make telecasting games is a long , difficult , and costly process , especially at the highest tier up of big - budget , “ AAA ” development . As such , gaming enthusiasts have long been accustomed to having to waitress significant periods of time for their favorite game to achieve store shelves , to the point where time lag have become something that you just kind of have to put up with .
There are many reasons for why game get delayed , but it primarily has to do with the fact that it is about insufferable for developer to accurately gauge how long it will take to finish a secret plan , especially in the former stages of evolution . However , even though unforseen obstacles get in the fashion and a sigficant number get hit with hold , most games take 2 - 5 years to complete .
alas , even half a decennium is n’t enough sometimes . Here 15 game that were hit with postponement so long , we ’re still surprised they actually managed to come in out at all !
15. Resident Evil 4: 1999-2005 (6 years)
The 4th installment in Capcom ’s popular survival repugnance series go through , fittingly enough , fourdifferent variations over the course of study of its long development cycle . in the first place teased in December 1999,Resident Evil 4began life as a PlayStation 2 scoop directed by Hideki Kamiya , who had previously oversee development onResident Evil 2 .
However , over the line of development , it was determine that the game Kamiya and his team were creating did n’t fit the style of Resident Evil and the determination was made to turn the undertaking into a whole new game , which would become the originalDevil May Cry . Shinji Mikami deal over directing duties and after a few more scrapped versions ( and a move to the Nintendo GameCube ) , Capcom finally landed on the action - load down , behind - the - shoulder gameplay that helped earnResident Evil 4rave reappraisal when it was in the end relinquish in January 2005 .
http://assets.vg247.com/current//2015/08/resident_evil_4.jpg origin : vg247.com
14. Alan Wake: 2004-2010 (6 years)
Much ofAlan Wake’sprotracted development can be blamed on a transposition in genre partway through , as the plot was first conceive as an opened - humans escapade before becoming theTwin Peaks - inspired , episodic action - adventure that lastly shipped in 2010 . For the most part , Alan Wake was worth the wait , even if its light - base shot gameplay leaven a piece repetitive , but plans for a full sequel were eventually scrap and became the substructure for Remedy ’s next title , the 2016 Xbox One exclusiveQuantum Break .
Microsoft
13. Mafia II: 2004-2010 (6 years)
As a publisher , Take - Two has built a repute of releasing quality software and a mass of this can be attributed to its willingness to check games so that the team act on them have the time necessitate to apply some extra polish . We ’ve seen this again and again with games such asRed Dead Redemption 2andL.A. Noire(the latter of which appears later on this lean ) , but the downside of line is that waiting for expect secret plan is not much fun .
Such is the showcase withMafia II , which begin development in 2004 but was n’t released until six years later during the next console generation . Part of the cause the secret plan admit so long was the determination to transition from PlayStation 2 and Xbox to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 , as 2 K Czech had problems with Illusion Software , the developer of the game railway locomotive . In the end , whetherMafia IIwas worth the wait is a toss up , as the game ’s engaging tale was diminished by its boring , elongate open world design .
Mafia 2 Wiki
12. Shenmue: 1993-1999 (6 years)
First released in Japan in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast , Shenmueis an activity - adventure title that is now regarded as one of the most innovative games in early 3 - D development thanks to its ( at the time ) groundbreaking nontextual matter and realism . Like most challenging artistic endeavors , Shenmuewas not believe overnight and morph into something quite unlike than primitively envisioned over the course of its six year evolution .
point by Yu Suzuki , the team at Sega AM2 were originally tasked with creating an RPG determine in the Virtua Fighter universe and development start in 1993 with plans to eject the game on the Sega Saturn . As growing wear on , Suzuki ’s vision only grew more ambitious , as he believe ofShenmuebeing a multi - part epic . By 1997 , development had be active to the Dreamcast and the Virtua Fighter connective was dropped altogether . Upon freeing , Shenmuewas met with critical plaudit but Suzuki ’s vision had establish a dear investiture for Sega ; in fact , at $ 47 million , Shenmuewas the most expensive telecasting game ever made at the prison term .
regrettably , the Dreamcast ’s low install understructure meant thatShenmuewould have needed to be purchased twice by every proprietor of the console just to let out even . Of naturally , that did n’t pass off andShenmuelost Sega a ton of money , though a sequel was still develop and released the following year because of how much had been invested in the project . Shenmue IIalso proved to be a commercial dud , yet plans for a third installment are still underway .
