Fear & Respect goes up in smoke

Game fronted by Snoop Dogg and John Singleton canceled; Midway still plans to work with the pair of stars.

LOS ANGELES--With the recent abundance of urban-themed games flooding retail shelves, it made sense that a publisher would collaborate with two of the entertainment industry's best inner-city yarn spinners. In 2004, Midway Games announced that it had struck a deal with rapper and one-time Dr. Dre protégé Snoop Dogg and Boyz n the Hood director John Singleton.

They agreed to meld minds for Fear & Respect, a gritty tale about youths in South Central, which would be overseen by Singleton and feature the voice and likeness of Snoop. Development on the game was bumpier than a ride in an Impala with hydraulics, as the shooter's status bobbed and weaved, at one time being slated for current-gen consoles and later scheduled exclusively for next-generation systems.

It turns out the game won't be any generation now. Speaking with GameSpot News, Midway CEO David Zucker said, "Fear & Respect is on the back burner. We are still working with Snoop and John Singleton to do a game, but the actual game Fear & Respect is canceled."

The reason for the cancellation isn't clear, but it may be part of Midway's new plan in dealing with crowded genres. "I think we're at a juncture in the video game business. Everyone's talking about it. How many times are you going to give me the 16th iteration of...I'm not even going to talk about the other products," Zucker explained. "The 20th iteration of a driving game isn't going to keep the industry growing."

73 Comments

  • Serchant2

    Posted Jul 21, 2009 8:32 am PT

    Too bad. It looked like it could have been a great game.

  • eabig

    Posted Jul 10, 2009 9:35 pm PT

    really think this game could've been big

  • atm0073

    Posted Feb 10, 2009 5:44 pm PT

    Shame. Could have been a good game, I think.

  • Jigsaw9798

    Posted Aug 25, 2008 7:55 pm PT

    @freshtodefkid You'll probably never read this but do you even realize what "cum out" means. Please say come out next time.

  • CLOWNKID

    Posted Dec 31, 2007 11:54 am PT

    thats dumb let snoop come out with his game

  • redskins21

    Posted Nov 16, 2007 6:41 pm PT

    I was looking foward to this game to come out

  • freshtodefkid

    Posted Jul 5, 2007 9:43 am PT

    damn i was looking forward for that game to cum out

  • tornadoshank

    Posted May 4, 2007 5:11 am PT

    they can still improve it tho....they can turn it to a "Boyz N Tha Hood" game wit all dem mans up in there doin theyre own thang....lol.

  • stfolife

    Posted Apr 24, 2007 6:35 pm PT

    sounds like san andreas

  • gunboyx

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 1:10 pm PT

    well there has been a lot of these.

  • Tomdogg

    Posted Dec 27, 2006 1:25 pm PT

    Oh well....not the first game ever cancelled.

  • taino1128

    Posted Dec 18, 2006 1:03 pm PT

    man, i was lookin forward to this game

  • YOU_GANGSTA

    Posted Nov 28, 2006 4:58 pm PT

    MAN!!!!!!!!!! I was lookin forward 2 tat game

  • LikwidX3

    Posted Oct 5, 2006 10:59 pm PT

    ohh well, wouldve been kool to play as snoop dee ohh double g as a main character.

  • dirtysouthtim69

    Posted Jun 2, 2006 2:15 am PT

    ill wait for saints row anyway

  • comthitnuong

    Posted May 30, 2006 4:01 pm PT

    aw man my boi snoop d o double g got played

  • sydneyviles

    Posted May 15, 2006 9:09 am PT

    hey hey hey, some good news

  • boolow407

    Posted Mar 5, 2006 9:41 am PT

    Yeah, if it was going to be anything close to "bulletproof" or 25 to life, then we are fortunate. Looked like a GTA rip off anyway. This does come as bad news to Sony's fanboys, making the weak game line up for the PS3 even weaker. Then again, Sony didnt lose much by this one being dumped.

  • Bloodzombie77

    Posted Mar 3, 2006 12:27 am PT

    Ha ha, this is the best news I've heard in a while. No one respects Snoop anymore, myself included. I guess that's what he deserves for trying to be an uppity retard by starting his own celebrity-only gaming league. I remember GI doing a cover story on it almost 2 years ago, and now it's bitten the dust, I laugh at Snoop's pain.

