Rumor: This Is Vegas canned? finally

According to CVG’s “cast iron source” close to the development of This Is Vegas, the open-world shooter/wet t-shirt contest simulator has been scrapped.

Being developed by the Seattle-based Surreal Software, the game was acquired by Warner Bros. as part of a $33 million deal when it picked up Midway’s assets back in 2009. As CVG points out, the cancellation comes as no surprise, as Warner Bros. quietly closed Surreal, moving staff to other Seattle developers, Monolith and Snowblind.

CVG’s source also corroborates what we’ve been hearing about This Is Vegas for years — a lot of money has been dumped into this project, which was (according to our sources) troubled from the start. Just how much money? CVG throws out the $50 million number, based on information from its source which calls it “a ridiculous waste of money.”

Having played the game back in 2008, I could have probably told you what a waste of money it was $30 million ago. It was a confused mess of a title, not sure what it was trying to be, with a number of blatant technical and design issues. On the plus side, the game did feature a mini-game in which you sprayed water on girls in a wet t-shirt contest. That had promise.

Warner Bros. has yet to officially comment on the cancellation, but one has to wonder if gamers really care at this point.

Is this gaming’s biggest ever waste of money? [CVG]