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Lists of cancelled games inclusion criteria too broad

The inclusion criteria for the various "List of cancelled [blank] games" lists is much too weak. At the moment, each of their talk pages list the main criteria as

For a game to be listed, there must be at least one reliable source that directly states that the game was ever announced or in development for the [blank].

Beyond the fact that this wording technically allows for every single game, unreleased or released to be included in each list, we should be striving for more contrete inclusion than "was announced".

I propose that only games that we have reliable sourcing definitively stating that they were either cancelled or were unreleased should be included. Cronacrab (talk) 19:51, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, the list should be limited to games that were notable for a standalone page or likely could have had one. That usually means more than just press releases about the games announcement and cancelation, and likely should detail why the game was cancelled. Masem (t) 20:25, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
That's generally the goal, to have a source that directly states that it was cancelled. But so many games are announced and simply...never materialize. For example, they officially announced a version of Bubsy 3D for the Sega Saturn. They never announced a cancellation. It simply never came out. Why not list it as cancelled when its easy to prove it was a PS1 exclusive and its impossible to officially license a Sega Saturn game for release in 2026? Sergecross73 msg me 20:34, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
I'm with Serge. While it'd be great to have announcements of cancellations or explanations why, most of those simply don't exist, and excluding half of a list simply because they vanished one day feels counterproductive. We already exclude plenty of games that are known to exist thanks to prototypes but don't have any reliable coverage, so it's not like the existing lists are just indiscriminate information either. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 21:27, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
But how can we say that it didn't come out without a source saying so? Perhaps at least some of these dissappeared games did get released in some capacity. We don't include things on Wikipedia due to lack of sources. If we don't have a source saying they were canceled/unreleased we simply shouldn't be saying anything. It's plain WP:OR otherwise. Cronacrab (talk) 23:25, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
I've certainly removed entries from the lists on those grounds, when I couldn't confirm the ultimate fate of a game. But what about examples like the above? What exactly are you proposing? Maybe Bubsy 3D did come out for Saturn? That Nintendo is still working on an edition of Super Mario 64 for the 64DD? At a certain point you've got to apply some common sense. Sergecross73 msg me 23:45, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
As I said above, If we don't have a source saying they were canceled/unreleased we simply shouldn't be saying anything. Cronacrab (talk) 23:53, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
The examples I'm giving do have sources saying they weren't released. I thought you were asking for definitive proof they were cancelled. Still, I believe there's room for common sense application through WP:IAR of obvious cases here of things that were announced and simply never released. Sergecross73 msg me 00:14, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
This does feel like an IAR situation, yeah. I would argue that if we have a source confirming it was announced but no source indicating that it released, that makes it just as eligible for inclusion as a source explicitly saying it wasn't released. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 00:47, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Yeah, and I'm all for exercising caution when there's good faith reason for concern. Like games that can't be identified. For example, I've removed entries like "Untitled Sega platformer" because it's so vague it can be hard to see what it's even referring to, let alone if it released. And it's never applied to any active consoles where games are still being released for it. But we know that Super Mario 64 2 never came out for the N64 during its lifespan whether a source directly states it or not. Sergecross73 msg me 01:03, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
An issue is here on the announcement side. We have many WP:VG/S-meeting sources that will do routine announcements of new games (Gematsu notorious for this), which would establish that the game was announced, but the game never gets covered by any where else, including its cancellation. Those are cases we dont want to be documenting. But like, for example, Agent (video game) or Prey 2 are examples of where we absolutely can document the game and its cancellation. Masem (t) 01:42, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
...why not? -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 01:44, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Most articles from our VG describing the announcement of a game are pretty much regurgitations of a press release or similar marketing from the publisher or developer. Maybe the author of the piece will discuss what they see in the announcement video ("It looks it plays like a traditional tactical RPG...") which while "secondary" information isn't really helpful. We really want to see what the journalist say about a game after trying it out or talking in depth with the developers about it. Masem (t) 01:52, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
That would be true if we were trying to establish notability for a standalone article, but for a list where the core inclusion criteria is "this existed and then it didn't", while development/cancellation details are welcomed and should be included if available, their absence shouldn't automatically preclude their presence on the list. (And trying to judge based on if they were "notable for a standalone page or likely could have had one" is foolish, because it's all based on hypotheticals. By that logic, every game on the list could potentially have had a standalone article if they came out because people would have had something to write about. We don't based inclusion criteria on "what could have been".) -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 02:02, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
With the ability to self publish now, there is no way that we can document all possible games announced or even released. And if all that is known about a game was it's announcement and cancelation with minimal commentary, that's not stuff that WP should be writing about. Masem (t) 16:40, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Kind of like Cyberlink was saying, I'd completely agree if the subject was determining whether or not a standalone article for a specific cancelled video game is warranted. But I'm also not following why its an issue for individual list entry. It's much like the whole WP:PSTS breakdown. Primary sources aren't preferred, but they're also not banned, and are completely fine for rounding out non-controversial details of an article. Same concept here. It's infinitely more interesting to write a substantial, meaty entry about Sonic Xtreme, but there's nothing wrong with also documenting that Gematsu reported that some small company announced and then cancelled yet another Mario clone with little fanfare too. Sergecross73 msg me 17:00, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
We already have the problem that the lists for "games released in year" are too long. We have to admit we cannot ever cover any game published, and the same logic should apply to a list of all cancelled games. I'd at least be okay when at minimum both the announcement and cancelation are covered by third party sources ( including Gematsu) as to show more than promotional coverage. Masem (t) 19:05, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Disagree. Most cancelled game lists are already shorter than the year lists due to the pruning and refining that's been done over the last few years.. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 19:12, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
I think it's reasonable for us to be approaching different periods of time differently. There are too many games released in the modern day to cover all of them, I agree. But 40 or 50 years ago, the volume of games was much more manageable. A cancelled games list for the Sega Master System perhaps is not going to meaningfully affect it's length or push it into WP:TOOBIG territory. Whipmywillows (talk) 19:15, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
We haven't had to split a single one of the cancelled game lists yet. A couple are approaching "a bit long" territory, but none are remotely close to the technical limits like the regular ones are. Sergecross73 msg me 19:21, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
I'm just saying that any of inclusion or exclusion criteria we are using for other game lists should also apply to the list of cancelled games (with of course the added requirement that it's cancelation is sourced). Masem (t) 19:32, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
It already does. We've been pretty stringent on what gets onto the list, to the point where at least one user complained that our inclusion criteria was too strict. (Not eager to revisit that whole saga.) As for sourced cancellation, I once again argue it's the opposite: the verification should be focused on finding release confirmation for the games. If we can't verify it released, that should make it eligible for inclusion. Hell, we literally employed this a few months ago when we removed some games from the cancelled Sega Genesis list after a reliable source verified they were released. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 19:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Which inclusion criteria are we using elsewhere? I'm not really aware of any outside of more or less following "add a source to verify the game is coming to the platform" (WP:V), which was more or less what I was thinking of when I created the inclusion criteria for the cancelled ones. (The actual inclusion criteria for the cancelled game lists can be seen here, for the record.) Sergecross73 msg me 19:45, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
As someone who's written much of this content, this has not generally been my experience. It's generally been much easier to get cancellation confirmation in the modern age - devs/publishers are far more likely to announce cancellations through social media, and WP:VG/RS websites cover it a lot. The stuff that's been hard to source directly is more like "Hudson Soft announced at CES 1990 that they're developing a video game adaptation of The Berenstein Bears for the NES", covered in a tiny blurb of an issue of EGM, has been the harder thing to source, because it's 1) locked away in print mags and 2) not really all that popular to your average video game fan. Sergecross73 msg me| Sergecross73 msg me 01:58, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Okay folks, back to the topic at hand, we can't use the absence of sources as a source. How would anyone verify this absence anyway? They would have to check every single video game magazine from a game's announcement until the end of its console to see if it ever gets mentioned again! This files in the face of WP:Verifiability. Cronacrab (talk) 15:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

