There’s a specific 2 a.m. brain itch where you’re trying to sleep and your subconscious goes, “Hey. Whatever happened to that one game? You know the one. With the monkey.” Then you spend forty-five minutes on a Wikipedia spiral and wake up at noon, defeated, having learned nothing.
Game Informer’s editorial team scratched that exact itch on April 7th when they ran “Have You Seen These Games?”, a feature kicking off with Beyond Good & Evil 2 and the gentle but devastating premise that “a prolonged development cycle can often result in little to no updates on a project’s status.” A polite way of saying: where the heck did half the AAA pipeline go.
Almost a month later, with May open and the summer showcase season warming up like a band before soundcheck, it felt like the right moment to do a fresh roll call. Not a list. A roll call. The names go out. The hands go up, or they don’t. We see who’s still in the room.
Suspect #1: Beyond Good & Evil 2
First sighting: Ubidays 2008. Last confirmed status update: Ubisoft hiring spree, late 2025. Verdict: Alive. Probably. We think.
Let’s start with the big one. The space-monkey Loch Ness monster of the games industry.
Here’s what we know to be true, with citations and everything: Beyond Good & Evil 2 was announced at Ubidays in 2008. It was re-announced with a now-iconic cinematic trailer at E3 2017. In 2022, it broke the record previously held by Duke Nukem Forever for the longest development period of a AAA video game, clocking in at over 15 years. As of late 2025, PC Gamer reported that Ubisoft was actively hiring for the project, including a technical sound designer, a lead quest designer, a senior character artist, and a VFX artist.
It is not, by any reasonable definition, a healthy production. The original director, Michel Ancel, departed Ubisoft in 2020 amid reporting from French newspaper Libération about an unorganized and at times abusive leadership style on the project. Per Wikipedia’s well-sourced entry, Emile Morel, who served as creative director, died in 2023 at age 40. Designer Fawzi Mesmar was appointed as the new creative director in October 2024 and has publicly confirmed work continues following Ubisoft’s 2025 corporate restructuring.
Look. The game has had three creative directors, two reveal trailers nine years apart, and a custom engine called Voyager that’s older than some Switch 2 launch titles. At what point does a game stop being “in development” and become a generational art project that just happens to live on Ubisoft’s payroll? Asking for a friend.
📺 Suggested YouTube embed: the iconic E3 2017 Cinematic Trailer
Suspect #2: The Wolf Among Us 2
First sighting: 2017 (original announcement). Re-emergence: The Game Awards 2019. Last confirmed status update: Telltale reaffirmation, late 2024. Verdict: A ghost story.
You know the way you can love something so much that hoping for it actively makes you tired? That’s The Wolf Among Us 2 in 2026.
The original Wolf Among Us came out in 2013 and 2014, a Telltale episodic adventure based on the Fables comic that turned out to be one of the most beloved narrative games of the 2010s. A sequel was announced. Telltale folded in 2018. The Telltale name was acquired by LCG Entertainment, relaunched, and Wolf Among Us 2 was re-announced at The Game Awards in 2019 with a fresh trailer.
Then: nothing for years.
Then: in September 2023, as multiple outlets reported and the studio confirmed, major layoffs hit the team working on the game. Then, in October 2023 and again in late 2024, Telltale publicly stated the game was still in development and that more would be shared “when the time was right.” The work is happening at AdHoc Studio in collaboration with Telltale. We have no images. We have no scenes. We have one moody trailer from 2019 and a faint pulse from corporate communications.
Bigby’s still out there somewhere. Not metaphorically. Literally on a hard drive. Probably in pieces. Still mad about something
Suspect #3: BioShock 4
First sighting: December 2019 (Cloud Chamber announcement). Recent activity: New leadership announced 2025. Verdict: Mid-rebuild, leadership confirmed it’s coming, eventually.
This one’s recent enough that the file’s still warm. Let me hit you with the box score.
December 2019: 2K announces a new BioShock developed at Cloud Chamber, a new studio. Years of silence. Reports of internal turbulence. A rumored overhaul during the 2020s. Per coverage from late 2025 and confirmed in industry reporting, layoffs hit the project. Studio head Kelley Gilmore departed Cloud Chamber. Rod Fergusson, formerly of Diablo and Gears of War fame, took over leadership of the BioShock franchise.
Then in November 2025, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed the long development cycle directly, stating that the next BioShock would, eventually, come out. Which is the kind of confirmation that’s technically reassuring and emotionally hollow, like when your dentist tells you the appointment is “soon.” When? Soon. Soon when, exactly? Soon.
