With rumours swirling that Xbox will announce an “unexpected sequel” at GamesCom people have been speculating as what that might be. There’s a few candidates, but some people wondered if it might be a new Killer Instinct, a series that has been dormant since 2013. Well, I’ve got some bad news.

Insider Shpeshal Nick delivered the knockout blow. In the same discussion thread speculating about “unexpected sequel” is going to be announced by Xbox at GamesCom, one user tossed out the idea if a new Killer Instinct. But Shpeshal Nick shot that down, saying “Not KI. That was cancelled.”

Now, for the obvious caveat: Shpeshal Nick’s reputation is fairly mixed. He’s nailed quite a few stories and clearly does have some good sources, but has also said a lot of things that never came to pass. Whether that’s because plans changed or the source wasn’t reliable, who knows. But keep all this in mind when judging this rumour.

Rumours of a new Killer Instinct have actually been kicking around for years. Back in 2021, reports claimed Microsoft wanted another game but was struggling to find an available studio, something Phil Spencer later more or less echoed when he said Xbox wanted to do more with the series once it found “the right team and the right opportunity.”

Things got more interesting in October 2021, when Shpeshal Nick claimed a new Killer Instinct had moved beyond wishful thinking and was actually “in active development.” He didn’t know which studio was making it, but his wording was pretty definitive.

A few months later, Jez Corden added another wrinkle, saying he’d heard a very shaky rumour that Bandai Namco could potentially be involved, although he heavily caveated that information as vague and unverified.

And then… nothing.

Microsoft eventually brought Iron Galaxy back for the Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition update in 2023, but the brand-new game Nick had mentioned never surfaced. So, if his latest comment is referring to that same project, we may finally have an explanation for where it went: it was cancelled somewhere along the way.