Bully 2 and 3 cancelled in favour of Red Dead Redemption, says developer

The Bully saga continues, this time with news that Bully 2 and 3 were scrapped in favour of Red Dead Redemption.

I’d like to preface this by saying that the news is based on the eagle eyed scrutiny of a former Rockstar Games developer’s profile, courtesy of Reddit. The original poster shared the cliff notes from the former employee’s LinkedIn page, alongside a link to their profile.

Enjoy taking a walk down memory lane with Bully.

The profile in question is Jon Young’s. Having worked at Rockstar Games for 13 years before leaving, Young was the lead video editor for the research department on a lot of games, unsurprisingly. However, what is surprising to see is Bully 2 and 3 listed as two of those games.

As any Bully fan worth their salt will know, rumours that Bully 2 is in development have been rife for some time now. The game has been picked up and cancelled more than a popular Netflix show, and so seeing it mentioned comes as a shock. As of yet, there’s still no concrete proof that the sequel is coming, though a recent Rockstar job listing seemingly confirmed it.

What’s never been confirmed though, not even in rumours, is the existence of Bully 3.

Jon Young's work profile.

Speculation has started as to whether the number is merely a typo, though we suspect Young would be more careful about what they list on their professional work profile. Furthermore, after PlayStation LifeStyle reported a previous Rockstar employee revealed Bully 2 was cancelled in favour of RDR, it’s quite possible that Bully 3 suffered the same fate.

It’s more than reasonable to surmise, given Young’s career in research, that these two games were conceptualised but only Bully 2 made it to the production stages. As anyone who’s done an ounce of research will know, a lot of good ideas get shelved in favour of other routes or new projects altogether.

Add into the mix the fact that GTA 6 has been in development for the last decade, and it’s fair to say that Rockstar Games have had their hands full. Maybe too full to ever commit to the Bully franchise…?

Until a spokesperson from Rockstar Games clarifies what we’ve seen, we can only work on assumptions. While hoping against hope that Bully 2 will finally see the light of day as a real game, and not just some gaming community rumour.