You're looking at it the wrong way. The announcements verify that the game was in development. Other sources, such as release date announcements, reviews, etc. verify it actually came out. You've argued that "Perhaps at least some of these dissappeared games did get released in some capacity", but THAT is what needs to be verified, not that it didn't. You can't cite an absence of information. And if you can't verify that it released, (or more preferably, a source exists saying it was never released), then that should make it eligible for inclusion on the list. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 16:07, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
That is neither an accurate description of the situation, nor is it what anyone suggested be done. This reminds me of the sort of ill-conceived arguments that come up like "any article for a video game that isn't released yet is a WP:CRYSTAL violation - therefore don't create articles until release date". It's a one dimensional, robotic interpretation of policy that lacks all common sense. Sergecross73 msg me 16:28, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
If there's no sources for something not coming out or being canceled, why are we including it at all? That a game or port vanished from the earth and nobody cared is pretty good evidence it shouldn't be in a list here. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs talk 17:46, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
I find that the reason these games should be included in these lists is because it provides answers for the people who do go digging through the sources. Someone starts to go through old magazines, finds a game they've never heard of, they wonder what happened to it or if there's more info somewhere. Especially if it's a port of another game, providing a link to that game filed under Unreleased or Cancelled is fairly cheap and helps provide all the necessary answers quickly. Whipmywillows (talk) 18:54, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
That's an argument for WP:ITSUSEFUL, not really an argument based in our policies and guidelines. If you can't verify it outside of "well I searched for it and found nothing", it's not something that should be on Wikipedia in the first place. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs talk 18:56, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
Since when was it unencyclopedic? We have reliable secondary sources verifying these games existed at one point. That is literalaly as in-line with Wikipedia policy as it gets. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 19:07, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
We're specifically talking about inclusion criteria for a list where the defining trait is that they were cancelled or unreleased. We look to secondary sources all the time for what we should be including. If no reliable source ever cared enough about a game to follow up on a press release, how is it important enough to mention? Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs talk 20:47, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
I think it depends on how you look at it. For example, with the N64. To be clear, many entries have sources outright denoting cancellation. But at the bare minimum, they have a source about them being announced/in development for N64. The WP:FA List of Nintendo 64 games has master lists of all N64 games ever released. Between the two, its pretty easy to verify which games were cancelled. I always prefer direct confirmation, but methods generally remove good-faith doubt on the matter. The truth is, this industry is weird about stuff like this.
Its for situations like that that I'm hesitant to establish these blanket rules for inclusion. I've preferred simply removing ones I have specific good faith doubts about, or adding "better source needed" tags. Sergecross73 msg me 21:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
This isn't some brand new issue. The OR these lists contain has been discussed previously. To quote Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of cancelled Sega Genesis games (which was kept) from December 2020, in his !delete vote, one user complained Because every ref I check here does not verify the basis for the article, that the game was canceled. This list is a collection of times a source has mentioned a game for a platform, not giving any indication of cancellation. To which another user reassured him, The unreliable sources and original research can be removed as well as the non-notable titles to improve the quality of the content.
It was also brought up by Masem in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of cancelled games for Microsoft consoles, where he seems to have been assured that it could be fixed.
Even more recently, in Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of cancelled Nintendo 64 games/archive1, a user expressed this same concern when he said, Now, I hate to do this, but I feel like I must oppose this nomination. In my spotcheck, I went through 0-9 and A, and I found that nine out of 17 had minor to major citation issues, not even accounting for ambiguity re: whether something was cancelled. This leads me to believe that there are likely dozens of potential issues of OR.
Cronacrab (talk) 16:17, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
I'm well aware - one of the reasons I started rewriting these articles was because people kept complaining about them. They've come a long ways, but they're also still very much so a work in progress. Most of them looked more like the cancelled Atari Jaguar page you're gutting originally. That was one on my list to eventually rework too, but they take a tremendous amount of time and research to write, including wading through large swaths of unreliable sources on the internet to find the verifiable information. It's a long, laborious process, but it is improving. Sergecross73 msg me 17:30, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
But those rewrites don't address the OR concerns. List of cancelled Nintendo 64 games was submitted to be a featured list, yet multiple entries don't have sources supporting their cancellation. For example, 3Sixty is sourced to 3Sixty: Fun On Water With the French, which is only an announcement for the game and doesn't say anything about cancellation. Just going through to the end of "A", the sources for 64 Wars, 7th Legion, Actua Golf 4, Airport Inc., Animaniacs: Ten Pin Alley, Aquaria, Assault, Attack!, and Automobili Lamborghini Add-On also don't say anything about these games being cancelled/unreleased. Cronacrab (talk) 18:07, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
As I already said, we have master lists of every single N64 game ever officially commercially released. Every single one of those games received have reliable sources mentioning their announcement and/or being in development. None of them appear on the official released lists. There's no room for confusion here. I mean, I get it, its nice to have a sources that says "The answer equals 2", but sometimes you can still make a source-based decision based on having sources that says "The answer is a whole number less than 3 and more than 1" without it being OR. Sergecross73 msg me 19:00, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
Also, please take a closer look and read the entirety of that IGN source you linked to for 3Sixty. Scroll down farther. There's a part that literally says "release cancelled" with the N64 symbol next to it. Sergecross73 msg me 19:04, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
I agree with your line of thinking when it comes to open platforms like Windows and MacOS that don't require publishing licenses. However, for closed platforms like N64 that ended their commercial lifespan, I don't see the OR concern. There is no reality where a N64 game was released and nobody knew about it. TarkusABtalk/contrib 19:12, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
Thank you! This is what I've been trying to convey! Sergecross73 msg me 19:15, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
Could you find lists of all released N64 games, then? Because those, you could cite as a source in combination with a source saying it was developed, and that would make it verifiable. Otherwise people trying to verify a video game wasn’t released just have to hope their search engine is good enough to find articles if they exist. Verifiability doesn’t require things to be verifiable in theory: it requires explicit and clear instructions on how to verify something. “Look for articles on its release and see that none show up on google” is not clear and solid verification instructions. Mrfoogles (talk) 23:13, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
(Arriving here from NORN) For uncontrolled platforms (mac, windows, etc.) or currently active ones, it's definitely WP:OR to use a source saying the game was announced, then because nothing says it was released, claim it's canceled. Duke Nukem Forever is a great example of a title that was announced, and would have been considered canceled by the above criteria, but ultimately was released.
The case of controlled platforms is interesting, but I believe it's still OR. Not all released games are "official". As I understand it, as long as you don't use Nintendo assets or their SDK, you can make your own N64 titles and sell them now. There's also the question of what constitutes "cancelled". If a game gets rebranded due to copyright negotiations (e.g., Warcraft) is that canceled? What if it's reworked but the concept is the same? Or if the company is acquired by another, and so on?

