With so many video games in active development, it’s normal for the odd project here and there to fall through the cracks. Numerous studios have had to quietly cancel games over the years, with projects likeStar Wars: 1313andScaleboundbeing among the most notable examples. Even the critically acclaimed Rockstar Games has had its missteps, with the mysterious action adventure gameAgentnever seeing the light of day.
Developed specifically by Rockstar North and exclusively for the PS3, the game was first teased in 2007, in the early days of the PS3’s life cycle. Categorized as a Cold War espionage thriller,Agentwas officially announced in 2009 to a great deal of excitement due to the strong pedigree that Rockstar had set up for itself with theGrand Theft Autofranchise. The concept of the game combined with the impressive technology of the PS3 at the time seemed to set the stage for something special. Unfortunately the game was canceled without any further information about its development, and its unlikely fans will ever know what could have been.
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Rockstar Games Moved on to Bigger, Better Things
Rockstar finally retired the trademark forAgentin 2018, after years of speculation regarding the status of the game’s development. This came five years after thegargantuan success ofGrand Theft Auto 5and within the same year as the monumental launch ofRed Dead Redemption 2. In between the production of these two gaming juggernauts, it just may not have been feasible for Rockstar to continue work onAgent, even with the vast amount of resources and talent it has at its disposal.
This isn’t to say that Rockstar had no faith inAgentbeing a good game, but over the years, priorities can change for a company and development of projects can change very fast.Agentbegan development on the PS3, before being stretched well into thePS4 generation. Consistently jumping from platform to platform can be a stressful and laborious process that can ultimately hinder the final product, as is evident withDuke Nukem: Forever. Rockstar has a certain bar of quality it likes to hit, and ifAgentjust wasn’t reaching that level, it wouldn’t live up to the company’s name.
Over the course of the past decade,Rockstar Gameshas also shifted much of its focus to online multiplayer gaming.Grand Theft Auto 5has been supported since its launch in 2013, and continues to receive new content and updates at a regular pace, withRed Dead Redemption 2being in the same situation. That’s not to say Rockstar doesn’t still believe in single player campaigns, but multiplayer is crucial to Rockstar games today. IfAgenthad one as well, it may have resulted in unnecessary competition between Rockstar projects.
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What Agent Could Have Been
This is all speculation of course, and the true reason forAgentbeing canceledmay never be known. The main fact remains however, that countless players will have to live with the fact of never knowing what this promising action game could have been. Only snippets of information and some general concept art or screenshots have made their way online, with no actual gameplay footage to speak of. Prior canceled games like the aforementionedScaleboundhave at least had proper trailers to give an idea of what the game looked like, which isn’t the case here.
There are the odd cases in which in development footage or assets make their way online for fans to enjoy. Early last year, Rare’s N64 canceledN64 swan songDinosaur Planetleaked onto the internet, with modders combing through the game’s code to discover secrets and other previously unknown details. While this is extremely fortunate for fans of Rare and the Nintendo 64 era to have stumbled upon this, a case like this one is more the exception to the rule. Rockstar is very protective of its IP’s, and likely has footage ofAgentlocked up tight.
Furthermore, Rockstar releasing any footage ofAgentjust for fun may be counterintuitive with whatever the company’s plans are going forward.Agentwas left behind in 2018, which is already several years in the past. To dig it up again for the sole purpose of showing it off runs the risk of distracting from Rockstar’s efforts on current projects. If the footage shown ends up being exciting, it may cause some backlash as to why Rockstar would cancel a promising title in the first place, hurting its image in midst of success forGrand Theft Auto,Red Dead Redemption,and more.
The truth is, that gamers may never truly know what happened withRockstar’sAgentand shouldn’t hold their breath for some kind of reveal down the road. It would always be nice to please that deep-rooted curiosity, but sometimes things are better left in the past, as the gaming industry as a whole continues to move on.
Agenthas been canceled.
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