The promising read here is that Fergusson is one of the most respected production leads in the industry. The skeptical read is that bringing in a new franchise lead in 2025 strongly implies the previous version of the game wasn’t shipping anytime in 2026, 2027, or possibly even 2028. Splice in your own Big Daddy metaphor.
Suspect #4: Star Wars Eclipse
First sighting: The Game Awards 2021. Recent activity: Audible silence. Verdict: [Crickets].
Quantic Dream announced Star Wars Eclipse at The Game Awards 2021 with a slick CG trailer set in the High Republic era. Since then, what we’ve gotten is essentially the gaming-industry equivalent of a “leave me on read” experience.
We can confirm the game still exists in some form. Quantic Dream has not officially canceled it. There have been scattered job listings over the years. There have been recurring industry rumors about scope changes, narrative restarts, and the usual rugby-match blame games behind closed studio doors. What there has not been, in over four years, is any new gameplay footage, art, story update, or release window from Quantic Dream itself.
If you bought a Switch 2 a year ago, you have owned a console capable of running this game for longer than this game has been visible to humanity.
That’s not a knock on anybody. That’s just where we are. Eclipse is the game-design version of one of those long-haul Marvel TV shows that got announced in a Disney quarterly and then never aired. It’s possible. It’s even likely. It’s also, somehow, unprovable.
Suspect #5: Squadron 42
First sighting: 2012 Kickstarter. Recent activity: Lots. Maybe too much. Verdict: They genuinely think they’re shipping this year. Read on.
Different category of suspect. Squadron 42 is the single-player campaign within Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen universe, a project so well-funded that calling it a “game” feels like calling Versailles a “house.”
Per Wikipedia’s tracking and confirmed via August 2025 reporting, Roberts said in an interview that Squadron 42 is now aiming for a 2026 release, with the broader Star Citizen persistent universe targeting 2027 or 2028. As of late 2025, the broader Star Citizen project had raised nearly $1 billion in combined crowdfunding and early access sales, making it one of the most expensive single pieces of entertainment ever produced, full stop, more than most movies, more than most games, more than many small countries’ annual cultural budgets.
The cast for Squadron 42 includes Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Andy Serkis, Mark Strong, and like fifteen other actors whose dailies must have been astonishing. CitizenCon 2024 showed real gameplay slices. There is a thing happening here.
Whether the thing is going to ship in calendar year 2026 is genuinely, sincerely, an open question that even the people building it cannot answer with full certainty. As of writing, no firm release date has been announced. PC Gamer’s recent coverage noted that even Star Citizen community managers have stopped pretending to know what the timeline is. We respect the honesty.
Suspect #6: Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra
First sighting: PlayStation Showcase 2022. In-engine trailer: 2024. Recent activity: Officially delayed past early 2026. Verdict: Alive. Slipped. Probably 2026 holiday or 2027.
This is the most encouraging name on the list, partially because Amy Hennig, fresh from her Uncharted legacy, is leading it at Skydance New Media, and partially because the delay was actually announced. Not just inferred. Not just leaked. Formally communicated.
Per official statements from Skydance Media in 2025, and I’m paraphrasing tightly to stay safe with their wording: the studio said it’s an ambitious project, they’re committed to the level of quality the team and players expect, and to fully realize their vision they’ve shifted the release window beyond early 2026.
Cool. Honest. Adult. We can all live with that.
The pitch for 1943 remains one of the most interesting in the licensed-game space: Captain America and a young Black Panther meet during World War II, in a narrative-forward third-person action game by people who literally invented the modern cinematic action game. The trailer footage we have is gorgeous. The team is real. The IP is hot. If Skydance can stick the landing, this is a holiday 2026 or early 2027 winner and we will all collectively pretend the wait wasn’t long.
What does it mean when a publisher says “still in development”
Quick philosophical break, because we earned it.
In 2026 publishing-speak, “still in development” can mean any of the following:
- The game has 200+ devs working full-time on it daily and a polished vertical slice.
- The game has a small core team keeping the IP “warm” while leadership decides what to do.
- The game has been quietly rebooted at least once and the current build is barely related to the announce trailer.
- The game is technically alive on a server somewhere because canceling it publicly would be worse than letting it haunt the next ten earnings calls.
These are not interchangeable. Game Informer’s piece is clearly leaning into the difference. Their stated approach was reaching out to creators for actual updates, which is the kind of journalism you only really get when an outlet has the relationships to make those calls. The rest of us out here in 2026 are mostly piecing things together from job listings, LinkedIn movements, leaked test builds, and the occasional Bloomberg Schreier scoop.
