Throughout gaming history, there have been a number of titles announced way too early.
Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012 and released in 2020, though even that was too soon. Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced in 2013 and released six years later, despite being in development for over a decade.
While none of the titles on this list have reached the 6-8 year mark, they are at serious risk of being in development for that long after being announced. Regardless, here are five games that were announced way too early.
Elden Ring
Of course if you’re going to talk about games that were announced too early, you have to mention the one that inspired this list to begin with: Elden Ring.
Originally announced at E3 2019, Elden Ring is an upcoming title by Dark Souls developer, From Software.
The game will feature writing A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, and is considered the company’s biggest game to date –so big, that it its taking forever for From Software to feel comfortable enough releasing any new info on the game.
Although a trailer leaked earlier this week, it might still be awhile before we officially see what Elden Ring has in store, so be patient.
The Elder Scrolls VI
Can you believe its almost been 10 years since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released? Can you also believe that The Elder Scrolls VI has been announced for almost three of those?
The first time we officially heard about the next entry in long-standing series was during E3 2018… Unfortunately, it was also the last time we heard about it as Bethesda has been more or less silent ever since.
Hopefully we’ll get some more info on it soon, I mean Skyrim is turning 10 this year –it’s time to move on!
Starfield
Bethesda, Bethesda, Bethesda, what are you doing to us?
The Elder Scrolls VI isn’t the only title we’re waiting on by Bethesda, we’re also waiting on Starfield. Yeah, remember Starfield?
Starfield is an upcoming space-exploration RPG that was announced alongside The Elder Scrolls VI at E3 2018.
According to Todd Howard, the game has been in the works in some capacity for over a decade prior to being announced. While they did the right thing by not announcing it even sooner, three years without any new info probably means they could have held out a bit longer.
Bayonetta 3
Bayonetta 3 is the next entry in PlatinumGames’ series, Bayonetta. Bet you didn’t expect that?
The game was announced at the Game Awards in 2017, and over three years later we still haven’t seen or heard anything new about it.
PlatinumGames Director, Hideki Kamiya has consistently reassured fans that developed on the game is going well, though we’ve yet to see it ourselves.
As one of the earliest titles announced for the Nintendo Switch, we should have seen more of the game by now. But here we are celebrating the consoles 4th anniversary with no new info.
It could be worse, though, it could be…
Metroid Prime 4
While Bayonetta fans have had the comfort of Hideki Kamiya reassuring them that development is going smoothly, Metroid Prime fans have not had the same courtesy for Metroid Prime 4.
The game has had quite the journey since its original announcement at E3 2017. It was originally reported that the game was being developed by Bandai Namco, but has since shifted gears over to Retro Studios.
While we trust Retro Studios with the Metroid Prime IP –after seeing the excellent work they did reviving the Donkey Kong Country series– it has been one concerning moment after another as the studio has been sporadically hiring major roles over the past few years.
It’d be nice to get some kind of update on the game, even it is just a reassurance that development is going well, but regardless this game was announced way too early.
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