Prototype builds for several cancelled games, including a Nintendo Switch Ridge Racer title, Lego Civilization, and an unannounced game from Retro Studios, have allegedly appeared online.
Footage of the cancelled Ridge Racer game, which is allegedly from a build from 2017, is currently circulating on social media.
The game was reportedly developed by Bandai Namco Studios Singapore and was intended for the Nintendo Switch. The game was never announced and has presumably been long since cancelled.
Further development footage of a game prototype developed by Retro Studios, titled ‘Harmony’, has also appeared online. The footage shows a third-person perspective of a fairy character that can transform into different characters to solve puzzles. The build is claimed to be from 2017, however, the game itself was never announced by Retro.
The unannounced game had previously been referenced by Reece “Kiwi Talkz” Reilly, a content creator who has interviewed several former Retro Studios employees. Earlier this year, Reilly mentioned on Resetera that he’d been told the project was a “huge disaster,” and that the game was cancelled after “years of going nowhere.”
It’s believed that this footage has been obtained via a Nintendo Switch development kit that was sold online. Development kits are provided to developers by platform holders and are often heavily modified versions of retail consoles that can run in-development builds.
These kits can often retain information and playable builds for games long after they are cancelled, and thus, it is against the terms of service with the platform holder that provided the dev kit to sell them on.
A build of the unreleased game is now said to be circulating online, with many reporting that it is playable, though in a very basic state with temporary assets and environments.
A menu screen for Lego Civilization, which, as it sounds, appears to be a Lego take on the classic strategy game, was also found on the development kit. Those with access to these files claim they have attempted to run the Lego Civilization title but have reported that it will instantly crash when attempting to play it.
Development builds of both Splatoon 2, Arms and Rime are also said to have been found on the development kit.
