurfaced in 2003 on the Platform/NintendoGameCube.
61	** The infamous ''Kirby'' game planned for the [=GameCube=] would be revived in 2011 as ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. A lot of the ideas that didn't get salvaged for that would appear in later entries, such as the "Helpers" concept becoming a core mechanic in ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', not to mention the 3D level environment feature being fully realised when ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' released in 2024.
62	* ''VideoGame/LANoire''. It was released in 2011 after a seven-year hiatus. One of the reasons behind the delay was because they were trying to master the new technology of facial reading to make the characters look as realistic as possible.
63	* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'' had been in development since 2007 and was first announced in 2009 with a target release year of 2011. Instead, the game was delayed for several years. It got to the point where fans were wondering if the game had been cancelled. It wasn't until E3 2015 when ''The Last Guardian'' was re-revealed as a Platform/PlayStation4 game, with actual footage, and was finally released in December 2016.
64	* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has been constantly updating with new content for over a decade, but among them were several projects that were announced but then took a really long time getting off the ground:
65	** [[BareFistedMonk Lee Sin]] is a playable champion that was teased since the game's early alpha in 2009, but he didn't make it into the playable roster due to his design being not seen as that interesting enough. He ended up going through a series of internal reworks, and after some quiet mentions of him in the game's lore, he was properly released in early 2011 with a brand new model and gameplay kit.
66	** Ao Shin was [[OurDragonsAreDifferent an Eastern-inspired serpentine storm dragon]] teased in 2013 as being a major new character, effectively confirmed to be an upcoming champion, only for him to never see release. By 2016, Riot admitted that Ao Shin's design simply caused too many problems technologically and balance-wise (namely from implementing and getting use out of his lengthy body), but the concept was reworked and salvaged into an entirely new character: Aurelion Sol, a ''space'' dragon whose gameplay revolves around creation of stars whose design is nowhere near as elongated. In 2020, Ao Shin's design was recycled for a [[FunSize chibi-sized]] Little Legend character ''and'' for the "Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol" skin, [[MythologyGag which is even identified in gameplay as "Ao Shin"]].
67	--->'''Storm Dragon Lee Sin''': [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall You're late, Ao Shin! Seven years too late!]]
68	** Ornn was the end result of a long development period since 2013 to create a [[TheBlacksmith "living forge" champion who could create his own weapons]]. After the concept was greenlit, Riot underwent many troubles figuring out what to even do with him, experiencing cycles of delays and reschedulings, to a point that he was "recycled" into [[ArtEvolution the art update]] of a different preexisting champion, Sion, before resuming as his own entity. It wasn't until Riot scheduled [[TheJuggernaut a "vanguard" champion]] for development and devs applied the pitch onto it again that substantial work began, and he was finally released in 2017.
69	** Dragon Master Swain (a skin turning the usually [[CreepyCrows crow and raven]]-themed SorcerousOverlord into [[OurDragonsAreDifferent a dragon mage]]) was pitched by fans on the official ''League'' forums in 2011, which caught so much traction that Rioters all but confirmed it would eventually be real. However, it ended up experiencing a hectic production cycle, having been cancelled ''twice'' over the course of several years due to Swain turning out to be a rather unpopular champion with loads of design issues (visually and mechanically). However, Swain would eventually receive a full relaunch in 2018 to rebuild his [[ArtEvolution cosmetic assets]] and [[BalanceBuff gameplay]], and as part of it, the Dragon Master Swain skin launched along with it, which was even announced by Riot as "old promises to players."
70	** Pizza Delivery Sivir (a skin turning the [[BattleBoomerang boomerang]]-throwing TreasureHunter into [[SillinessSwitch a delivery girl who chucks out boomeranging pizzas]]) was another monumentally popular fan concept pitched in the official ''League'' forum in 2010, and Riot [[https://www.surrenderat20.net/2013/09/pax-prime-monday-art-demo-pizza.html teased official art concepts for it at a panel in 2013.]] After staying oddly quiet for a few years, the skin was finally released for the 2018 AprilFoolsDay patch.
