Video games are difficult to make. That’s why I only write about them rather than create them – even the terrible ones require a level of skill I don’t possess.
With it being announced yesterday that the heavily anticipated Watch Dogs will be postponed until early 2014 in order for some improvements to be made to it, I thought now’s as good a time as any to run down some other, much more lengthy video game delays we’ve experienced over the years.
Here are the top 10 most delayed video games ever, and the reasons why they were delayed in the first place.
10 Most Delayed Games Ever and the Reasons Why
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10. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Development Began: 1999
Release Date: October 24th, 2005
Reasoning: Originally planned for the PC and PlayStation, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was originally intended to be an RPG with cooperative gameplay featuring up to four players. This was scrapped in favour of a linear first-person survival horror game, which was then turned into a third-person survival horror game before developer Headfirst Productions reverted back to first-person again.
Was it Worth the Wait? Kind of. Call of Cthulhu received generally positive reviews upon release, but the quality of the finished game didn't really reflect the length of time spent on it. Plus, the original concept sounded a lot more interesting. Two sequels were planned but, unfortunately, Headfirst Productions went bankrupt before those games could find a publisher.
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9. Alan Wake
Development Began: 2004
Release Date: May 18th, 2010
Reasoning: A tech demo of Alan Wake was actually shown off in 2005, but the game wouldn't be released for another 5 years. Developer Remedy Entertainment spent 6 months of that time making Alan Wake into an open-world game, though they scrapped this idea in favour of the linear story featured in the final game. Remedy also cited difficulties with creating a completely new IP as reasoning behind the delay.
Was it Worth the Wait? Again, kind of. Many loved Alan Wake's story and its gorgeous graphics, but its gameplay was notably lacking. Considering it had been in the pipeline for so long you'd have hoped that the game attached to the narrative would've been more enjoyable.
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8. Mafia 2
Development Began: 2004
Release Date: August 24th, 2010
Reasoning: Publisher Take-Two has a habit of delaying its games (see Red Dead and LA Noire for evidence of this), but Mafia 2 was the longest delay of them all. The delay was largely down to Take-Two's acquisition of Illusion Software, the team behind the original Mafia game, and internal conflict in Illusion prior to being bought that led to the firing of its head programmer.
Was it Worth the Wait? Yes, if only for the prison segment alone.
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7. Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa
Development Began: 2001
Release Date: November 2nd, 2007
Reasoning: Richard Garritt boldly claimed that Tabula Rasa would be the be-all, end-all MMO that brought the Eastern and Western audiences together. Unfortunately, the game underwent a huge overhaul, lost 20% of its original team and 75% of its code had to be rewritten.
Was it Worth the Wait? No. Tabula Rasa closed its servers in 2009 and wasn't the definitive MMO experience Garriott led us to believe it would be.
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6. Half-Life 2
Development Began: 1998
Release Date: November 16th, 2004
Reasoning: Half-Life's 2 lengthy development was made even lengthier when Valve's internal network was cracked by hacker Axel "Ago" Gembe. Gembe leaked the game's source code, resulting in a personal plea from Valve boss Gabe Newell for fans to track him down. Eventually, Gembe personally contacted Newell via email, with Newell convincing him that Valve wanted to offer him a job as an in-house security auditor. However, this was a ruse, with Gembe offering enough information for him to be tracked down by the German government. He was arrested for the incident, along with a number of other computer crimes, and given two years probation.
Was it Worth the Wait? Yes. Half-Life 2 is considered one of the best and most influential games of all time.
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5. Spore
Development Began: 2000
Release Date: September 7th, 2008
Reasoning: Creator Will Wright, the man also responsible for The Sims series, is a known perfectionist, with Spore's heavy delay being put down to internal conflicts regarding the design of the hugely ambitious game.
Was it Worth the Wait? No. Spore had a lot to live up to given its wonderful premise and the track record of its creator, but it unfortunately failed to match those expectations.
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4. Too Human
Development Began: 1999
Release Date: August 19th, 2008
Reasoning: Too Human was originally intended to be released on the original PlayStation on four discs, before development switched to a GameCube version in 2000, and then an Xbox 360 version in 2005. It also didn't help when developers Silicon Knights sued the creators of the game's Unreal Engine 3, Epic Games, in 2007 for a "breach of contract."
Was it Worth the Wait? No. Too Human released to poor reviews and underwhelming sales. Also, due to the dispute with Epic Games (which Epic won), Silicon Knights was forced to recall all unsold copies of the game in 2012 and destroy them.
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3. Team Fortress 2
Development Began: 1998
Release Date: October 10th, 2007
Reasoning: Team Fortress 2's delay was partially due to Valve's focus on Half-Life 2, and partially due to the the developer severely overhauling its game engine. Team Fortress 2 was originally intended to be a much more realistic-looking shooter, but was then changed to have the cartoony aesthetics we now know and love.
Was it Worth the Wait? Yes. Team Fortress 2 is one of the most beloved multiplayer games ever, with a level of popularity that shows no signs of waning despite its 6 years on the market.
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2. Prey
Development Began: 1995
Release Date: July 11th, 2006
Reasoning: It took over a decade for Prey to finally hit store shelves, Following a number of false starts following technological problems, including developer 3D Realms' attempting to build a game engine for it from the ground up, Prey was finally released 11 years after it was first announced.
Was it Worth the Wait? Yes. While it wasn't exactly the life-affirming game you might expect from an 11-year development period, Prey was both a commercial and critical success, and its upcoming sequel is heavily anticipated.
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1. Duke Nukem Forever
Development Began: 1997
Release Date: June 10th, 2011
Reasoning: Oh boy, where to start with this one? Duke Nukem Forever's troubled development history is the most infamous in gaming history. Originally being developed by Duke Nukem creator 3D Realms, the responsibility eventually shifted to Gearbox Software, who were forced to take the scraps that had been left behind from the game's huge development cycle and make something worthwhile out of it.
Was it Worth the Wait? No. See, it turns out that the Duke hadn't aged very well in the 14 years he'd spent in development hell, and its dated gameplay didn't go down well. It sold half of what publishers 2K Games expected it to and was critically panned.
