Nearly a decade after its reveal during PlayStation’s 2009 E3 conference, Agent officially appears to be no more. What’s led to this conclusion is publisher Take-Two Interactive’s apparent abandonment of the trademark.
On November 19, 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) updated the Agent trademark’s status. According to this update, the trademark is “no longer active.” In the space offering a status update, the USPTO has noted the following: “Abandoned because no Statement of Use or Extension Request timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued.”
Take a look at the listing featured on the USPTO website below:
The trademark for Agent was last renewed in 2016, weeks ahead of that year’s E3. Its renewal, particularly due to the convenient timing, led many to believe a re-reveal was imminent. Obviously, this failed to happen. Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two ever so much as mumbled a word about whether the game was still in development.
In 2007, Sony began teasing the single-player stealth-action title that would become Agent. During that time, it was only known as a Rockstar Games-developed PlayStation 3 exclusive. Agent’s official announcement arrived a couple of years later, during E3 2009. A title, logo, and tentative synopsis were all fans had to go on. But it was enough, more than enough to build hype. Set in the Cold War era late in the 1970s with espionage at its fore, Agent seemed the perfect playground for a Rockstar adventure. Unfortunately, said adventure was never meant to see the light of day.
However, Take-Two’s letting the trademark slip away doesn’t have to mean Agent is canned in its entirety. Dare we hope Rockstar is still developing an espionage title that simply has a different name and premise? For now, the elusive Agent remains on a long list of E3-announced titles that never hit store shelves.
canceled e3 games
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E3: The Vaporware Chronicles
Let's crack open the E3 vaults and look back on those titles announced at gaming's biggest showcase that are now completely MIA.
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Scalebound
We begin with a recent heartbreak for fans of PlatinumGames and Hideki Kamiya (Resident Evil, Bayonetta), whose fantasy RPG Scalebound became one of the most-anticipated Xbox exclusives, only to be scrapped mid-way through development.
It was a swift and tragic end to such a promising, AAA blockbuster, but, sadly, I guess we'll never get to see a mix-up between Devil May Cry and Dragon's Dogma.
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Fez 2
Six years ago, outspoken developer Phil Fish flipped expectations on their head with Fez, a mind-boggling indie title capable of redefining what it means to be a platformer.
The sheer genius of Fez captured the imagination of gamers all across the community, and it's fair to say that, just like Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish's opus was one of the first indie titles to make waves in an industry dominated by big-budget blockbusters.
So when Phil Fish threw his hands up, canceled Fez 2, and walked away from the gaming industry, fans were understandably disappointed. And suddenly, the sequel was rendered into vaporware.
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BioShock Vita
Ken Levine, BioShock, and the PlayStation Vita. That sentence alone would've been enough to drive sales of Sony's ill-fated handheld, but the landmark collaboration wasn't to be.
Not only is Irrational Games no more, but BioShock Vita, a portable experience with elements of Final Fantasy Tactics, spent almost four years teetering on the verge of development, meaning its cancellation was less of a surprise and more of a "oh, well."
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Agent
Surely Rockstar's Agent specializes in the secret service, because we haven’t heard sight nor sound of the elusive project since 2007, when the studio behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption announced its new IP as a PlayStation exclusive. It was a huge coup for Sony, given it was still struggling to match the runaway success of Microsoft and its own Xbox 360 at the time. But more than 10 years later, and we still don’t know much about Rockstar's Agent – save for the fact that publisher Take-Two is adamant that the game is not cancelled.
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Contra
Konami's E3 pressers were infamous for their stunted delivery and cringe-worthy moments, but there were still a few diamonds peppered in the rough – namely HD versions of Metal Gear, Zone of the Enders, and Silent Hill, as well as a 30-second teaser for Contra.
Yes, the classic action franchise looked to be making a return back in 2011, but the ongoing radio silence has led many to conclude that Konami wound up making a Contra pachinko machine instead. Oh, what could have been.
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Project Milo
Before it become known as Microsoft's Kinect, Project Natal stoked curiosity among developers with its motion controls and Star Trek-esque voice commands. Hey, back in 2009, the sky was the limit as far as Microsoft's peripheral was concerned.
And then there was Peter Molyneux. The renown Fable developer hoped to launch Project Milo as a Kinect title circa 2009, but Microsoft's gradual abandonment of the device, not to mention Molyneux's departure from the company in 2012, means Milo is just another victim of E3 vaporware.
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Prey 2
Okay, this one doesn't exactly fit the bill, given Arkane Studios hit the reset button to deliver Prey, a horror-infused experience set on Talos I.
Prey 2, on the other hand, flickered into life at Human Head Studio, and was introduced to the masses during E3 2011. Three years later, and Bethesda decided to cancel the project entirely, passing over the baton to Arkane.
And although the dev team produced a cracking space thriller, Prey fans will always wonder what could have been.
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Star Wars 1313
2013 marked a defining moment in the history of Star Wars, as it was during this time when Disney acquired Lucasfilm and all its assets as part of a record $4 billion acquisition.
And while the movie franchise continues to reap big rewards, the company's video game output has largely been limited to multiplayer-focused blockbusters. But that wasn't always the case.
Long before the closure of Visceral Games, LucasArts had another title in active development. Its name? Star Wars 1313, and it was all about Boba Fett's formative years as a lawless bounty hunter scouring the galaxy for loot and mercenaries.
A promising demo was enough to send Star Wars fans into a tizzy, but the project quickly fell off the radar once LucasArts ceased production in 2013. And EA's decision to shutter Visceral means 1313 is essentially a goner.