71	* ''VideoGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'' had a hugely long development cycle. Riot had been working on a ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''-inspired CardBattleGame since as early as 2012 ([[WorkingTitle codenamed "Bacon",]] uncovered in leaks at the time as ''League of Legends Supremacy''), but they quietly shelved the project -- approximately 6 months before it was ready to be shipped -- after several developers played the newly-announced ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone\|HeroesOfWarcraft}}'' and [[ToughActToFollow realized it already accomplished virtually everything they wanted to do, and better.]] It took Riot years to regain the confidence to create more supplementary projects for ''League'', including the TCG, where it was substantially retooled and then formally announced in 2019 as ''Legends of Runeterra''.
72	* ''Lily Bergamo'' was announced in 2013 as a "super action game" by Creator/Suda51, featuring artwork by Yusuke Kozaki. One trailer was released before the game re-surfaced in 2014 as ''VideoGame/LetItDie'', which is... very different than the initial product.
73	* ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost''. Given the quality of the game, you could argue that this "game" was not ''saved'' from hell and it would have been much better if it had never been released. A demo of the first version of the game was released in 1995 (for the Amiga), while the game was finally released in 2008.
74	* ''VideoGame/TheMagicCircle'' is an in-universe example. After waiting ''twenty years'' for the promised sequel to one of her favorite games, Coda joins the developer team as its newest intern to make sure it finally gets done. [[spoiler:She does so by manipulating Ishmael into making a laughingstock of himself at E4 and outright threatens him (along with an entire audience room full of frustrated former fans like herself) into making the game open source. Unfortunately, the fans she brings in to code the game immediately make a huge mess of everything. Ultimately, it's up to you to code a decent "Episode One" to salvage the game. Even then, the game's future remains uncertain since the entire old development team -- along with all of their old baggage and bickering -- returns to "help" you.]]
75	* Creator/WorkingDesigns initially announced a United States release of the Platform/SegaSaturn version of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' in 1995. It was delayed for three years before finally being released after the console itself was officially dead in America (for six months). The first year of delay was for mostly unknown reasons (most likely relating to the vast amount of voice work involved), but the other two years were no doubt due to Bernie Stolar (head of Sega of America at the time) and his draconian policy towards third party developers. The game was actually finished for a good amount of time, but due to Stolar's involvement, it took a large amount of time before it was finally released - so long that it ended up the last Saturn game ever to come out in the United States.
76	** Another part of the problem was a hard drive crash that deleted sections of the source code for that game (and several other Working Designs projects), forcing the developers to replace the lost sections from scratch.
77	** Another possible part of the problem was the fight between [=WD=] and Sega over ''names''. You see, Sega had thought ''Rayearth'' would be an awesome series to bring to the [=US=] and the game would be one way to bring the anime over. However, as it was common in the day, they wanted the names changed in the game to match it. Working Designs, [[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.sailor-moon/msg/742f12a30c85d538 originally planned to change the names in a different way]] but eventually fought to use the original names.
78	* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'', being released a whole nine years after its predecessor, was announced multiple years before its release and delayed multiple times as well.
79	* ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' made its first appearance in a leaked 2005 internal Creator/{{Nintendo}} document of Platform/NintendoDS games set for future announcements, and was later teased in June by gaming magazines as being in development. Excitement only grew as ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' featured a hidden message that "Project Dread" was "nearing the final stages of completion", although there are conflicting statements as of if this relates to Metroid Dread or not. In 2010, ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series producer Creator/YoshioSakamoto would reveal that while ''Dread'' did exist, it was scrapped on two different occasions (specifically around the beginning and the latter half of the DS's life) due to him being unsatisfied with technical specifications of the handheld. After Creator/MercurySteam helmed ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' in 2017, Sakamoto was convinced they could successfully deliver his vision for ''Dread''. The project would be revived, and the game finally saw an official announcement in June 2021 at E3 and released 4 months later in October, a whopping '''sixteen years''' after its existence was first revealed.
80	* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdgeCatalyst'' was released in 2016, eight years after [[VideoGame/MirrorsEdge the original game]]. The first ''Mirror's Edge'' was intended as the first part of a planned trilogy, and less than a year after its release, Creator/ElectronicArts confirmed that the sequel was in full production. After that, various announcements popped up online every few months, usually with one or more EA executives or developer staff members saying that, yes, the game was being worked on. More than one prototype for the game was scrapped by the publisher, and despite the dev industry generally knowing that the game was in development at DICE, there was no announcement for months as to the overall status of the game. In the end, ''Catalyst'' was pushed back for a next-gen release on the Frostbite 2 engine after DICE finished ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 4}}'', serving as a ContinuityReboot for the StillbornFranchise.