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/shenmue-3-creator-gives-small-update-on-its-progre/1100-6441440/ reference : GameSpot
11. Galleon: 1997-2004 (7 years)
An military action - escapade game supervise byTomb Raidercreator Toby Gard , Galleoncycled through a act of different iterations and publishers before in conclusion landing on the original Xbox in 2004.Galleonsuffered from having the goalpost shifted throughout development , as game design had develop considerably since the late XC when the biz was initially consider as a PlayStation release .
port the game from PlayStation to Dreamcast , then GameCube , and finally Xbox caused all sorts of technical payoff and though the finished product was decent for a secret plan that had suffer such a protracted innovation , Galleonultimately did n’t make much of impingement and is now largely forget .
Atlus
10. L.A. Noire: 2004-2011 (7 years)
Team Bondi ’s 1940s - era detective plot may not have been the most piquant opened world game when it released in 2011 , butL.A. Noirewas sure enough a technical wonder the likes of which the industry had yet seen . As it turn out , it was the ambitious technology behindL.A. Noirethat caused it to be so intemperately delayed , as the cinema - quality movement seizure and extensive phonation acting – combined with creating a huge open - macrocosm environment – was sentence consuming to modernise and also pricy .
With a budget in the range of a function of $ 50 million , L.A. Noirewas one of the most expensive video game production at the time and fortunately for publishing house Rockstar Games , the game was a sales success with over five million copies sold . However , allegations of pitiful working conditions at Team Bondi go forth in the months followingL.A. Noire’srelease , prompting Rockstar to cut tie beam with the studio . ineffectual to bless a deal with a Modern publisher , the studio apartment was forced to close its door in October 2011 .
Rockstar Games
9. Starcraft II: 2003-2010 (7 years)
Though its exploitation was indeed a long one at seven years , fans of Blizzard ’s originalStarcrafthad to wait a dozen days for a sequel , as piece of work onStarcraft IIdidn’t actually start until 2003 . It ’s perceivable why gettingStarcraft IIout the door took Blizzard so long , as craft a sequel to one of the heavy real - time strategy games ever made is no easy feat . From a rooter perspective , there was good grounds to be wary about a novel Starcraft given how turbulent Blizzard ’s production was .
A class after the game was first announce at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational , Blizzard revealed that development onStarcraft IIwas only about a third of the way done ( bear in mind that the biz was five years into maturation at this point ) and that the initial release would be miss individual player campaigns for two of the franchise ’s faction , Zerg and Protoss ( these were finally release in elaboration packs ) .
Starcraft IIcontinued to be hit with setbacks from there , missing its beta window in 2009 but as luck would have it for everyone postulate , the game had a relatively legato launch in July 2010 , where it was met with mostly positive review from both critics and the fans who had been wait a twelve geezerhood to get their hands on it .
Blizzard
8. Spore: 2000-2008 (8 years)
The brainchild ofSimCitycreator Will Wright , Spore’sprotracted maturation can be impute almost alone to Wright ’s ambition , as his programme was to create a game in which players could contain the ontogeny of a mintage from microscopic organism to advanced , spacefaring civilization . Work commence onSporein 2000 , but development hit several snags along the way , mainly involving gameplay as the team went through several looping before landing on the five microscope stage structure seen in the finish mathematical product .
Sporewas at long last liberate in 2008 and while its customization options and general structure were well - receive , the game ’s repetitive gameplay was widely criticized . look back , it was probably unreasonable to expect a god simulator that spend nearly a decade in growth was become to subsist up to the hoopla but study some thoughtSporewas just vaporware at one level , we ’re just happy it finally made it to the finish line .
http://www.spore.com/static/war/images/community/wallpapers/NTSC_02_high.jpg
beginning : Spore.com
7. Darkfall Online: 2001-2009 (8 years)
Unfortunately , the game garnered only average review and though the 2012 expansionUnholy Warsmade noticeable improvements , the prescribed servers were shutdown that same twelvemonth , with developer Aventurine license the game out to two unlike musician - run studios , which currently function two competing version ofDarkfall – Rise of AgonandNew Dawn . In inadequate , it ’s all very puzzling and kind of a quite a little .
6. Too Human: 1999-2008 (9 years)
Too Humanhad one of the long and strangest roads to expel in gambling history . First announce in 1999 , the title was primitively in growth for the PlayStation before developer Silicon Knights signed an exclusivity deal with Nintendo the following yr and change over paraphernalia by makingToo Humana GameCube game . The studio apartment would go on to have its greatest success on Nintendo ’s console with release such asEternal Darkness : saneness ’s RequiemandMetal Gear Solid : The Twin Snakes , butToo Humanlanguished in growth and never made it to the program .
Silicon Knights swivel yet again when they ratify an exclusivity deal with Microsoft , with the design this metre to turnToo Humaninto a trilogy . After nearly a X of ontogeny hell , the biz was finally released in 2008 to middling brushup and sales figures . Trilogy plan were quickly trash and Silicon Knights ended up declaring bankruptcy in 2014 afterlosing a prolong court of justice case with Epic Games , with a Union judge ordering the developer to destroy all copy ofToo Human .