So which one do we actually see first
If we’re playing odds, here’s a rough handicap as of May 4, 2026:
- Squadron 42 has the loudest “we are shipping this year” statement on the record. Whether you believe Chris Roberts after a decade of not believing Chris Roberts is, frankly, between you and your therapist.
- Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has a real publisher with a real release calendar and a real delay statement, which is the most “this is actually shipping” energy on the list. Bet on holiday 2026 or first half of 2027.
- BioShock 4 with Rod Fergusson now holding the wheel feels like a 2027 or 2028 conversation, but it’s clearly being built.
- Beyond Good & Evil 2 still feels like the longest-shot on a multi-year horizon, despite Ubisoft technically still hiring for it.
- The Wolf Among Us 2 is now a faith-based investment.
- Star Wars Eclipse is the one I’d put my “don’t even think about it” energy on. Show me the trailer first.
Reasonable people will disagree with this list, which is fine, because reasonable people disagree about everything in this industry.
The bottom line
Here’s the thing nobody quite says out loud about long-development games: the wait is the thing.
You don’t actually want every announced game to ship eighteen months later. You want the good ones. You want the ones whose absence makes a strange kind of sense, the ones where the studio is clearly trying to land something specific and difficult. Hollow Knight: Silksong took six years and shipped to acclaim and seven million sales. Doom 2016 spent the better part of a decade in various forms before becoming the best shooter of its generation. Patience is a feature.
Patience is also a bug, when the game is just gone and we’re all pretending it isn’t.
The question, “have you seen these games?”, is asking us to remember and to hope. Real journalism, real fan service, no cynicism. As of May 4, 2026, the answer for most of these is: not lately, but soon, maybe. Some are pulling 200,000 wishlists a week. Some are running silent. Some are about to land, finally, after a decade of headlines.
We’ll keep watching. The cold case files stay open.
FAQ: Long-development AAA games in 2026
Is Beyond Good & Evil 2 still in development in 2026?
Yes. As of late 2025, Ubisoft was actively hiring multiple roles for the project, and creative director Fawzi Mesmar publicly confirmed development was continuing after Ubisoft’s 2025 corporate restructuring. The game has had three creative directors and was first announced at Ubidays in 2008.
When was The Wolf Among Us 2 last officially confirmed?
Telltale Games most recently reaffirmed The Wolf Among Us 2’s development status in late 2024 following rumors that financial pressure could shelve the game. The studio is collaborating with AdHoc Studio. Major layoffs in September 2023 affected most of the team working on the project.
Who is leading BioShock 4 now?
Rod Fergusson, the former leader of the Diablo franchise at Blizzard and previously associated with Gears of War, took over leadership of the BioShock franchise in 2025 following the departure of Cloud Chamber studio head Kelley Gilmore. The game itself continues to be developed at Cloud Chamber.
When does Squadron 42 release?
Per a public interview by director Chris Roberts in August 2025, Squadron 42 is currently targeting a 2026 release. As of May 2026, no specific release date has been announced. The broader Star Citizen persistent universe is targeting 2027 or 2028.
When was Star Wars Eclipse last updated?
Star Wars Eclipse was announced at The Game Awards 2021. Quantic Dream has not officially canceled the project, but as of May 2026, no new gameplay, art, or release window has been publicly shared since the original 2021 reveal.
When does Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra release?
Skydance Media officially delayed Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra past its previous early 2026 window in 2025, citing a desire to fully realize the team’s vision. As of May 2026, no new release date has been announced. The game is being led by Amy Hennig at Skydance New Media.
Was Beyond Good & Evil 2 officially declared vaporware?
Yes, by some industry figures. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier and others have publicly used the term “vaporware” to describe the project given its lengthy development cycle and lack of release date. Ubisoft has consistently maintained the game remains in active development.
Why do AAA games take so long now?
Modern AAA development cycles have grown to five years or longer due to a combination of expanding game scope, custom engine development, increased visual fidelity expectations, leadership changes, post-COVID workflow disruption, and corporate restructuring. Doom 2016, Alan Wake 2, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are frequently cited examples of long development cycles that resulted in successful launches.
Did Hollow Knight Silksong come out yet?
Yes. Hollow Knight: Silksong launched on September 4, 2025 to critical acclaim, selling over seven million copies by mid-December 2025. A free DLC expansion called Sea of Sorrow was announced for 2026. (Mentioning here because a surprising number of people still ask if it’s out.)
