'Agent' Trademark Abandoned, Seemingly Confirming Rockstar Games Has Cancelled It

One of the biggest mysteries in video games seems to finally be coming to an end: Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has dropped the trademark for Agent.

Announced back in 2007 before being revealed two years later at E3 2009 during Sony's presser, Agent was once a stealth action game in development by Rockstar North. But after it was formally revealed in 2009, the game went silent.

To date, little is known about the game beyond its 1970's Cold War setting, but up until now Take-Two Interactive has continued to renew the trademark, suggesting it was still cooking away on it. But earlier this week the company abandoned the trademark with the United States Patent Office and Trademark Office, basically confirming its cancellation.

Up until this week Take-Two Interactive was able to retain the trademark over the years because it was able to prove to the USPO that it had intention to use the trademark, but that's not longer the case. The trademark now reads:

"Abandoned because no Statement of Use or Extension Request timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued."

That said, at the time of writing this, a page for the game is still up on Rockstar Games' website. Whether this is because the developer hasn't had the chance to remove it or because there's still some type of future for Agent, isn't clear. The former is more likely.

Since the announcement of Agent, Rockstar Games has released, Manhunt 2, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Beaterator, Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, Max Payne 3, L.A. Noire, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Grand Theft Auto V. In other words, it seems like forever ago that Agent was even a thing.

It's not very surprising that the game has seemingly been cancelled. This has seemed the case for awhile ever since Rockstar Games mysteriously stopped talking about it. And with how BIG Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are now, we may not see Rockstar Games release any game beyond these two series for awhile. And if it does dabble outside of these two properties, it seems most likely to return to Bully, not dig up a game almost nobody even remembers.