81	* ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'':
82	** An NPC in ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' wonders when ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'' is going to be released, and for good reason: ''Mother 2'' was in development for a then-unheard of four years. In Creator/ShigesatoItoi's book, ''Iwata-san'', the creator of the franchise states the late Nintendo CEO Creator/SatoruIwata single-handedly salvaged the project in less than a year.
83	** ''VideoGame/Mother3'' was originally planned for release on the Platform/Nintendo64's 64DD peripheral. Unfortunately, the 64DD was a market failure and the game was scrapped after attempts to turn it into a standard [=N64=], then a Platform/NintendoGameCube game. It was later revived and became one of the last releases for the Platform/GameBoyAdvance. [[NoExportForYou There was no official English translation]], which American and European fans [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow continue to campaign for to this day]], though it does have a well-done FanTranslation that allows foreign players to finally experience the game for themselves.
84	* ''VideoGame/TheNamelessMod'', a GameMod for ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', was in development for 7 years before being released.
85	* ''VideoGame/NatsukiChronicles'', a spin-off of ''VideoGame/GingaForce'', was announced in 2016 before it was delayed several times, from a 2017 to a 2018 release. It was eventually released on Christmas 2019.
86	* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', originally announced with a 1998 release date, was delayed until mid-2002. Along the way, production company Creator/BioWare broke off its collaboration with publisher Creator/{{Black Isle\|Studios}}, an entirely new engine was written for the game, and the Third Edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' was released, necessitating a reworking of nearly all the game's mechanics. In this case, however, the finished product ''was'' a popular success. Furthermore, the Mac and Linux versions were originally going to ship in the same box as the Windows version, as full versions with development tools. About a week before release, Bioware announced that the Mac version was going to be a separate SKU after Creator/MacSoftGames ported it, which they were going to start doing RealSoonNow, the Linux version would be available for download eventually, and neither would include the development tools. Mac and Linux users were a bit upset.
87	* ''VideoGame/NiGHTSJourneyOfDreams'' was in development hell ever since the 1996 release of the original ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'' and was originally going to be for the Sega Saturn using a tilt sensor in the Analog Pad under the working title ''Air Nights''. It was ported to Dreamcast development then shelved. Then it was planned for a multiplatform release on Wii, Xbox 360, and Platform/{{PlayStation 3}}, but eventually escaped hell in 2007 as a Wii exclusive.
88	* "Ni-Oh" was supposed to be based on an unfinished script by Creator/AkiraKurosawa entitled "Oni". Creator/{{Koei\|Tecmo}} (pre-merger with Tecmo) announced the game in 2004, set for a summer 2006 release on the Sony Platform/PlayStation3, except it missed its launch window with no comment from Koei until ''2009'', despite Koei insisting the game was still in development. A year later, the merged Creator/KoeiTecmo brought in Team Ninja (makers of ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' and the modern day ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' games) to help with development, which Koei Tecmo later admitted they had suspended previously; even Team Ninja went on record to say they had to go through multiple trial-and-error tests to decide what sort of genre would fit Ni-Oh. News of more development trickled out slowly in 2012 and 2014, until September 2015, where the game is re-branded as ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'', released for the Creator/{{Sony}} Platform/PlayStation4 on February 7, 2017, almost '''13 years''' in production, making this one of the longest Japanese-developed video games. Fortunately, it was enough of a success that [[VideoGame/Nioh2 a sequel]] was announced and did not experience the same fate as its predecessor, being released on schedule.
89	* The survival horror series ''VideoGame/ObsCure'' had two games released in 2004 and 2006, with the second game ending on a cliffhanger revealing the existence of a GreaterScopeVillain. The sequel went through [[WhatCouldHaveBeen multiple incarnations]] before its developer, Hydravision Entertainment, went bankrupt in 2012. Ex-Hydravision employees reformed the company as Mighty Rocket Studios and released the game in 2013, by which time it had become a [[DivorcedInstallment non-canon spinoff]][=/=]ContinuityReboot called ''Final Exam''.
90	* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' was in development for six years, and during that time, it had to be ported to a new engine, the Platform/Nintendo3DS port was cancelled, and with silence between developers and backers, didn't make things look any better. Fortunately, it came out on Christmas 2020 [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail to highly positive reception]], and a Platform/NintendoSwitch port was released to make up for that.
