David Braben says The Outsider "probably is gone for good"

Remember The Outsider? Forget about it. Frontier Developments' David Braben told me at Gamescom that the game is unlikely to resurface.

"It was stopped," he said, "it probably is gone for good."

We haven't heard a peep from The Outsider since it was stopped in 2011/2012, when Frontier was busy with Microsoft making Kinectimals, Kinect Disneyland and Zoo Tycoon.

Then came Elite: Dangerous and all that excitement.

Frontier has now announced a new rollercoaster game called Screamride for Microsoft, and also has other new games - plural - in the works behind the scenes.

"Yes," said Braben, "which we're not talking about yet. They're new things [not games Frontier has done before]."

The Outsider was talked up as one of the first true next-generational games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Not much is known officially about it other than it was a third-person action game involving special agents.

But Joystiq heard from a source (in 2011) that The Outsider was in development for a long time (three years pre-production, two years production) for Codemasters but that Codemasters' new Indian owners realigned the company and chopped the game out.

The team rushed to get The Outsider into some kind of shape to sell to someone else, but EA's advances - and its interest in turning The Outsider into a Bourne game - apparently amounted to nothing.

The source said the game was almost complete and was playable start to finish, but wasn't polished. "It was still looking good and close to being a damn fine cover-based shooter," the source added. "There were some clever twists with disguises, and how the civilians behaved around you. Some really clever AI (or the illusion of cleverness if you like)."

Joystiq also got its hands on a video that makes The Outsider look a little like Grand Theft Auto 4. The video is embedded below.

The Outsider is actually still listed on Frontier's website, alongside screenshots and a trailer. From the official blurb: "The President has been assassinated! Washington DC is under martial law and ex-CIA operative John Jameson is the most wanted man alive. Framed for a crime he didn't commit, he finds himself fleeing from the might of the US Government."