Knights of Decayden (or Decadyn, in some cases) is one such title. Originally envisioned as an Xbox exclusive, it was supposed to release on Microsoft’s very first iteration of the console, only for Microsoft to end up canceling it in the early 2000s. The project was headed by Totally Games: a studio known for its work on titles such as Star Wars: X-Wing, and it would’ve leveraged the developer’s expertise in aerial combat.
RELATED: Xbox Summer Sale Includes Huge Discounts on Xbox 360 Games
It was Axios’ Stephen Totilo who managed to get a scoop on Knights of Decayden by talking with Xbox head Phil Spencer, who admitted that his first job at Xbox was to cancel the game in question. Totilo then spoke to Larry Holland, who was the head of Knights of Decayden at Totally Games back in the day. This led to a slew of reveals about the title, as well as a fully fledged gameplay trailer that was used to pitch the game to both Sony and Microsoft. The central conceit of the game was that it would feature jousting-based aerial combat featuring knights, monsters, and an assortment of other classic fantasy tropes.
Holland admitted that, much like some other canceled Xbox games from the annals of history, Knights of Decayden was in a rough state when it was canceled. The studio agreed to a “very aggressive schedule” to get the game out, which made it impossible for them to please Microsoft’s fledgling gaming management branch. Holland specifically mentioned that one of the managers had previously been in charge of Excel, making it hard for them to trust the comparatively off-beat game production studio.
Totilo’s talks with both Spencer and Holland help illustrate just how intense the gaming industry can get when push comes to shove. While Phil Spencer’s attitude is popular with developers, he built his career on getting things done, which sometimes included canceling projects that could’ve been good with enough time and attention. Totally Games may have had a reasonably solid track record at the time, and Decayden would’ve surely leaned into its know-how, but this doesn’t seem to have been convincing enough.
Regardless, even Nintendo has a repertoire of canceled games. In the early 2000s, Xbox was still a relative newcomer to the gaming industry, and there was an ever-present need for the company to wrangle its studios and get the most out of them at every turn. Knights of Decayden may have been a victim of this approach, but Holland at least got the chance to share his experience with its development.
MORE: The Parts of Star Wars: KOTOR Games That Haven’t Aged Well
Source: Axios
