High-Profile Games Announced Years Ago That Still Have No Release Date

It's nothing new for video games to take years to be released after they are announced, especially when delays are taken into account. Perhaps more than any other form of mass media, video game release dates are more often than not a case of wishful thinking on the part of the developer or the publisher. Fans almost expect at this point for the first release date shown for a newly-announced game to be pushed back at least once.

Still, for the vast majority of games that are announced, gamers are typically given some sort of heads up for when to expect it, usually in the form of a definite date or target release window. It's unusual for an in-development game to be known about by the public for more than a few years without even an estimate of a release date, but that's the case for all of the following games.

The "System Shock" games were legendary blends of science fiction and horror, having been worked on by such luminaries as Warren Spector and Ken Levine — the latter of which went on to lead the "BioShock" series. "System Shock" went dormant following its 1999 sequel, but that all changed in 2012, when Night Dive Studios acquired the rights to the franchise. This announcement immediately led to speculation of a new entry in the series being in the cards — which was officially confirmed just a few short years later.

Excitement really ramped up when it was revealed that none other than Warren Spector was going to lead the team that was developing "System Shock 3." Unfortunately, Spector and that team left the project in 2019, and Tencent now owns the rights to the franchise (per VentureBeat). Night Dive Studios is currently working on a remake of the original "System Shock," but has expressed interest in taking over development of "System Shock 3." Sadly, this seemingly leaves the game in limbo for the foreseeable future.

First-time developer Odd Tales announced its debut game, "The Last Night," all the way back in 2014. With aesthetics that recall "Blade Runner" and gameplay reminiscent of "Flashback," the intriguing title was initially aiming for a 2016 release for PlayStation 4 and PC (per Engadget). Not only did it not meet that window, but by the end of that year, developer Adrien Soret — who initially conceived of the project alongside his brother, Tim — announced via Twitter that he was no longer with the team.

Still, development continued, with publisher Raw Fury scooping up the game in early 2017 and helping ready it for its first official reveal by that year's E3 conference. At that point, 2018 was the target window, but that too came and went. In a December 2021 interview with "PC Gamer," Tim Soret explained that the team was going to take its time to ensure that "The Last Night" becomes the absolute best game it can be, rather than stress about release dates. Things were then shifted to "when it's ready" status in terms of release dates — and that's where they remain, according to the game's official website. 

This one is unusual in that it not only previously had a planned release date, but its publisher was already allowing people to put down money to pre-order the game. However, Ubisoft announced in November 2022 that its highly anticipated remake of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" was not only being delayed, but it was still so far out from being ready that the company decided to refund all pre-orders — while insisting that the game is still very much in development.

It's been over a decade since the release of the last AAA "Prince of Persia" title — 2010's "The Forgotten Sands." In the meantime, "Prince of Persia" led to the creation of "Assassin's Creed," which became a larger success for Ubisoft. With that franchise feeling less like "Prince of Persia" in recent years, it seems as good a time as any to bring back "Prince of Persia" proper, right? A remake of what is arguably the most well-received entry in the "Prince of Persia" series seems like the perfect place to relaunch the series for a modern era — and hopefully fans get to see it sooner rather than later. In Summer 2025, Ubisoft indicated that the remake could finally see the light of day in 2026 — but we shall see.

After the acclaimed "Firewatch," the gaming community was hyped for what Campo Santo was going to do next. During 2017's The Game Awards, the developer revealed that its sophomore effort was to be another first-person adventure game titled "In the Valley of Gods." The game is set in 1920s Egypt and stars a female lead exploring the region and recording her efforts.

Campo Santo revealed in April 2018 that the company had been purchased by Valve, and it wasn't long before the publisher had members of the Campo Santo team working on Valve projects such as "Half-Life: Alyx" and "Dota Underlords." This move put the fate of "In the Valley of Gods" in question. Near the end of 2019, the year that "In the Valley of Gods" was originally intended to be released, Campo Santo lead Jake Rodkin confirmed to Polygon that the game was, in fact, on hold. 

The game's Steam page still lists it as "currently in development" and allows users to wishlist it. Not only that, but it does list a tentative release window: December 2029. So the game isn't dead, but it's likely to be a long wait.

Although not officially announced under the title "Beyond Good & Evil 2" until E3 2017, a follow-up to the beloved "Beyond Good & Evil" was first teased way back in 2008, when a brief teaser trailer was shown during an Ubisoft event.

Still, even if you're only counting when it was first formally titled, over five years has elapsed since the announcement of "Beyond Good & Evil 2," but there's still nothing in the ballpark of a targeted release window. Series creator Michel Ancel's retirement from game development in 2020 was definitely cause for alarm, but he reassured fans via his Instagram that the game was still coming along nicely and its development would continue in his absence. Fast forward to October 2022, when PC Gamer noted that "Beyond Good & Evil 2" had officially broken the record set by "Duke Nukem Forever" for the longest-ever development time for a game.

Sadly, the game's creative director, Emile Morel, passed away unexpectedly in 2023. Production apparently soldiered on, however, and a new creative director was appointed in 2024. All we really have to confirm that it hasn't been cancelled yet is its page on Ubisoft's website and the dev's repeated promises that we'll get something in the future. In the meantime, fans have at least gotten to play a 20th anniversary edition of the original game.

What makes "Star Citizen" unique among the other games in this list is that it is technically playable, and has been for some time. Way back in 2013 — before most of the games on this list were even announced — an alpha build of the game was made available, and several updates have followed over the years. Still, an alpha build is hardly a full game. In fact, an alpha build isn't even a beta version. And as it stands, there isn't any word on when either will be released for "Star Citizen."

Across various crowdfunding avenues, "Star Citizen" has amassed over $500 million since the game's 2012 announcement. "Star Citizen" remains somewhat controversial among gamers due to its long development cycle, constant addition of new features, and lack of a finished product. Still, fans have been able to play the space sim MMO in various states of completion for years now, which puts it ahead of many other Kickstarter gaming disasters that ended up completely falling apart without so much as a playable demo to show for it. 

No matter how you look at it, though, "Star Citizen" is a game that has spent over a decade in active development.