Malice Canceled

Vivendi Universal drops the oft-delayed title.

In a trade update filed this morning, British developer Argonaut Games announced that Vivendi Universal Games has decided to cancel Malice, a trippy 3D action game that's become the butt of many a joke among industry folks for its extreme lateness. The company also revealed that Orchid, a 3D fighter developed for Namco Hometek, has been shelved for good.

The news, described by Argonaut head Julian Paul as "heavy blows," doesn't necessarily mark the end of Malice?although Vivendi isn't interested anymore, the U.K. development giant can still try finding another publisher for the game. Orchid, on the other hand, has been dropped entirely because "potential returns on this title do not justify the additional investment required to complete the game in its new form"?in other words, the project's gone on for too long and still needs lots of work.

Malice, originally shown off by Bill Gates at the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show, has been in development for over three years now. Originally set to launch alongside the Xbox in late 2001, the game (starring a cute anime-style lady voiced by Gwen Stefani and possessed of all sorts of murderous and deadly weapons) has faced nearly every delay in the book since then, and Vivendi's been strangely silent about the title for much of the past year.

The news isn't all bad from Argonaut, however: I-Ninja is still on track from Namco, and SWAT: Global Strike Team is due to come out from Sierra on the Xbox and PS2 later this year.

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