This is how Square Enix employees were informed of the cancelation.

Square Enix has confirmed that its mildly anticipated third person shooter Gun Loco has gone the way of the dodo. The publisher has provided no explanation for the decision, merely stating that it has “ceased development” on the project. An Xbox 360 exclusive, Gun Loco had been mooted for a Q1 2011 release.

The game was to have taken place on a distant prison planet, where a population of outlandish criminals spent every waking hour devising cruel and unusual ways to end each other’s lives. Square described it as a “sprint action shooter” and suggested that navigating the environment at speed would be an important element of the game.

Gun Loco’s character designs were distinctive, to say the very least. Noted toymaker Kenny Wong assembled a cast that included a psychopathic jester, an anthropomorphic rabbit and a samurai with a bright green afro. When you think about it in those terms, it’s probably quite surprising that Gun Loco was commissioned in the first place.