Dead or Alive: Code Chronos

Dead or Alive: Code Chronos or Dead or Alive Code: Cronus is a cancelled Xbox and Xbox 360 game from Team Ninja. It was to be a spinoff of the Dead or Alive series.

Plot
Code Chronos was to be a prequel, set before the first game. The game would focus on Ayane and Kasumi's backstories, especially their childhoods.

Gameplay
The game was to be an action adventure rogue-like game. Not much is known since the game didn't get very far in development.

Development
Development began in 2002 for the Xbox. Team Ninja wanted to show their support of the Xbox.

Dead or Alive: Code Chronos was suggested to be the fourth Dead or Alive: Dead or Alive 4. When Tecmo saw how different it was it become its own stand-alone game. This isn't to be confused with Dead or Alive Online, which was also dubbed Dead or Alive 4 for a time.

Team Ninja stopped focusing on Code Chronos to work on Dead or Alive 4. After doing that and Ninja Gaiden Black, the Xbox 360 loomed over the horizon. Tomonobu Itagaki, Tecmo producer, decided to push Dead or Alive: Code Chronos to the 360.

Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo in 2008 and vowed to sue Tecmo for around $1.4m. More Tecmo employees joined the lawsuit, citing unpaid overtime work. Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda stepped down over the legal woes.

Cancellation
Dead or Alive: Code Chronos was officially declared cancelled by studio head Yousuke Hayashi in 2010. As it turned out, zero work had been done on the game since its Xbox 360 announcement in 2005. Their resources were spent working on Nioh, which would eventually come out in 2017.

Video
Gaming Mysteries video.