5. Team Fortress 2: 1998-2007 (9 years)
Valve has built something of a repute for frequently delaying its game – ifHalf - living 3ever in reality comes out , it will likely have endured the longest exploitation in video game story – and its most hard hold up title that in reality made it to liberate is beloved class - based shooterTeam Fortress 2 . As many be intimate , the originalTeam Fortressbegan life as a popularQuakemod , with Valve eventually hiring its creators to amount work for them . A subsequence was announce in 1998 but a protracted development cycle led to a much different game than originally promised .
While the initial pitch forTeam Fortress 2involved a more realistic esthetical and gameplay , the team vary gears whole and adopted a colourful , hyper - stylize cartoon look – an crucial particular that Valve keep fans in the darkness about for nearly half a decade while the team quiet go aside on the game . Fortunately , whenTeam Fortress 2was last released as part of the Orange Box compilation in 2007 , it apace became one of the most pop on-line shooters in the globe and is still go strong over a decennary later .
Valve
4. The Last Guardian: 2007-2016 (9 years)
Team Ico had a tough act to come after releasing the critically - acclaimedShadow of the Colossuson the PlayStation 2 in 2005 , but no one think we ’d have to wait over a decade to play the squad ’s next game . Development began onThe Last Guardianin 2007 , with architectural plan to release it as a PlayStation 3 scoop . Team Ico officially harbinger the game at E3 2009 , impressing attendees with a cinematic that depicted an legal action - platformer following the bond between a immature boy and his mammoth creature fellow .
computer hardware issues prompt the team to transition development to the PlayStation 4 in 2012 and it would take another four years for the game to in reality release . The game ’s frequent time lag became something of an industry put-on , with some theorizing thatThe Last Guardianhad become vaporware given Sony ’s relative silence on the project post-2011 . Surprising many , the secret plan was re-introduce at E3 2015 and released the undermentioned year to mostly cocksure reviews , with the general consensus being that Team Ico had craft another beautiful , aesthetic experience held back by some technical and gameplay issues .
http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-guardian/videos/ Source : GameSpot
3. Prey: 1995-2006 (11 years)
Five years afterward , Prey – now a first - person shooter revolving around teleportation shop mechanic – was let go on PC and Xbox 360 to positive reviews and commercial-grade success . However , subsequence plans ended up being aborted after Bethesda Softworks larn the rightfulness in 2009 , leading to an totally rebooted secret plan with no connectedness to the previousPreybeing release in 2017 .
2 K Games
2. Diablo III: 2001-2012 (11 years)
Although it was n’t formally harbinger until 2008 , development onDiablo IIIactually start way back in 2001 , just a year after the release ofDiablo II . While Blizzard has stayed comparatively quiet on why it took over a decade to getDiablo IIIout the door , Josh Mosqueira , who took over as game managing director sometime after the game ’s 2012 release , offer an explanation in the bookBlood , elbow grease , and Pixelsby Kotaku ’s Jason Schreier , “ The spook ofDiablo IIloomed large over the squad , ” said Mosequeira . “ The pressure of trying to endure up to the legacy of this unbelievable game weighed heavily on the squad and impacted so many of the decisions . ”
Diablo III’sproblems only continued following its release , from the game being practically unplayable in its first month due to widespread web computer error to plot balance issues triggered by the controversial Auction House . To their acknowledgment , Blizzard was capable to turn things around and finally turnedDiablo IIIinto a desirable replacement to the legendaryDiablo IIafter the spillage of the first expansion , Reaper of Souls , in 2014 .
http://twop.navi-gaming.com/en/heroes_of_the_storm/heroes/diablo_guide beginning : Twop.navi-gaming.com
1. Duke Nukem Forever: 1996-2011 (15 years)
Unsurprisingly , the ( not really real ) honour for most delayed game of all clock time go toDuke Nukem Forever , the sequel to 1996’sDuke Nukem 3Dthat admit a walloping 15 years to see through to closing . Originally announced in 1997 , maturation duties were handled by 3D Realms for the next 10 until the studio was downsized and theDuke Nukem Foreverteam all lost their jobs .
A yr later on , the game terminate up with 2 K Games , who choose Borderlands developer Gearbox Software to put the finish touch on the game and at last get it out the door . In 2011,Duke Nukem Foreverfinally free and was wide considered a prodigious unsuccessful person ; an outdated , ugly , and not in particular entertaining game that should have been axed somewhere along the way during its absurd 15 yr growth .
http://www.cultnoise.com/siren-fm-jon-st-john-duke-nukem-interview/ seed : Cultnoise.com
