Rockstar Games’ troublemaking title Bully offered quite a unique adventure back in 2006, giving players the means to troublemake through the ranks of their school’s social hierarchy. For that reason, a sequel has continually been a source of hope for fans, especially considering the possibilities a bigger and badder sequel could present. Rumors and speculation have fueled hype for the unconfirmed title as recently as last month, all while confirmation remains notably sparse on the part of Rockstar.

Well, it appears there may be a reason why all these leaks have yet to bear fruit, as a new report suggests development on Bully 2 was officially cancelled back in 2013. According to VGC, several “sources with knowledge of development” have confirmed the once-existence of Bully 2, revealing that 18 months of progress had been made prior to being prematurely canned. Unfortunately, it appears the project “never got off the ground” and ultimately “fizzled out” before ever being announced.

Ideas were said to have started as early as 2008, where “the first few scenes” and an outline of the remaining story were initially hashed out. The sequel was premised as following the first game’s protagonist Jimmy Hopkins during summer vacation, spending time at his step-dad’s house while on-break between semesters. Another of the outlet’s sources says that Jimmy might have eventually made it back to school–possibly even to college–but these exact plans were never entirely finalized.

Despite little being concrete, development reportedly moved forward following the release of the original Red Dead Redemption; taking place over a 12-to-18 month period between “May 2010 and the end of 2013.” Support studio Rockstar New England was said to be heading the year-plus endeavor, working with principal artist Drew Medina and Rockstar New York’s Steven Olds, who served as visualization director for the original Bully.

A “very small slice” of a playable demo reportedly resulted from this collaboration, it featuring limited open-world gameplay built within the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE)–the very same engine used for Grand Theft Auto 5 and last year’s Red Dead Redemption 2. However promising this “slice” may have been, sources say Bully 2 nonetheless “fizzled out” from the project never building enough momentum. “It existed, it was playable, it was just a shame it never got off the ground,” said one of these sources.

Many of these reported details corroborate previous rumors of Bully 2’s untimely cancellation, a supposed leak from back in July also premising Jimmy’s summer vaycay and the development of new gameplay before the project was ultimately shut down. While these sources more-or-less appear to speak for the early 2010s, a Bully 2 release in the modern-day could still possibly come down the pike, especially by the looks of some very telling easter eggs discovered in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto Online.

What do you think? Are you bummed that Bully 2 may have been cancelled before it began, or do you feel that Rockstar could still come through with the anticipated sequel? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:

• Death Stranding NPCs Will Live Or Die Based On Player Choice
• New Epic Games Lawsuit Claims The Company “Knowingly” Made Fortnite A “Very Addictive Game”
• Marvel’s Avengers Dev Explains Why Ms. Marvel Is The Game’s Best Melee Character