91	* ''VideoGame/OneMustFall'' launched in 1994. The sequel, ''Battlegrounds'', was announced in 1996. It didn't arrive until 2003, ''seven years later''. Unfortunately, the result was a cumbersome mess.
92	* ''VideoGame/{{Owlboy}}'' was first announced in 2007 and didn't come out until nine years later in November 2016. Director Simon Stafsnes Andersen has suffered from depression since childhood, and the team were so worried about expectations from fans that they restarted development from scratch several times.
93	* ''VideoGame/{{Paprium}}'', a side-scrolling beat-'em-up made for the Platform/SegaGenesis by Watermelon Games, the same people who released ''VideoGame/PierSolarAndTheGreatArchitects'' for that system, required four years of development. Pre-orders were launched in late 2017, but apparently problems with [=PayPal=] caused even more delays and there were talks of refunds from the devs. Watermelon's [[https://www.facebook.com/notes/watermelon/no-news-good-news/1733376676730002/ Facebook page]] and [[http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/05/exclusive_the_artist_behind_troubled_sega_mega_drive_fighter_paprium_speaks_out this article]] have more info about it. Eventually the game's release was called into serious question by the "[[https://papriumfiasco.wordpress.com/ Paprium Fiasco]]" documents -- but despite that pessimism gamers were stunned by a sudden announcement in December 2020 that the ''finished'' game was preparing to ship; within a week many who had given up on ever seeing the title finally received it.
94	* ''VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness''. Hothead Games canned the series after Episode 2 (released in fall 2008) because it didn't sell as good as the first episode, so it seemed that the story was never going to be finished in game format. However, the series was later picked up by Zeboyd Games (of ''VideoGame/BreathOfDeathVII'' and ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'' fame), allowing the last 2 episodes to be released during June 2012 and 2013, respectively.
95	* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'' is one of the most infamous cases of a ScheduleSlip in the 2010's: the game was slated for a release in North America in 2012, which was eventually pushed back to 2013 before all mention of a Western release vanished. After seven years of radio silence, Microsoft stepped up and announced at E3 2019 that they would publish the game at long last in North America the following year.
96	* ''VideoGame/PhantomBreaker'': The game was originally planned to see an overseas release in 2012 by [=7sixty=] (a subsidiary of Southpeak Interactive), and even had some gameplay videos and review copies, while physical copies were on display at an anime convention in Houston, Texas, but due to the English version's constant delays and [=7sixty=] later folding, it was quietly canceled. It had a updated re-release, ''Phantom Breaker: Extra'', that also never left Japan but was available for [=PlayStation=] 3 and region-free on Xbox 360. After a ''decade'' since the original ''Phantom Breaker''[='=]s release, it finally saw the light of day overseas in 2021 with another updated re-release in the form of ''Phantom Breaker: Omnia'', expanding on ''Extra''[='=]s revisions, adding a remixed soundtrack with the original, the original and ''Extra''[='=]s story modes, and dual-audio support.
97	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
98	** The very first ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon\|Red And Blue}}'' game went through a number of title options due to trademark issues and was rejected several times by Creator/{{Nintendo}} who didn't understand the concept. It took some help from Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto to get Nintendo on board. It was also Miyamoto's idea to [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo split the cartridges]] into ''Red'' and ''Green'' to aid in the trading aspect of the game. They were initially announced in an early form in 1990, and didn't come out until 1996. The six-year development period resulted in the source code being a total mess, which had to be cleaned up for the ''[[UpdatedRerelease Blue]]'' version. The localization team then [[RemadeForTheExport reverse-engineered]] the Japanese ''Blue'' to create the international ''Red'' and ''Blue'' -- as a result, the US release was two and a half years later, in 1998.
99	** On the other side, there's ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu''. Revealed in October 2013, no development news until ''January 2016''. Most thought it was cancelled until it was formally announced out of the blue.
100	** ''Pokémon VideoGame/{{Picross}}'' was originally announced for the Game Boy Color in 1999. It then spent almost ''16 years'' in DevelopmentHell and was presumed cancelled until a {{freemium}} 3DS version finally appeared in late 2015.
