7 Big Hits That Almost Got Cancelled

Releasing a video game, usually preceded by an intense production period, is always a risk for publishers. With the exception of some sure-fire titles that have been popular for years, the market performance of new games is largely a mystery most of the time. A respected studio and a popular franchise or genre do not always mean that a game will be well received and consequently generate a satisfactory income. The minimal goal is always the return of the investment, and even that's not certain.

So, it's not surprising that publishers try to assess the risks, both before the development begins and repeatedly during the process – trying to survey whether a given production is likely to live up to expectations. The decision whether to continue working on a given project or abandon it and minimize losses sometimes has to be made. Recently, the social factor, not just the financial one, has also been increasingly taken into account. Examples include the binning of a game addressing terrorism in the U.S., Rainbow Six: Patriots, or the never-ending troubles with the release of Six Days in Fallujah.

Of course, assessing risks is an extremely difficult task and we have sometimes seen decisions that were disappointing or simply wrong. While gamers still can't get over the cancellation of Star Wars: 1313 or Silent Hills, no tears would be shed if Anthem or Battlefield V's Firestorm mode were prevented, so to speak, in time. On the other side of the barricade, there are games that were being developed in pain, that were almost deleted, and that somehow managed to survive, release, and even be successful. What's more, they later turned out to be real big hits. Here are seven such high-profile titles that dodged a bullet and eluded disastrous decisions.

The Witcher 2 – from the ashes of the console port

Who knows what the gaming world and the tastes of many gamers would be like if it weren't for CD Projekt RED's The Witcher, the third part, The Wild Hunt, in particular? But what if the second installment, Assassins of Kings were not released back in 2011? Would more games be released, only later, or would the original remain the sole representative of the would-be series? We can't say we're not glad that this is only a theoretical problem. However, some of you may know that the future of the series was in serious trouble before the creation of The Witcher 2.

All because of the attempt to create a console version of the original game, called The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. The project was outsourced to an external studio from France, Widescreen Games. The French team, however, was not able to handle the porting. They were constantly running into obstacles and problems, which in turn prolonged the wait for the final product and, above all, generated huge costs. At one point, the team creating the port consumed more resources than CD Projekt itself, back then already working on the second installment.

So, when Widescreen Games asked for another 30 full-time positions for additional developers and a one-year extension, the camel's back broke. The contract was dissolved, which strongly displeased Atari, the publisher. This put the Polish studio in the extremely unpleasant situation of having to return the funds Atari had already invested. It was a huge blow to CDPR at the time of the global financial crisis.

Fortunately, they managed to sell the rights to The Witcher 2 for North America while the game was still in its infancy. They subsequently used the money to pay the debt to Atari, a focus 100% on the next installment. Some compromises were made, some content was cut, but eventually, the game was released and achieved great acclaim.

1. More about The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings