Cancellations seem to be a part of gaming that is treated equally as a sad eventuality and a normal event. It is dependent mostly on factors such an anticipatory press and reaction, but each small death must hurt the workers as much as the people wanting to play the titles. But then there are the unannounced dregs, which form the majority of cancellations, which silently vanish without a word to their mere existence. Titles get announced only when at some stage of buzz or advantageous date. So when Sony’s Santa Monica division got LinkedIn profiles, Sound Designer Steve Johnson decided to list all titles he had worked on.

This is where things get interesting, as four cancellations get listed last (a sensible choice). Hand of God, Retriever, and High Rise all went without as much as an iota of attention and went completely unannounced during their lifespan. Fourth title Psynapse was actually known to be a game designed to aid the brain, and was met with some disdain for its ignominious removal from the release schedule.

Leading the admirably large resume, two (unannounced titles) pique interest for Sony’s plans but are as predictably cagey as expected. Of course, it’s not unlikely that Sony is hard at work on more than two games and that Johnson has merely been assigned to these two due to his location at the Santa Monica studio.

For those who want to know about Steve Johnson’s work to date, here’s his profile.

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