101	** ''VideoGame/PokemonSleep'' and ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachuReturns'' were both announced during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTWkBjxvBok the 2019 Pokémon Business Strategy Announcement]] alongside ''VideoGame/PokemonMasters'' and ''Pokémon HOME''. Notably, ''Sleep'' was accompanied by a concept video that heavily focused on the fact that it's a SpiritualAntithesis of ''VideoGame/PokemonGO'' and didn't feature [[SleepyHead Snorlax]] at all (to the point where [[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] was the CharacterInTheLogo), while ''Detective Pikachu Returns'' didn't even have a proper title. While ''Masters'' would launch a few months later, followed by ''HOME'' in early 2020, ''Sleep'' and ''DPR'' would remain quiet until 2023, with ''Sleep'' re-announced during the [[MilestoneCelebration Pokémon Day]] edition of ''Pokémon Presents'' and released in July, and ''DPR'' was properly announced during ''WebVideo/NintendoDirect'' on June 21 and released on October 6.
102	* 3D Realms' game ''VideoGame/{{Prey\|2006}}'' began development in 1995, and was finally released in 2006 after they farmed out development to another team. The release of ''Prey'' served to give fans hope that 3D Realms' ''other'' long-awaited title, ''Duke Nukem Forever'', would eventually find its way out of DevelopmentHell as well (which it did).
103	* ''[[VideoGame/PrincessMaker Princess Maker 2]]'' was originally slated by Softegg for an American release on PC in the mid-90s, but a combination of factors (the growing obsolescence of DOS, the domination of first-person shooters on PC, and the publisher going under) led to Softegg's localization never being released.[[note]]A mostly-complete beta of the localization found its way onto the internet around 2000[[/note]] An official international release of the game finally came about in 2016 when CFK localized the Windows PC remake, ''Princess Maker 2 Refine''.
104	* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' was originally going to be a horror-like platformer published by Microsoft, and was going to be an Xbox exclusive. A trailer was shown at E3 (and can be found on the discs of ''VideoGame/BlinxTheTimeSweeper'' and ''VideoGame/VoodooVince'') in 2002, and the game was originally set for a 2003 release. But later into development, Double Fine decided to change the game's mood from scary to funny, and Microsoft refused to publish the game because of this, so the game was delayed as Double Fine scrambled around to find a publisher, until they found Majesco in '04. The game was then announced for PC and [=PS2=] as well as Xbox, and was finally released in '05.
105	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRevolver'' was originally announced in 2001 as a collaboration between Capcom and Angel Studios, with Akiman, of ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' fame, providing the character designs. The game was shelved in 2003 after the preview build received lukewarm reception at [=E3=]. After Capcom and Akiman dropped out of the project, Rockstar Games bought Angel Studios, turning them into Rockstar San Diego, and resurrected the game's development. It was eventually released in 2004.
106	* ''VideoGame/TheRedStar'' was rescued by XS Games after Acclaim went under and released in May 2007.
107	* ''VideoGame/{{Repton}}: The Lost Realms''. Originally titled ''Repton 4'', the game was written in 1988, too close to ''Repton Infinity'' for publication. Abandoned, then rediscovered in 2008, by which time the game's home platform (the Platform/BBCMicro) was '''[[DeaderThanDead extinct]]''' and the source code lost, meaning the entire game had to be reprogrammed '''from scratch'''. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Even that didn't stop]] a dedicated team designing additional levels and graphics via emulators, eventually getting the game ready for its release on 6 November 2010.
108	* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
109	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilZero'' has perhaps the lengthiest development history of any ''Resident Evil'' to date, as it was initially conceived as a future title for the 64DD add-on for the Platform/Nintendo64 as early back as 1995, ''a whole year before the first VideoGame/{{Resident Evil\|1}} game was even released''. Five years in development and a demotion down to the regular N64 in the wake of the 64DD's failure later, ''Zero'' was slated for a late 2000 release, and even had a playable N64 demo at the Tokyo Game Show that year. However, with Nintendo announcing their plans for their succeeding console around that period, they completely discarded all the work they had done for the [=N64=] version and repurposed the game as a [=GameCube=] to bring it more in-line with the ''Resident Evil'' remake being developed at the same time.
110	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' officially began development for the [=GameCube=] in 2001 (not counting an earlier [=PS2=] version which eventually evolved into ''VideoGame/{{Devil May Cry\|1}}'' instead). The game originally had Hiroshi Shibata attached as director and after three rejected builds (including one that was never shown to the public), Creator/ShinjiMikami took over the directorial duties from Shibata and ended up working on the final version that was released in 2005.
