Cancelled Game Index

Last updated: May 13, 2026

Overview

This is the curated index of every cancelled Sierra-extended-catalogue game documented in the vault. Each entry below summarizes the title’s status, the lead designer (where known), the cancellation date and corporate context, and whether any playable build, screenshots, or design documents survived. For the full per-title page, follow the wiki link.

The vault uses the CXL - filename prefix for cancelled games and a lower citation threshold (5+ instead of 15+) in ../docs/INCLUSION_CRITERIA.md (INCLUSION_CRITERIA.md). Pages of “in-development” status that haven’t shipped use the TBD - prefix instead and are listed separately at the bottom of this page.

Cancelled games

CXL - King’s Quest IX

Type: Cancelled franchise sequel
Lead designer: Roberta Williams (preliminary), with various successors after her 1999 retirement
Cancellation: Late 1990s — initial cancellation; revived multiple times as fan-pitched concept; the eventual King’s Quest (2015) by The Odd Gentlemen is sometimes considered the spiritual KQ9.
Status today: No surviving build. Pitch documents documented at the Roberta Williams retirement-era Sierra archive.
Significance: Symbolic of the post-CUC creative-paralysis era at Sierra. The official KQ revival did happen, but not as KQ9.

CXL - Space Quest VII - Return to Roman Numerals

Type: Cancelled franchise sequel
Lead designers: Originally pitched by Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy (Two Guys), then by Josh Mandel
Cancellation: Multiple — 1996 (Two Guys pitch), 1998 (Mandel rewrite), various subsequent revivals
Status today: Substantial pitch documents and at least one prototype demo are extant; documented at SpaceQuest.net/sq7.
Significance: The spiritual successor became SpaceVenture (2022) by Two Guys via crowdfunding.

CXL - Leisure Suit Larry 8

Type: Cancelled franchise sequel
Lead designer: Al Lowe
Cancellation: Late 1990s — Sierra’s CUC-era creative-control conflicts killed it. Larry would not return until Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (2004, post-Sierra; not in this Cancelled list because it shipped) and then much later Reloaded (2013).
Significance: Marked Al Lowe’s effective end at Sierra; he retired in 1998.

CXL - Manhunter 3

Type: Cancelled franchise sequel
Lead designer: Evryware (original Manhunter team)
Cancellation: Early 1990s — Manhunter 3 was teased at the end of Manhunter: San Francisco (1989) but never developed.
Significance: The Manhunter series ended on a perpetual cliffhanger; the cancelled sequel is mentioned in several Sierra Newsletter back-issues but no playable assets survive.

CXL - Babylon 5 - Into the Fire

Type: Cancelled licensed game
Cancellation: 1999 — Sierra’s space-combat-simulator title licensed from the Babylon 5 TV series, scuttled when Sierra restructured under Havas.
Status today: Partial assets (cinematics, ship models) leaked years later and are preserved by fan communities.
Significance: One of the most-anticipated cancellations of the era.

CXL - Middle-earth Online

Type: Cancelled MMO
Cancellation: 1999-2003 — Begun under Sierra in 1999, transferred to other developers, eventually became Lord of the Rings Online (2007 by Turbine) after multiple ownership changes.
Significance: Sierra’s bid for the MMO era, killed by the Havas/Vivendi consolidation.

CXL - SWAT - Urban Justice

Type: Cancelled SWAT series entry
Cancellation: 2003 — Yosemite Entertainment / Sierra’s SWAT-series successor to SWAT 3, cancelled when Vivendi shuttered the studio.
Status today: Some preview screenshots and pitch material extant.
Significance: The cancellation marked the effective end of the SWAT series under Sierra; later SWAT releases (SWAT 4 from Irrational, SWAT Force from Activision) came from other developers.

CXL - Front Page Sports - Football Pro ‘99

Type: Cancelled annual sports sequel
Cancellation: 1998-1999 — Dynamix’s Front Page Sports football line was cancelled when Sierra’s sports licensing strategy shifted toward NASCAR/IndyCar.
Significance: The cancellation effectively ended the Front Page Sports franchise.

CXL - Red Baron (2013 Remake)

Type: Cancelled remake (modern era)
Cancellation: 2013-2015 — Activision had announced an HD revival of Dynamix’s Red Baron under the relaunched Sierra Entertainment digital imprint, but the project quietly disappeared during the imprint’s wind-down.
Significance: Example of how Activision’s brief 2014-2017 Sierra revival never fully materialized despite multiple announcements.

CXL - Precinct (2013)

Type: Cancelled spiritual successor
Cancellation: 2013 — Jim Walls’s crowdfunded Police Quest spiritual successor failed its Kickstarter funding goal.
Significance: Example of an alumnus revival attempt that didn’t reach commercial production.

In-development (TBD - prefix)

These are NOT cancelled but unreleased. Listed for completeness; see each page for current status.

TBD - Gabriel Knight 4 - Five Hearts

Lead designer: Jane Jensen
Status: Released as a short-story prose work in 2024 (not a video game). A full GK4 video game has not been formally announced.

TBD - King’s Quest IV Remake (Infamous Adventures)

Lead developer: Infamous Adventures
Status: Long-running fan project; ongoing development.

TBD - Order of the Thorne - Fortress of Fire

Lead developer: Infamous Quests
Status: Announced sequel to Order of the Thorne: The King’s Challenge.

TBD - Quest for Infamy - Roehm to Ruin

Lead developer: Infamous Quests
Status: Announced sequel to 2014 - Quest for Infamy.

Patterns and observations

Reviewing the Cancelled folder collectively reveals three distinct cancellation patterns:

CUC-era creative-control cancellations (1996-1999) — King’s Quest IX, LSL8 represent projects killed by the post-CUC corporate environment that drove Roberta Williams, Al Lowe, and other senior designers to retire.
Havas/Vivendi-era studio-closure cancellations (1999-2003) — Middle-earth Online and SWAT: Urban Justice represent projects killed by post-acquisition studio shutdowns.
Activision-revival false starts (2013-2015) — Red Baron Remake and Precinct represent projects from the brief Sierra-imprint revival that never reached release.

A fourth, smaller pattern: licensed-property cancellations where rights issues killed projects (Babylon 5: Into the Fire).

Explorer