WP:SYNTH explicitly forbids taking two separate data (Title was announced, title does not appear on list of released games) and drawing a conclusion not explicitly stated in the source (title was canceled). It may be true, but Wikipedia is not a collection of true statements, it is a collection of statements made by reliable sources. EducatedRedneck (talk) 03:22, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

1. I think the case of aftermarket releases (e.g for the N64) can almost always be fairly easily handled. No notable unlicensed games to my knowledge were released for the Nintendo 64 during it's shelf life (1996-2002). Unlicensed N64 releases are a pretty new phenomenon with the trend starting sometime around 2018, so after a 16 year gap. I think we can handle aftermarket releases and officially licensed releases separately in this case without running into any conflicts. Other cases might not be as clean but we should be handling unlicensed games with more scrutiny anyway.
2. Isn't "announced, but never actually released" essentially the definition of "cancelled"? Is that really WP:SYNTH? I mean I guess the only other possibility is "delayed indefinetly" (like the Duke Nukem Forever case) but a licensed N64 game can't have been delayed indefinetly because Nintendo stopped handing out the license more than 20 years ago. I mean if the article was named "List of N64 games that were announced but never released during the console's lifespan", then there wouldn't be any synth right? I think "List of cancelled Nintendo 64 games" is just a less clunky version of that. Whipmywillows (talk) 04:06, 8 March 2026 (UTC)
  • A bit more context: For the record, I don't think we have any of these lists for any uncontrolled platforms - there is no "List of cancelled Windows games", nor am I aware of any plans to create them. And any lists for active platforms that still actively have games coming out, only have entries with reliable sources that very directly state they were cancelled. So this has only been a thing on older, closed platforms, where it's no longer possible to officially commercially release a game on it any more. I've always felt this approach as closer to WP:CALC and WP:BLUE. Sergecross73 msg me 12:15, 8 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I'ma just say, I'm pretty well convinced that, so long as the existence of a game can be verified and its lack of a release date can be verified, that's good enough sourcing for me. I can confidently say I've never seen a closed-system release for a game console where a game is announced to exist, releases, but has no release date or verification of its release anywhere. - Cukie Gherkin (talk) 02:04, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
    I guess to drive to a consensus then, we have two different standards:
    • closed-system i.e. games for platforms with reliable and comprehensive game catalogs. To be listed as a cancelled game for that platform, games only need WP:RS stating that the game was announced for that platform, since cancellation can be verified in the aggregate. Games fitting this criteria should only be listed as cancelled for that specific platform, games should not be listed as cancelled in general without explicit citation saying so. Examples would include licensed games for home consoles, and games for long discontinued platforms with adequetely thorough coverage
    • open-system i.e. games for platforms where game catalogs cannot be verified as comprehensive. To be listed as a cancelled game for that platform, games need WP:RS citing that they were announced and that their production was terminated. Examples would include home computer games, arcade games, mobile games, web games, games for platforms that are still being actively maintained, and unlicensed or aftermarket games for otherwise closed systems.
    Cancelled list articles should make clear in their lead what the criteria for inclusion is and, in the case of closed platforms, why the platform can be considered closed. (i.e. a verifiable date for when the platform stopped being supported and a link or reference to the full catalog). I think in most cases this isn't too dissimilar from what these articles are already doing, so it should be fairly easy apply in practice. Whipmywillows (talk) 04:01, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
As an expansion of this, for closed system platforms, I think it makes sense to establish a hard cutoff date, or at least a year, for an announced game to not have come out by to be considered cancelled/unreleased. For example, there are reilable sources that put 2002 as the year of the N64's discontinuation, and 3DS or Wii U can use March 27, 2023, the date when their digital storefronts were fully shut down (ergo, the date at which games no longer could be officially released for those platforms). In a few very rare cases, there are games that were officially released well after their systems were officially discontinued, such as on the Dreamcast or Wii, but there should be sources that establish these as the final official releases for their systems, meaning their release dates can be used as the cutoff instead. I've started implementing this on several articles, both as as a proof of concept and to hopefully discourage erroneous inclusions. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 05:29, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
I've done some research and a lot of these older platforms have these books published that chronicle every released game for a system too, so the sourcing does exist even beyond what I was already aware of. Sergecross73 msg me 18:02, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