111	* Work began on ''Return to VideoGame/DarkCastle'', a modern sequel to the beloved classic from the monochrome Platform/{{Macintosh}} era, by a two-man team in 1996 (a decade after the first game's release.) First announced with a late 2000 release date, development and occasional beta releases dragged on for years while news petered down to nothing, causing most fans to write the game off. It ultimately made a surprise reemergence in 2007 as "nearly done" and was then delayed again until 2008 due to legal issues, when it was finally released. The level editor promised at launch wouldn't release until 2013, five years later.
112	* Moonrat has stated that ''DarthWiki/{{Ruins}}'' had gone through five phases of development before reaching its current version.
113	* ''Run Like Hell'' began development in 1998 as a survival horror game with a planned 2001 release date. However, constant production delays and a myriad of people being fired by the publisher (along with a genre change to third-person shooter) lead to the date being pushed back several times. Finally, the game was released in 2003 to mixed reviews and weak sales (which in turn led to it becoming a StillbornFranchise).
114	* A ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' game has been on and off in development ever since the last game, ''Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars -- Because You Were There'', was released in 2008. Takaharu Terada, the current series director, offered yearly proposals for a new game but the franchise's owner and developer, Creator/{{Sega}}, repeatedly declined them and the game went into DevelopmentHell. It wasn't until 2016 that development of the new game, titled ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019'', finally began; the game was released in December 2019.
115	* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAdvanceRiskyRevolution'''s development started in 2002 and lasted through 2004 to the point where a fully functional demo was completed, but because of [[AcclaimedFlop poor sales]] of the original ''VideoGame/{{Shantae\|2002}}'', [=WayForward=] was unable to find a publisher willing to launch the game as originally intended, causing them to archive the project and carry forward some elements to the development of ''Risky's Revenge''. Although [=WayForward=] [[https://youtu.be/BHHrzJzW_w0 showed footage]] of the completed demo, the game continued to stay vaulted until 2023, when the original team decided to complete development of the game and release it as a [[DoingItForTheArt passion project]] long after the Game Boy Advance's actual lifespan.
116	* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}''[='=] DownloadableContent character Squigly was sent to development hell in the game's post-release TroubledProduction. The developers made a crowdsourced fundraiser in an attempt to get the funding to create the character. The goal was $150,000 in thirty days. It was raised in ''a single day''. Truly, she was SavedByTheFans. By the end of the fundraiser, they had managed to get ''[[http://igg.me/at/skullgirls-dlc $829,829]]'' out of the original $150,000, enough to create ''five'' new characters,[[labelnote:*]]Squigly, Big Band, Eliza, Beowulf, and Robo-Fortune. If you count Fukua, then the total is actually six.[[/labelnote]] new stages and story modes for all of them, eight alternate voice packs for several characters and the announcer, and two extra stages.
117	* ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter'' spent ten years in development, thanks to Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment insisting that Creator/CyberConnect2 continually tighten and tweak the world and gameplay due to ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'''s low sales and their reluctance to back a SpiritualSequel to such a game. The result, however, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools is one of the most beautiful for the DS]].
118	* After ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuest [=SpaceVenure=]]]'s'' successful UsefulNotes/{{Kickstarter}}'s campaign, the game's developement progressed very slowly. Many people gave up on it, when 10 years later, in 2022, it was finally released... [[SubvertedTrope for backers only]]. Gamers now impatiently wait for a release on Platform/{{Steam}} and other online platforms.
119	* Will Wright's ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' was once considered by many to be vaporware, as it was announced in 2000 under the title "Sim Everything" and wasn't released until September 2008.
120	* ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' was announced in the late 90's as an N64 title called ''VideoGame/DinosaurPlanet'', and was essentially Rare's answer to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', but with foxes and dinosaurs. Then when the [=GameCube=] came out, ExecutiveMeddling caused them to hastily put Fox [=McCloud=] in place of the male fox as well as putting in other ''Star Fox'' characters (they still kept the female fox, who ended up becoming Krystal, but made her HotterAndSexier), and the game finally released in 2002, as Rare's last game for a Nintendo home console.
