A lot of games have never seen the light of day despite having a lot of potential, and it’s usually interesting to see footage from them, showing what could have been if the game had actually reached the market. And for fans of the world’s top superhero franchises, a video showing a canceled “Justice League” game could be quite the watch indeed. Before the “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice Film” was even a reality, there was a game where people could still see the two famous heroes going against each other in the ring.
Information about the game is pretty slim and not much is clear about it, although according to Kotaku, it was being developed for Xbox 360, and Double Helix were charged with the title. The game’s development took place between “Mortal Kombat vs Dc Universe” and “Injustice”, although it’s not clear exactly how much time was spent on the game before it was canceled. The video shows some polished materials here and there, so it’s possible that the game was actually close to a final release before the plug was pulled on it.
In the end, Double Helix worked on “Killer Instinct” and brought the franchise back to life, leading it to become a launch title for Microsoft’s Xbox One. And right now, Double Helix don’t seem to be on the list for studios that will be handling the development of DC Comics titles in the future, as this will be handed over to several other studios, including Rocksteady, Netherrealm, or a studio owned by Warner Bros.
Is there a chance that the old title could ever be revived? Hardly – even though it’s possible that its intellectual property is handed off to another studio that can be tasked with development of the game, too much has changed on the scene until then to make it a viable release at this point, and the studio would likely be looking in a different direction instead of thinking to bring old projects back to life.
At the same time, the amount of discussion the canceled title has managed to generate is a clear indicator that fans would enjoy a release like that, and it could generate good money for the studio. In this context, it also wouldn’t be that surprising if an entirely new game based on the superheroes was being prepared behind the scenes, and just hasn’t been announced yet. It could serve as a nice promotion for upcoming films related to the franchise, although there have been no indicators that a project like this is being developed – no rumors, no leaks from the studio or anything similar.