It's rare that project codenames are divulged publicly until long after official reveal/release of games or consoles. Things like Project Scorpio (Xbox One X) and Xbox Scarlett (Xbox Series X), or Project Athia (Forspoken) and Project A (Valorant), are recent examples of consoles and games discovered beforehand. Of course, all of those examples are thanks to leaks or reports that discover them beforehand. One recent major leak is courtesy of a datamine from Nvidia GeForce Now's library, comprised of several thousand upcoming and unannounced PC titles. While there are several interesting potential revelations in the leak, the codenamed projects are the most perplexing.

Among potentially exciting leaks like Final Fantasy 9 Remake or God of War's PC port, there were several games from high profile studios listed under codenames. Ranging from studios and publishers like Activision Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, 2K, Xbox Game Studios, and more, this Nvidia leak could potentially be hiding several hints towards upcoming games. However, "potentially" is being particularly generous; Nvidia has since stated that this list is real, but is filled with "speculative titles." To some extent, that is true, as there are some since-cancelled projects still on this list. That being said, that doesn't entirely rule out the accuracy of the unidentified projects.

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Nvidia's GeForce Now Leak And Codenames/Projects

The entire list of titles found in the Nvidia GeForce Now datamine is comprised of thousands of games, some of which have already released on various platforms, while others are upcoming. Some of these titles are announced and headed for PC, like the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, a previous PlayStation exclusive. This is why there is some degree of accuracy related to this leak, even if there are some titles that seem unlikely, like a remaster of Half-Life 2. There's been plenty of speculation on the accuracy of the confirmed titles on the list of games, but the list of codenames and temporarily titled projects present the most intriguing mystery thus far.

Some of these codenames and projects line up with previous reports and leaks: One example is "Codename Coda," which was leaked previously as a cross between Marvel and XCOM games, now confirmed as Marvel's Midnight Suns. Nvidia also issuing a statement confirming the list is real does at least add some credence to this list, even if some of the games listed in the datamine likely don't exist (currently or at all). That's what makes the codenames and project titles particularly interesting among the rest, as some of these are unheard of, while others match up with existing leaks.

If Nvidia's leaked list is "real," why include these codenames/projects at all? Yes, they could be under the umbrella of "speculative titles," but some of these titles were leaked previously while some were not. There are several titles from AAA publishers/devleopers in this list, both revealed and unannounced, that could be leaked here.

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Codenames and Project Names From AAA Publishers

In Microsoft and Bethesda's camp, there are several familiar names among some new codenames for upcoming projects. Many of the Arkane Studios project names have been heard before: "Project Omen" has since been revealed as Redfall, the vampiric co-op action game which saw its own leaked playtest earlier this month. "Project BlackSky" is likely the Arkane Austin project in development with Dishonored's co-creator Harvey Smith, who left Arkane Lyon after Dishonored 2 to work on this project. "Relic" is supposedly in development with MachineGames, separate from "Platinum," which is supposedly the codename for the Indiana Jones game teased earlier this year.

As for Microsoft, there were a few confirmations: "Project Holland" (the new Fable), "Project Typhoon" (Contraband), and "Project Woodstock" (Forza Horizon 5). The only unknown is "Project Indus," which is reportedly a 4X strategy game in devleopment with Oxide Games. Additionally, Ninja Theory has something in development known as "Project H2," which is separate from the previously shown Project Mara, as well as Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.

2K had a few codenames listed in this leak, most of which have been connected to existing rumors or announcements. The aforementioned "Codename Coda" is Marvel's Midnight Suns, while "Codename Parkside" is supposedly the next BioShock game in development at Cloud Chamber Studios. There's also "Codename Vault/Volt," which could be the rumored "Cthulhu meets Saints Row" project in development at Hangar 13, or could be another separately rumored action game. There's also the "Project Dio," though that's all that's been leaked and there's no further details at this time.

On the Activision Blizzard side, there were a couple project names revealed that hint at upcoming titles from the publisher. First is "Project Fenway," which is potentially a new IP that was spotted on a Blizzard Producer's LinkedIn earlier this year, right around when BlizzConline 2021 was about to kick off. Then there's "Project Cortez," a codename that notable Call of Duty leaker Tom Henderson has confirmed as 2022's Call of Duty project, since corroborated by another report by VGC.

Speaking of leaks by Henderson, "Project QD Next" is potentially the Quantic Dream Star Wars game recently rumored to be in development. However, Henderson's tease was vague, so it's unclear at this time what "QD Next" is actually referring to. Same deal for a few other leaks in this list: Ubisoft has a "Project AETHER" and "Project Q" in development, details of which are unknown (potentially Ubisoft Stockholm's upcoming project, though not confirmed).

Beyond that are several other leaked games from various publishers/developers: An unknown 505 Games title called "Project Pugwash" could be the leaked "Grow: Song of the Evertree," Bandai Namco has a "Project Apollo" and "Project LEO" in development, EA has "Project Jetson" and "Project Phoenix" in development, and Warner Bros. Interactive has "Project Freelancer" and "Codename Legacy" in development as well. The rest of these are hard to connect to any previous leaks, other than one of EA's projects potentially being Motive's new IP, or Warner Bros. Interactive's "Project Freelancer" being related to its latest games-as-a-service development initiative.

There are several other project names in the full leaked list, ranging from AAA studios to indie and mobile developers. This is without even mentioning the known quantities included in the Nvidia leak, like God of War supposedly coming to PC, or Kingdom Hearts 4. Again, it's important to emphasize that this list may not confirm/de-confirm anything. There are even some cancelled games on this list (like Square Enix's "Project Prelude Rune"), so this list has likely been around for some time. For now, many of these codenames will likely remain secret as intended, but some of them can be connected back to major leaks that have come out previously.

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Source: Windows Central, Ighor July