To throw another example, look at the list of Atari Jaguar games that were never released: tons of them were listed, announced and/or previewed in print magazines, online magazines, trade shows, or featured in VHS tapes by magazines like Atari Explorer Online. Worse yet, we are still finding about even more unreleased Jaguar titles via interviews with former Jaguar developers or in disks from Atari staff recovered by folks like Atarimania. I will say this though: the cut-off point for officially announced but never released Jaguar titles is between 1996 (when Atari ceased support but let third-parties like Telegames to release the games they licensed for it from Atari) and 1998 (when the last officially released game for the system was released, that being Worms). Anything after Hasbro Interactive declared both the Jaguar and the Atari Lynx as open platforms cannot be included. Roberth Martinez (talk) 16:19, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Sergecross73:I am the one responsible for the mess that is the list of unreleased Atari Jaguar games so i want to say that if i don't get around to it at any point, i can at least try to help finding sources for each entry that i've found so far. Something we have to also take in consideration is interviews with or anecdotes by former game developers hosted on fan forums. For example, i had one GA review where i had to clarify that while an interview hosted on a fan forum about Native (Sturmwind) and by extension Iron Soldier 3 did quote stuff from other sources, that was more to provide a context around the game's development and the main interview content of the source was actually original material not found anywhere else. Same with stuff like an interview with David Wightman of Baldies or anecdotes by Scott Corley of Ruiner Pinball and Olivier Nallet of Super Burnout. In the case of Corley and Nallet, we know their anecdotes are by them because they introduced themselves on a post in a topic of the forum. Roberth Martinez (talk) 16:59, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
No worries, I was planning on cleaning up the Atari Jaguar/Lynx ones eventually too, I just hadn't gotten around to them yet. They're a bit more work for me just because I don't have a ton of background knowledge for those platforms - I've never followed Atari all that much. The editor who started this discussion did some pretty heavy-handed cuts to that list, but they can still be reviewed from the page history and restored with proper sourcing. I've tried to avoid using any messageboard posts per WP:USERG, but usually it seems like with enough digging I can usually find some sort of sourcing out there somewhere. Sergecross73 msg me 18:00, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
Can you please explain to me what exactly was heavy-handed about my edits at List of cancelled Atari Jaguar games? Looking back at my edits on that page, nothing stands out to me as such. 🦀Cronacrab🦀 | talk 21:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
You removed 12k of info and and entire column without any effort put towards adding or replacing anything? Sergecross73 msg me 22:24, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
I mean, I removed that column because I saw it wasn't in any of the other similar lists, and I don't think replacing citations to wikis and forum posts with Template:Citation needed is considered heavy-handed at all. 🦀Cronacrab🦀 | talk 22:50, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
I didn't say it was wrong. If it was, I would have reverted you. But it was a lot of deleting with no effort to actually source anything yourself, which is also like 99% of your recent edits to the article space these days. Sergecross73 msg me 23:36, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Sergecross73:Although to be fair here, Cronacrab pretty much update the list formatting to be more in line with your reworked lists. Roberth Martinez (talk) 22:40, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Sergecross73:The only reasoning i have with using message board posts is if it features an interview with a game developer, if a game developer decides to share anecdotes about a particular game in a topic inside the forum, or if it features internal documents from a company detailing about the game's fate unearthed by fans of the platform. Roberth Martinez (talk) 18:50, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
Documents hosted on a forum can be used as sources, but nothing from the surrounding discussion should be used. Interviews hosted on forums can perhaps
be used for WP:ABOUTSELF or sometimes as subject-matter experts' opinions. The main problem I have with these is lack of proof that the poster is who he says he is. Reddit AMAs are an example of forum interviews that are used somewhat widely on Wikipedia. See WP:RSREDDIT. 🦀Cronacrab🦀 | talk 22:04, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Cronacrab:About that part regarding developers sharing who they are on a topic and their anecdotes, here are two examples that i'm speaking of: Scott Corley from High Voltage Software (Ruiner Pinball) introducing himself and Olivier Nallet of Shen Technologies (Super Burnout) stumbling upon the AtariAge forums and later sharing his anecdotes with the users. Roberth Martinez (talk) 22:40, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
I would say no without proof of identity. I'm not sure exactly what that could entail, though. WP:ABOUTSELF says so long as "There is no reasonable doubt as to its authenticity;" but doesn't include what that means. I think the internet standard has frequently been a picture. Maybe a known account of the developer confirming they did it? Or a news source reporting it as true (but then you could just use the better source.) Or even more hypothetical here, if the forum has a reputation for hosting quality interviews?
Looking at those two makes me wonder if being the subject of the thread matters or not. To me, it just looks less legit to be a response in an existing thread vs. a dedicated one. 🦀Cronacrab🦀 | talk 23:24, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Cronacrab:Okay then, in that case, what if publications dedicated to retro video games like Retro Gamer and Time Extension haven't done a feature on those two particular games as an example? From my point of view, pretty much anything relating to a game in question goes into the development section, particularly when you're dealing with games that were on least successful platforms or were late releases in the platform's lifespan. In the case of Ruiner Pinball, i had to look for sources to back up the poster identifying himself as Scott Corley on the 3DO Zone forums outside of the game's manual, which thankfully i did managed to look up. Heck, i have used Twitter posts of former game developers and not just me but also many other users here on this WP, as they are sharing anecdotes that is not even featured in any interview. Sorry if i sound very defensive but that's just my opinion. Roberth Martinez (talk) 00:37, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Confusion with how non-English sources are categorized at WP:VG/RS

