With the success of open-world titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row and Just Cause, developer United Front Games had big hopes for True Crime: Hong Kong, set to be published by Activision. Wait - True Crime? Yes. You could say the development story around this game might be more interesting than the in-game story.

Hoping to reinvigorate the True Crime series, Activision had plans to merge United Front Games' newest title into it - even going as far as announcing it and releasing a trailer (and eventually changing the naming to just "True Crime"). As time went on, and delays plagued the release, Activision gave up on the project. Some rumors state that the game was almost finished, and could even be completed by players in its current state.

To the angst of gamers everywhere, with thoughts of what could have been, this happens often in game development. What also happens on occasion is that another publisher will spot the diamond in the rough, inherit the project, and ultimately publish it. That's what happened here; when Square Enix first laid its eyes on the game, it's been said that it was a done deal right from the get-go. There have even been quotes from Square Enix calling Activision "crazy" for abandoning not only a game so far in its development cycle, but a game with such potential.