Despite putting an end to development of Mega Man Legends 3 for the Nintendo 3DS two weeks ago, Capcom continues to field inquiries about the project. The fans aren't going away quietly, as the faithful have banded together with Facebook groups, petitions, and other forms of consumer pressure in order to try and convince Capcom to get back to work on the now-dead title. However, Capcom isn't one to be swayed by this kind of thing and has sent out a statement proclaiming that the game is still not happening.

"We are aware of the fan created Facebook page requesting that we resume development of Mega Man Legends 3," Capcom spokesman Brian Keltner told Kotaku Monday afternoon. "While Capcom has a built a strong relationship with its community and values their feedback, Mega Man Legends 3 development has officially ceased without plans to resume development."

"There are tough realities in this industry that are largely left unpublicized for a good reason—because they're tough," Capcom community liaison Greg Moore wrote. All games go through a multi-stage approval process, but most games are not brought to the public's attention until that final approval has been met. With Mega Man Legends 3, exposing the fans to that process was part of the project's core concept—to show everybody what it really means to create a game. We were all in it together here, for better or worse, and now together we must accept the outcome that many games ultimately face."

I know it's a harsh reality to face, but Mega Man Legends 3 (this incarnation of it, anyway) isn't coming back. The fans have said that there's an audience out there, but as more time passes, it looks like Capcom was justified in cancelling it. The goal of raising 100,000 fans to voice support for the sequel has not even hit 40% of that objective (and it takes much more than even 100,000 copies sold to make for a profitable game these days), and while it seems that there's plenty of opportunities for beating the drum, nobody who can or will do anything with that information seems to actually be listening. With the push to bring back Legends 3 aimed at Capcom, the Operation Rainfall efforts directed at Nintendo, demands pitched at Konami to make another Zone of the Enders, and so much more, one wonders if publishers and developers aren't starting to go deaf to the pleas of fans. We're in an era where publishers just cannot take a chance on releasing a game that does not turn an immediate magnificent profit, and as the Hollywoodization of the video game industry continues I expect that we'll see things get worse for smaller titles that may be works of art and fan favorites, but won't generate sufficient revenue needed to justify their existence.