121	* ''VideoGame/ShiraOkaSecondChances'' is a stat-driven DatingSim inspired by the ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' series, but [[NoExportForYou written originally in English]]. Development began around 2005. A demo was released to the public in summer 2010. The full retail game was released on Impulse Driven on December 10th, 2010.
122	* ''VideoGame/{{Swordquest}}: Airworld'' was cancelled very early due to MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. And then in 2022, using the original concepts by designer Tod Frye, Digital Eclipse created a version (still with Atari 2600 graphics and gameplay) for the compilation ''Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration'' so that the whole four ''Swordquest'' games would appear.
123	* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'', the remake by Creator/NightdiveStudios. It was announced in November 2015 with a mid-2018 planned release date, but it had a very troubled development that had to be stopped and restarted from scratch twice. It finally came out in May 2023, to very positive reviews.
124	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' was announced in 1999 as "Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms", but the final product didn't show up until 2007. Also, the game went through many changes during this time. For example, the early incarnation of the game featured a realistic artstyle like ''VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic'', a more serious tone, and a modern setting (one version even called for an alien invasion), while the final product features a cartoonish artstyle, a more comical tone, and is set in 1968.
125	* The ''VideoGame/{{Toki}}'' HD remake was announced in 2009 by French development team Golgoth Studio. Five years passed, making it increasingly clear that the game was never going to be released: Golgoth folded in 2013, rendering their project of a ''VideoGame/JoeAndMac'' remake vaporware and never releasing the promised patch for ''VideoGame/MagicalDrop V''. Eventually however another French studio, Microids, took the matter in their own hands and ''Toki'' was finally released on Nintendo Switch in 2018, and on Steam and all the major consoles in 2019, a full decade after the initial announcement.
126	* ''VideoGame/TooHuman'', which started development in 1998 as a [=PlayStation=] game. In the early 2000s, Silicon Knights partnered with Nintendo and released ''[[VideoGame/EternalDarkness Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem]]'' (2002) and ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes]]'' (2004) instead. Sometime after the release of ''The Twin Snakes'', Silicon Knights were bought out by Microsoft, and so the game finally saw release on the Xbox 360 in 2008.
127	* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' is a SurvivalHorror game that was first announced in 2012, with heavy use of [=PlayStation=] Move controls, a plot inspired by teen horror and {{slasher\|Movie}} flicks, and a planned 2013 release date on the Platform/PlayStation3. Two trailers were released... and that's about all the substantial information that was heard about the game for the next two years, the only news being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHC84igPwW0 an announcement]] from the developers in late 2013 that, yes, they were still working on the game. It wasn't until 2014 when it [[http://www.gamespot.com/articles/until-dawns-hollywood-infused-ps4-reboot-is-absolu/1100-6421731/ resurfaced]] at Gamescom as a Platform/PlayStation4 title, having been heavily overhauled from its original design. Move controls have been dropped, while the campier elements were largely replaced with a DarkerAndEdgier approach and a Hollywood voice cast. It finally came out on August 25, 2015.
128	* ''VideoGame/UltimaIX'' was stuck in development for five years, as conflicts between Richard Garriott and [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]] hampered production, much of its staff was diverted to ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'', and the advent of 3D graphics caused the original ''Ultima Online''-like version of game to be scrapped for a new [=3D=] one. Upon its release in 1999, it was poorly received and is generally considered one of the worst games in the series, and ''certainly'' not the grand finale that long-time fans were expecting. Many fans [[FanonDisContinuity prefer to ignore its existence,]] and one group of fans is currently developing their own ''Ultima IX'' as a mod for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''.
129	* ''VideoGame/UmaMusume'' was originally supposed to come out in Fall of 2018, some time after the first season of [[Anime/UmaMusume the Anime]] came out. However, the devs realized that the game were developing resembled very little to the Anime (allegedly the final product would have been much less serious on the sporting front unlike the Anime), leading Creator/{{Cygames}} to essentially start from scratch. The game only came out in February of 2021, during the Anime's second season, to [[Main/CashCowFranchise massive critical and commercial success]].
130	* ''VideoGame/XRebirth'' was delayed for three full years due to a TroubledProduction.
131	* ''VideoGame/YokusIslandExpress'': Jens Andersson and Mattias Snygg, the founders of Villa Gorilla, originally set out in 2013 to make the game in one year. It took ''five'', but it eventually did come out to critical acclaim.

Context SavedFromDevelopmentHell / VideoGames