Rockman Online is Likely Cancelled, According to Artist (Updated)

Well, unfortunate news tonight, though probably news a lot of you were expecting. After concerns about the fate of Rockman Online after NeoWiz announced internal restructuring, the game’s environments artist Kang Dong Hwa, aka Cantio75, has admitted that the project he was on was dropped (without mentioning Online specifically) on his blog. Furthermore, he posted numerous pieces of concept artwork (such as the above) he devised for Online over the years. This also points to the game being cancelled, since it would most likely be illegal for him to post the artwork if the game were still in development.

Of course, we’ll wait for official confirmation from NeoWiz to say for certainty the game’s cancellation, but honestly, after nearly half a year with no updates, and growing concerns, this development probably shouldn’t be shocking. It is a true shame – Rockman Online was looking like a very interesting game, despite being one fans in the west may have never got to play.

UPDATE: An inside source has confirmed that the team working on Rockman Online was disbanded. If Online is even still in development, it would likely be a very different game than anything we’ve seen so far. We’re choosing not to name the source

UPDATE 2: Mr. Kang appears to have removed some of the unseen environmental art from his gallery. Chances are he’s just playing it safe with the advent of this news catching on – apparently it’s since been widely spread among Korean and Japanese news sites and blogs.

We also wish the best to Mr. Kang, who says he’s currently looking for new work, and that it’s hard finding jobs that suit his specialty in science fiction imagery. At the very least, we have this additional artwork you can enjoy after the break.

Thanks to Amunshen for the information (based on a story originally from Protodude’s Rockman Corner).

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