So, there are some confusions and reservations I have with how sources are categorized and all at WP:VG/RS. IGN China is listed as seperate despite no other language branch (besides one I'll mention) being listed seperately. Same with Automaton Japan. Meristation is in English, but it's still arbitrarily placed in the Spanish area since that's how it originated. I'm bringing it up here so that people can discuss and consensize and somesuch. But I will be changing it if no one ends up objecting. EnvironmentalDoor (talk) 11:51, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I think it may be more of an afterthought to organize it like that, as ultimately, to me, it doesn't really matter what language it is. I have no problem with you changing it, but it may be good to see if anyone else has any insight on it first. Sergecross73 msg me 12:18, 8 March 2026 (UTC)
I think it would be useful to clarify which IGN it is. Some games for example I've found reviewed seperately and will have some unique view points. This happens with Yuppie Psycho, a Spanish-French co-production which got reviews from IGN Spain and IGN Japan, with IGN Japan being key as its review does have a unique perspective on the anime-styled artwork for a game not made in Japan. Andrzejbanas (talk) 17:51, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
I agree, it's worth noting/documenting the regional variants. I'm just indifferent on if it factors into how we organize it. Sergecross73 msg me 00:31, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Peer review not listed on open tasks

Can someone tell me which category is generally needed for peer reviews to appear on open tasks? I chose General for Stardew Valley, which is probably wrong. Vestigia Leonis (talk) 08:29, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

I guess the arts section? This is because video games fall under the works of art category, which is why they are written in italics. Also, congrats on getting Stardew to GA and planning to get it to FAC! JuniperChill (talk) 23:32, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
Thank you, and yeah, I checked the full list of all peer reviews now. Both arts and everyday life have a video game related article, so I probably need to take one of them. Vestigia Leonis (talk) 12:17, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

New Articles (March 2 to March 8)

 A listing of all articles newly added to the Video Games Wikiproject (regardless of creation date). Generated by v3.21 of the RecentVGArticles script and posted by PresN. Bug reports and feature requests are appreciated. --PresN 13:24, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

March 8


The bot was broken for most of the week, so when it came back it dumped all of the changes in the final day (and my script doesn't attempt to fix that). So, here's a clump of articles. --PresN 13:24, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Ehh, Getter Love isn't really a new article. It's been sitting as a stub for years, until I spent the last few months pulling it up to C. The script might have just mistaken it for one because of a recent page move. -- Cyberlink420 (talk) 17:44, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

How to describe this game?

I have destubbed Star Reach (video game) (1994) and expanded it based on some reviews (MG lists a few more, but I haven' found them yet, PC Gamer might be in this ~35gb mess at IA ...). Anyway, I would like to DYK that, but first, the classification of this game is hard.

