The Most Devastating Game Cancelations Of 2024 So Far

For a while now, fans were aware of an unnamed "Star Wars" first-person shooter in development from Respawn EA, with EA handling publishing. While many had suspected this game would be a new "Star Wars Battlefront" game, many were surprised to learn that this project would follow a Mandalorian, with gameplay akin to "Doom." While this wouldn't directly deal with the continuity of "The Mandalorian" TV series, the popularity of the show may have contributed to the company's interest in the concept. However, after layoffs hit the company hard in early 2024, the project was canceled. EA decided to instead prioritize its live service games, including properties like "Apex Legends" and the successful "Star Wars Jedi" series.

While it's understandable in the current climate to focus on what works and not take unnecessary risks, fans were understandably upset. Users on Reddit were quick to point out that it has been a long time since a new Star Wars FPS was released, with one commenter asking, "Will we ever get a good single-player Star Wars FPS again?" Hopefully, once the gaming industry starts to stabilize, companies like EA will once again be able to take its IP in some fresh directions. Until then, sadly, we will just have to mourn the loss of the "Star Wars" and "Doom" crossover game that could have been.

The "Deus Ex" series has captured the hearts of sci-fi RPG fans with its strong storytelling and varied gameplay possibilities, and fans have been hungry for a new entry for quite some time. The latest entry in the series, "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided" was released back in 2016. In January 2024, it was revealed that a new "Deus Ex" project was being developed at one point by Eidos-Montreal. Sadly, this news was only revealed alongside the announcement of the game's cancelation at the hands of parent company Embracer Group. After two years of development, the title was canceled following a round of heavy layoffs. While no specific information about the title was released, many fans hoped that this newest entry could have evolved the series to the next level, allowing for even more creativity with cybernetic enhancements and character role-playing choices.

Fans were understandably upset with Embracer Group's decision to cancel the newest "Deus Ex" entry, especially since the company had only just acquired the license. This cancelation further soured many gamers towards the company. "Embracer has been a disaster for the studios they bought," one Redditor wrote. While some hold out hope that the project could be revived elsewhere, others are afraid that "Deus Ex" is done for. While it's still up in the air whether this will be the end of the series or not, frustration towards Embracer Group is at an all time high.

While it's always disappointing when fans learn of a highly anticipated being canceled, many projects are cut short well before they're even announced. That was the case in February 2024, when Bandai Namco announced the cancelation of five unnamed projects that were in the works at the company. According to an earnings report from Bandai Namco (translation via IGN), these games didn't make the cut due to the fact that a number of recent Bandai Namco games underperformed. While most may see the success of "Tekken 8" and assume the company is doing fine, Bandai Namco argued that a serious streamlining of its business was in order.

Unlike previous entries on this list, nothing is known about these projects other than the fact that they existed. Naturally, this has led to fans speculating wildly about what these games could have been. Some guesses regarding these projects include a new "Digimon" game, "Soulcalibur 7," "Code Vein 2," a new "Gundam" game, and many more. With so many franchises under the massive umbrella that is Bandai Namco, it's almost impossible to guess what could have been. Still, it's hard not to be sad about what could have been, especially considering Bandai Namco's track record of quality. Thankfully, the company has reported that other anticipated releases, including new "Elden Ring" content and "Little Nightmares 3," are still in development.

New projects aren't the only things being impacted by the current state of the gaming industry, as some live-service games are also coming to an early end. "Warhaven," a fantasy PVP game from Nexon, is officially shutting down later in 2024 after the game failed to catch on in the same way as other live-service juggernauts. The game itself failed to escape the Early Access stage and will never see a full release. In an announcement regarding the end of live service, Nexon told gamers, "Despite all the shortcomings, we will deeply cherish the warm affection and support you have sent towards 'Warhaven' in our hearts."

In "Warhaven," players choose a class and compete in large-scale medieval-style combat scenarios. In many ways, this game is comparable to a game like "For Honor," just with more players per lobby. New character classes were planned for future updates, but the promise of these changes didn't save this game from its fate. Planned ports for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X were canceled as well.

While many players thought the game had a strong core, a laundry list of issues kept "Warhaven" from taking off. One key problem that many players had with "Warhaven" was an abysmal lack of balancing, which made some classes extremely overpowered and others nearly unplayable. Still, a large number of players had expressed their hopes that Nexon would right these issues if given enough time. Now, "Warhaven" will never become the game it might have been.

Joining the ranks of canceled games in 2024 is a game that attempted to take a time-honored franchise in a new direction. Apparently, a battle royale spinoff to the "Halo" series was said to be in the works by developer Certain Affinity. Specific details about the game have eluded fans, other than some indications that it might build off of the "Halo Infinite" engine. Fans have argued that a battle royale would be a perfect fit for the franchise, perhaps even fitting in with the lore of Spartan Training. However, multiple sources have said that Microsoft has decided to drop the project in its current form.

While it was hard for some fans to get excited with such little information to go on, others were severely disappointed by the news of this project's cancelation. Some fans on social media have argued that this battle royale might have offered the change of pace that the "Halo" franchise needed to help it better situate in the modern era of gaming. It may just be that the the battle royale market is too competitive at this point, with massive games like "Fortnite" and "Apex Legends" boxing out any competition that may want to join the genre. Sadly, even hype surrounding the "Halo" TV show couldn't save this project.

From the moment it was released, "Overwatch 2" had a rocky relationship with fans of the game. For many, the game felt more like an update, and not a proper new game, to the point where some argued "Overwatch 2" didn't really deserve the "2" in its name. However, Blizzard promised something that would set "Overwatch" and "Overwatch 2" apart: PvE missions. In this new mode, players could play through various story missions, fighting bosses and leveling up skill trees in a fun alternate game mode. Sadly, the PvE mode was canceled after constant delays, leaving fans distraught. Although Blizzard did release some of the story missions in Season 6, the company announced plans to completely squash the idea after these missions underperformed in sales.

The PvE content that players received in Season 6 of "Overwatch 2" was quite different from the planned content that was advertised back during the build-up to the game's release. Many fans thought that it was shallow and lacked the depth that they hoped for. In a Reddit thread about the failure of PvE, one disappointed player commented that the missions were "five minute scenarios that devolve into the same gameplay loop as booting up the PVP, just with set skins and less hero variety on a smaller map." In the end, fans weren't terribly surprised to see Blizzard canning "Overwatch 2" PvE — but they were bummed.