Activision hid it for years. A prototype of DJ Hero 3 leaked online

Many years after its cancellation, an early prototype of DJ Hero 3 for Xbox 360 leaked online, revealing Activision's experiments with unusual music mechanics and Kinect.

Music games have long lost their former popularity, so the leak of the canceled DJ Hero 3 became an event. The prototype was preserved thanks to an anonymous owner who contacted Games That Weren't in July 2026. In August, the copy was handed over to Hidden Palace, which is dedicated to preserving gaming history.

FreeStyleGames developers began working on DJ Hero 3 shortly after the release of the second installment. The team experimented with "branching mixes" and a dance mode using Project Natal, later known as Kinect. Wii Remote support was also tested.

The project was canceled after Activision decided to discontinue the Hero brand. The preserved version currently does not launch in the Xenia emulator due to a "Failed to initialize Natal System" error. However, the prototype was successfully launched on a real Xbox 360 devkit, which led to the first screenshots and videos.