Before my edits the lead called it a "an hybrid action and real-time strategy", while the infobox had "Real-time strategy, Economic sim, Space flight simulation game". Categories were for RTS and Category:Action-strategy video games but we have no main article for that concept (Action-strategy game?).

Economic sim was obviously wrong (it's pretty clear this is a downsized 4X strategy game, with economy being just one dimension). The problem is with the RTS and flight-space sim game stuff.

Many reviews / sites confirm the game has a real time element, but I am not sure it is fair to call it a real time strategy. The reviews make it clear the game has an arcade/Star Control-style ship piloting part, in which player can travel between planets and take part in combat, but that's more of a shoot 'em up (per Star Control II) thana space-flight sim genre. Abd having read the four reviews I am still unsure how the game is played outside the time you are piloting the ship (if the shoot 'em up top-down view is "piloting"). At least one review mentions turn-based gameplay as well (Polish - quoted and verified, it's online too if you want to double check), but the others don't mention turn-based play. Currently the lead calls it a "a hybrid turn-based strategy and arcade-action space flight simulation" but and the infobox, "Space flight simulation game, strategy game" but I think shoot 'em up is > to Space flight simulation. Would "a hybrid turn-based strategy and arcade-action shoot 'em up" make sense? (And does the game really have turns??).

For what it's worth: MobyGames keywords it as "Genre: Action, Strategy / tactics. Perspective: Top-down. Pacing: Real-time. Gameplay: Managerial / business simulation, Shooter", MyAbandonware is very similar. ibiblio.org/ capsule review has a soundbite "real-time, simulataneous action/strategy game... a blend of economic strategy with pure reflex outer-space combat.". Sigh. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 06:17, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

"Strategy video game" or "action strategy video game" seem to be the common terminology for primary and secondary sources, though I haven't dug through them deeply. I think it's easy to overthink a genre. You don't need to be overly specific on the genre tags if the sources aren't. The gameplay description serves the purpose of what the game is actually like to play. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 12:36, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
I think as a general principle, think of it from a general audience point of view, anything more than two genres will confuse the average player on what to expect and most people don't know game genres outside a gaming audience. Sources that go more into depth on how the game is played can help expand how the game fits a genre or what kind of game it may be without playing it. In the case of your example, I wouldn't use database information if its complicated to pile on-genres. The turn-based stuff can go into gameplay section. If its overtly complicated and hard to pindown, go with a brass-tacks approach, its still probably a strategy game from what you've suggested. You can go into details about what kind of game it is via the gameplay prose. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:06, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Andrzejbanas @Maplestrip Good points. I am all for simplifing the lead to "action strategy video game", but what do we list in the infobox and categories? Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 01:24, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
If no source calls it a hybrid but say one and the other or something, would "Action, strategy" be applicable? If not, you could just leave it blank. Sometimes games just don't fit into a genre in a simple way. Andrzejbanas (talk) 10:52, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
@BOZ A friendly ping in case you can locate any review I missed (PC Gamer perhaps?). Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:01, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
Not more than what you see here: BOZ (talk) 02:31, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
Is your recommendation to list it there as "Action strategy / tactics", and to ignore the items listed under "Pacing" and "Gameplay" and such? ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 08:03, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
PC Gamer review Timur9008 (talk) 16:27, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
@Timur9008 Thanks, but it's just the summary, not the review proper? But I found the file at , will read shortly. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:49, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

COI edit request relevant to this project: Microgaming

Just notifying members of this project that there is a Conflict of Interest edit request relevant to this WikiProject at the Microgaming article. DrThneed (talk) 00:56, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Reminder : Official GDC Flickr Photosream

With GDC thus week, there continues to be freely licensed photos taken during sessions from the conference . They arent labeled so you'll have to dig to figure out who's who. And when the GDCA/IGF awards happen tomorrow there has always been a post award "red carpet" photoshoot as well as during both presentations and those are often very good for Dev and tram shots. Masem (t) 19:13, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Commons gallery: c:Category:Game Developers Conference 2026 TarkusABtalk/contrib 04:59, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Original Mortal Kombat sales

This page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Sega_Genesis_games, mentions Mortal Kombat sold 4.33 million on Genesis, based on the source "Acclaim sold approximately 6.5 million Mortal Kombat cartridges. The Genesis version, which included the original arcade fatality moves, outsold the edited-down Super NES version by nearly three-to-one." As if to say that the SNES version sold 2.17 million, but wouldn't that account for the Game Boy and Game Gear versions which were also cartridge-based?

Electricmastro (talk) 03:19, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for Alan Wake

Alan Wake has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 17:49, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Flyers for video games

i have two flyers for the games Blaster (video game) and Sinistar

https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/videogames/show/2413


https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/videogames/show/1388

GyroidGalaxian (talk) 21:48, 12 March 2026 (UTC)
What are you asking for? If you want them on the site, you can upload them (they'll be automatically shrunk) directly here. Make sure you get the licensing and usage rights are all correct. Harryhenry1 (talk) 05:33, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:Video game clone#Article split

Feel free to participate in the split discussion. Dabmasterars [RU/COM] (talk/contribs) 18:30, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Regarding application of game genre/topic categories to series/franchise categories

Earlier today, @Rhain removed several categories from Category:Grand Theft Auto, including categories concerning subject matter such as Category:Organized crime video games and Category:Fiction about police brutality, as well as the genre category Category:Open-world video games. I didn't think this made a lot of sense and Rhain gave no reason for it, so I reverted the change, but Rhain removed the categories again with the justification that These cats are for games (and are already applied to the relevant game articles); this category is for the franchise.