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 5:06 pm PT

    interesting.

  • Benny_is_here

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 12:57 pm PT

    Snoop's my favorite, but I too hate urban themed games...

  • GreyFoxV1

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 12:23 pm PT

    "The 20th iteration of a driving game isn't going to keep the industry growing."

    I was going to say something about how these games always suck but that quote gets straight to the point.

  • VincentV21

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 11:46 am PT

    This is a glimmer of hope in the big, dark, nasty crap ridden toilet that is sometimes called the video game industry. I hope this is the start of the downfall of urban themed games. But hey, it is capitalism baby! If gamers are STOOOOOPID enough to buy crap like 25 to Life or 50 Cent: Bulletproof, then why not sell it to those millions of 'tards?

  • OO7OO7

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 11:06 am PT

    Who cares we have seen allot of crappy urban games trying to stand up to GTA SanAndreas.

  • StillWingless

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:26 am PT

    *shrug* not surprising. the hip-hop/street fad in gaming is losing a lot of appeal. it only seems natural that they'd cancel it if it wasn't that good... and it never looked that good.

  • gman313

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:17 am PT

    Thank god am tired of sterotype games that have african american males in it. Why does a game wit a black man in it have to be about the streets

  • gman313

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:16 am PT

    Thank god am tired of sterotype games that have african american males in it. Why does a game wit a black man in it have to be about the streets

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:48 am PT

    It was crap anyways.

  • Briantb_2008

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:15 am PT

    Theres to many games like that so It won't be missed

  • ThePhantomVI

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:10 am PT

    Awww, poor Snoop. At least he has his "gaming league" to fall back on....
    (yes, this is sarcasm)

  • jonnyjd

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 7:37 am PT

    Thank you for cancelling this. Enough is enough.

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 7:02 am PT

    Well, at least somebody is realizing the over-saturation of certain genres. *cough* shooters *cough*

  • Fatality4u

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 6:52 am PT

    Thank the lord, Midway finally saw that this was going to horrible if it was going to go any farther.

  • Reetesh

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 4:59 am PT

    Midway did a Good thing not making games of the same type again(as many are there in the market of ths Type) hope they come up wwith something New and nice

  • iammai

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 3:43 am PT

    like they said it "it may be part of Midway's new plan in dealing with crowded genres"
    how ever i' am sorry for that.

  • Orasion_Seiz

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:56 am PT

    not my type of game really

  • mikekare79

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:08 am PT

    I really wanted this game!!!

  • mikekare79

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:07 am PT

    Booooooo!!!

  • CaptainLunchbox

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 1:14 am PT

    thank god. oh thank you god. and thank you Snoop's Gaming League of Godly Celebrity for excluding the little guy.

  • KiLLer_ba

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 12:21 am PT

    Good, we dont more washed up GTA clones.

  • jiggster147

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 10:19 pm PT

    Good move

  • doomsoth

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 9:47 pm PT

    Just crap anyways.

  • SonicHurricane

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 8:33 pm PT

    HAHAHHAHA Yes!!!! there is justice in the world. I am so sick of the open ended urban-thug simulator games. This one looked like a total stinker in the first place. Good riddance. No if the 50 cent game sequel gets canned the world will be a somewhat better place.

  • adroitone

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 8:15 pm PT

    Space_Godzillla
    Any game with a "gangsta" rapper in it will no doubt fail.____Well apparently, Def Jam Vendatta and Fight for NY did fail. They were done good.

  • KarthikKane

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 7:54 pm PT

    After seeing how LA Rush bombed Midway would think twice before making a games full of rappers.

  • trogdorchief01

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 7:16 pm PT

    there are too many games like that already, a cancellation may be a good thing

  • FallenAngel

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 7:00 pm PT

    Thank god...the fad of releasing GTA wannabes is finally coming to a close, JUST maybe...

  • Primenova

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 6:42 pm PT

    This coming from the company that keeps putting out Mortal Kombat and Rush games every year. Despite brief lulls in releases, there have been way too many games in these genres, too.

  • Timstuff

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 6:35 pm PT

    Proof that God exists, and that he loves us!

  • rish6085

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    Thank god someone had the brains to realize the obvious insted of just putting out something to make money. Besides snoop sucks and now he can spend his time with his flip flop gaming league or whatever.

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