I find this justification strange, because although I would not dispute that the categories are generally for individual games, I think it makes sense that if a smaller category of games, like a game series, has a particular aspect (such as crime fiction or open world) as a defining trait, it makes sense to apply that trait to the series category, does it not? This is already standard practice across Wikipedia, for example Category:The Godfather films is made a subcategory of American crime drama films, American historical drama films, American gangster films, Films about the American Mafia, and so on. Similarly, Category:Video games about cyborgs contains the categories the Deus Ex games, Terminator video games, Metal Gear, RoboCop, and on and on. I could name a litany of other examples, but you get the point. If it's a defining trait of the group covered by the category, then it gets categorized as such.

Now, I was under the impression that this sort of application of categories was to be non-diffusing, as of course, categorizing, say, Deus Ex (video game) in Category:Deus Ex and neglecting to apply Cyberpunk video games to that page on the logic that, hey, the Deus Ex category is already in the cyberpunk video games category, would be, to say the least, unintuitive and unproductive. I thought the same should apply with GTA. Grand Theft Auto V gets the open world video games category, but the GTA category overall also gets in the open world video games category, because that just makes sense and aids navigation. Even if Rockstar was to release, say, a GTA spinoff that was an on-rails shooter, the category would still generally have open world games as a defining trait. Sonic the Hedgehog video games still goes into Platformers by series, because they're generally platformers (that's their defining genre), and the existence of off-genre spinoffs like Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Sonic Shuffle do not change this fact.

This is just my opinion, this makes sense to me, I think it makes sense, and it appears that most category editors agree with me and follow this convention already. However, it seems that Rhain does disagree, so I'd like to invite the community to weigh in. Should categories for game series be handled this way, or should topic and genre categories only be applied to individual games? I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts so that the consensus is on record and hopefully a precedent for how to handle this can be set.

Also if this is not the correct place to raise this concern (I'm honestly not sure if this is like, an issue for the Wikipedia community generally or just a thing the VG WikiProject should decide for how to handle categories within our scope) then please let me know and I'll move the discussion wherever and/or notify whatever other WikiProjects and/or noticeboards may be pertinent here. silviaASH (inquire within) 10:31, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I think you've illustrated my point best with Category:Platformers by series: it's categorised by series. Placing both the game article and the series category within the same parent category is redundant per WP:SUBCAT; obviously it would be different if the parent was non-diffusing, but it's not. Rhain (he/him) 10:45, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
I assumed that the question of whether or not a "by series" subcategory was to be created would be down to whether or not there's a large enough number of series categories in the game genre category to be worth diffusing. It would seem there's enough series in Category:Open-world video games for this to make sense, but for other genre categories that have a smaller number of series categories in them (like for example Category:Immersive sims), diffusion by series probably isn't necessary. As another example, I don't think it would make very much sense to create a Category:Marble video games by series which consists solely of Super Monkey Ball, but to remove the latter category from Marble video games purely based on this technicality would seem to me to not make any sense. It is a series of games defined by its inclusion in the marble video game genre, so having it as a subcategory of the marble games category only seems logical, and it helps aid navigation for those browsing that category. silviaASH (inquire within) 13:05, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
Anyway, about the point on SUBCAT: I personally think this is a very straightforward case of WP:IAR. The Godfather being included in both Category:American crime drama films and Category:The Godfather films makes sense, despite the latter being a subcategory of the former, because readers navigating the former category might well wish to see a full list of all American crime drama films, but they might also wish to browse applicable subcategories of American film series that happen to have crime drama as a defining theme. I don't think video games should be treated any differently here. The SUBCAT guideline is something that makes sense in most cases, but in this particular circumstance it's logical to make exceptions. silviaASH (inquire within) 13:22, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
If there is local consensus to IAR, it should probably be codified somewhere like the MoS (after further discussion), otherwise this will likely be a recurring issue as it contradicts a guideline (see, e.g., here). Rhain (he/him) 22:15, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
Having considered further I think it would probably be best to establish consensus for a broad standard here that applies to not only video games but also other media like film and television. To that end I may bring this discussion to Wikipedia talk:Categorization later. silviaASH (inquire within) 00:54, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
As an aside, regardless of the direction of this discussion, the series category should not be under "Fiction about police brutality", as GTA isn't really about that as much as featuring it. - Cukie Gherkin (talk) 11:09, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

New Articles (March 9 to March 15)

 A listing of all articles newly added to the Video Games Wikiproject (regardless of creation date). Generated by v3.21 of the RecentVGArticles script and posted by PresN. Bug reports and feature requests are appreciated. --PresN 16:02, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

March 9

March 10

March 11

March 12

March 13

March 14

March 15


Busy week! --PresN 16:02, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
What is Yoshi's Island doing here? Huh? EnvironmentalDoor (talk) 04:24, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

And attributed to an IP that hasn't edited in 13+ years.... Ben · Salvidrim!  04:33, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
Well, that was the IP that created the page... but no, it was from "Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy renamed to Yoshi's Island", which of course it wasn't, it was redirected, so that's not right. --PresN 11:06, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

As far as torturously thin connections to video games go, Jeremy Robinson bibliography? He apparently wrote for a video game that doesn't have an article and was almost certainly cancelled after more than 10 years in early access. The main article Jeremy Robinson isn't even tagged with our project banner. Axem Titanium (talk) 23:19, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Help with Mario Teaches Typing GA

User:Guyinblack25 has done tremendous amount of work on the Mario Teaches Typing article. Was wondering if anyone can look over it (any tweeks if needed) before Guyinblack25 nominates it for GA. Timur9008 (talk) 17:08, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

I been helping, so no need (I mean someone else can if they like) Cukie Gherkin (talk) 05:53, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Project Moon notability question

Hello, VG forum! I was looking through the site and noticed that the studio Project Moon (responsible for video games Lobotomy Corporation, Library of Ruina and Limbus Company) does not have a Wikipedia article, and was wondering if 1: Is Project Moon notable enough to have its own article? I believe it's recently came into popularity with more people, and could be something people might want to know more about, and 2: Is there already any effort to create a Project Moon article that I can contribute to?

--Gato1260 (talk) 11:01, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

@Gato1260 Hi you may want to check out ko:프로젝트문 and cherry-pick whatever directly contributes to establishing the high standards of inclusion on Wikipedia. MilkyDefer 17:13, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
Odds are they are not, the Korean page relies on primary source interview and seems to fail WP:NCORP. It's not even clear if Limbus Company passes WP:GNG and Lobotomy Corporation is kind of on the precipice. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ () 21:31, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
Thats fair, I'll focus on improving those existing articles instead of making a new one. Thanks! Gato1260 (talk) 11:46, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Characters of Final Fantasy VIII at FAR

I have nominated Characters of Final Fantasy VIII for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets the featured article criteria, or help improve the article. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Delist" in regard to the article's featured status (see review instructions). 🍕BP!🍕 (🔔) 02:15, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Various Atari 2600 photos

Hello, I am a fairly new editor to Wikipedia. I went home this weekend and have access to a whole bunch of Atari 2600 cartridges (22 cartridges) that might need photos of them taken to they can go on pages. I also have instruction manuals, Activision and Atari sales catalogs, and the Activision Grand Prix "Racing Team" patch that my dad won. With copyright and trademark issues, what photos could be uploaded and what photos should NOT be uploaded? ☘︎☘︎☘︎ALEXHammeke (talk | guestbook | SANDBOX!!!) 19:51, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Photos of cartridge or manuals with their art clearly visible are going to be considered copyrighted and non-free, so they have very limited use, primarily for identification in the infobox. So really the only use is where we are lacking cover art.
The patch would also be non-free but we do discuss the Activision patches in that article so that might be useful there. Masem (t) 20:13, 21 March 2026 (UTC)
You may be able to organize something with archive.org to store the manuals, etc. Probably too copyrighted to be hosted on commons, unfortunately. ScalarFactor (talk) 20:16, 21 March 2026 (UTC)
Thank you both. There might be one photos that could still be allowed. It is short biographies and photos of Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead, David Crane, Larry Kaplan, and Steve Cartwright from the last page of the Activision Summer 1982 Video Game cartridge catalog. There aren't any illustrations on the page but their headshots. Would that be ok? ☘︎☘︎☘︎ALEXHammeke (talk | guestbook | SANDBOX!!!) 01:32, 22 March 2026 (UTC)
Per WP:BLPIMAGE, we typically avoid photographs of living people unless they are freely licensed. It appears the 1982 catalogue is available on the Internet Archive, too (and the 1981 catalogue in higher quality). Rhain (he/him) 04:24, 22 March 2026 (UTC)
Ok sounds good! Thank you all for your help! While I wont be able to contribute the photos, lots better to avoid copyright headache! I've noticed a few Nintendo DS games (America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking,USA Today Crossword Challenge, and John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland) that don't have Wikipedia pages and this is good info to know for when I hopefully build these pages ☘︎☘︎☘︎ALEXHammeke (talk | guestbook | SANDBOX!!!) 06:33, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Noting "first/last/only game in X series on X console" in articles

Is whether a game is the first, last, or only game in a series to be on a specific console important to note in articles, and does this need to be sourced? I'm bringing this here due to a discussion with @DJ Kaito:, as I had reverted some unsourced edits of theirs of this nature (1, 2) - DJ Kaito's position is that edits of this type do not need to be sourced as the next game in the series not being on the console makes this clear, and that this is common practice across articles, while I think that this kind of thing is unnescessary trivia and should only be noted if reliable sources specifically discuss it. Bringing this here for wider discussion. Waxworker (talk) 01:23, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

It's lead bloat in almost every single instance. Unless a source calls it out, we shouldn't include it. -- ferret (talk) 01:41, 22 March 2026 (UTC)
I'd argue that it doesn't need to be sourced, since it should be clear in most cases based on the other game's releases. However, I'm not sure how notable it is in most situations. In the cases you presented, I don't think it's really important that these games are the last ones on the original Xbox.
I understand saying, for example, that FF6 was the last Final Fantasy game released on a Nintendo console, but that's a more broad, important shift. Especially for games that release yearly, it feels a bit much to say they're the first / last / only on a specific console, unless there's some reason that's notable 13akoors (talk) 01:52, 22 March 2026 (UTC)
If it is a point made by sources (such as the case of Final Fantasy VII leaving Nintendo for PlayStation due to the need for larger media), then that absolutely should be included. But if that is not covered by sources, its not worth inclusion. Masem (t) 02:12, 22 March 2026 (UTC)
More or less agree with ferret and Masem. It's occasionally noteworthy, but not something we should routinely pointing out in mundane scenarios. Being the first Sonic game on a non-Sega platform is a noteworthy thing. Being seventh and last Sonic game on the Switch is not. Sergecross73 msg me 02:27, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

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