As this is an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
Times where the protagonist doesn't get together with whomever they've been pursuing in Video Games.
- Alundra: The title character's Distaff Counterpart, who is subtly teased as being a potential love interest from the moment she appears at the game's midpoint, walks the earth with him for a while in the ending, and then leaves him to his own devices. Cock tease. At least she gave him a kiss before parting ways, maybe to soften the blow that regardless if they separate, they're still going to be friends and maybe their paths will cross again. Who knows. Alundra's face showed no disappointment anyway.
- In Bahamut Lagoon, Byuu does not end up with Princess Yoyo. She ends up falling for Palpaleos, a general who works for The Empire who locked her up. And then a double whammy occurs when said general is lynched in the epilogue.
- A possible outcome in the ending of Catherine. It leads to a satisfying ending for Vincent because it presents a personal liberation for him, and he can either win a huge amount of money and start a new life elsewhere or at least have a good laugh at the expense of Boss.
- Cry of Fear: In the main game, Simon's feelings for Sophie are not reciprocated. In two of the bad endings, he pulls a If I Can't Have You… and kills her and himself, but in the Bittersweet Ending where he is hospitalized and treated for his mental health issues, they remain distant friends and he is glad that she has a new boyfriend, even if it pains him. The non-canon co-op ending suggests that they do hook up, since the events of the game are prevented.
- Played with in the Bittersweet Ending of Deadly Premonition. York does, but Zach (the player character) does not.
- Discworld Noir: Lewton doesn't get either of his love interests. Ilsa leaves Ankh-Morpork with her husband, and Lewton has Carlotta arrested by the City Watch for her involvement in the murders.
- In Disgaea 5, Seraphina is set up as the game's heroine who shows obvious signs of falling for Killia due to him being immune to her overload. Towards the end of the game Killia finds out he can possibly save his lost love from before the game started, Liezerota, and Seraphina stops acting tsundere and comes to the sad realization that there is no room in Killia's heart for her beyond friends. She tries one last time to use her skill on Killia (with his permission), and when it fails she somberly admits his love for Lieze is too strong and she never stood a chance. She also replaces all of the pictures of herself in her lounge with pictures of Killia.
- Dragon Age:
- Dragon Age: Origins:
- Most of the origin stories include an extra one-sided-or-not love interest, and in fact, every female Warden can run into one in hers. Needless to say, she won't get to keep him even if she wants to, a fact which is sometimes presented rather painfully.
- Any male Warden who romanced Morrigan has this occur prior to end-game. The entire plot of "Witch Hunt" has the Warden attempting to track down Morrigan and their child.
- Dragon Age II reveals this to be the fate of a Warden who romanced Leliana or Zevran, as the Warden seems to have vanished. It's revealed the Warden embarked on a quest to save their order from their premature destruction and that happens in literally every other romance option... Except for Zevran who is accompanying the Warden.
- Dragon Age II has this occur repeatedly. Notable examples are if Hawke slept with Isabela but later romanced another character, several lines of dialogue hint that Isabela still has lingering feelings and regret over the relationship ending. It's also implied that Anders falls in love with Hawke even if Hawke doesn't romance him (dialogue he has in a playthrough where he is romanced basically confirms this). If a female Hawke romances Sebastian, but sides with the Mages and refuses to kill Anders, he breaks up with Hawke and leaves to raise an army to wage war on Kirkwall.
- Dragon Age: Inquisition: This can happen to certain love interests under specific circumstances: if they romance Cassandra, their relationship can potentially end if she is chosen as the Divine; with Cullen if he is encouraged to take lyrium, ending with him becoming an Addled Addict; with Iron Bull if he upholds the Qun which will result in him betraying the team in the Trespasser DLC; with Blackwall if he is not rescued from prison after The Reveal of his true identity; or with Sera if your character is an elf and refuses to abandon her religious beliefs. The one instance that will happen regardless of what you choose is Solas who breaks up with the Inquisitor, and she is unable to romance anyone else since they can't move on from it.
- Dragon Age: Origins:
- Final Fantasy:
- Final Fantasy X: At the very end, Yuna doesn't get the guy; he never existed in the first place, technically. Can be averted in the best ending of X-2, where the Fayth use the last of their power to incarnate Tidus for real.
- Zig-Zagged in Final Fantasy Adventure - the player would think that once they beat the Final Boss and restore peace to the land, the boy and the girl would get together... except the mana tree vanishes, so the girl has to become the Barrier Maiden to the world. Secret of Mana however, implies that somehow he did, as the mana tree is the main character's mother, and his Disappeared Dad was the last Gemma knight: the PC in Final Fantasy Adventure.
- In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
- This happens with two of Priscilla's potential love interests, as her noble status prevents her from being able to continue a relationship with both Guy, a poor swordsman, and Heath, a Wyvern Knight deserter. Sain is another potential partner, but his duties to his kingdom prevent him from leaving for her and their support chat ends with them coming to this realization. Erk, her fourth option, is the only one that actually can stay with Priscilla due to him having friends in high places.
- Harken and Vaida must part ways due to their dedication to their respective lords.
- Marquess Araphen lost his fiancee when she chose instead to elope with a Sacaean nomad. Which led to Marquess Araphen's Fantastic Racism.
- Ike and Elincia in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, despite a decent amount of Ship Tease between them. By the sequel, the chemistry between them is nonexistent and Elincia's feelings have shifted towards Geoffrey (and possibly his sister Lucia). This is mostly the result of the English dub adding hints toward the pairing when the original Japanese portrayed them as strictly platonic, but being forced to back off when the sequel had a different Official Couple.
- Full Throttle has the woman-not-getting-man version when Mo takes over Corley Motors, thus losing access to the free-roaming lifestyle that would have kept her together with Ben.
- Kid Klown In Crazy Chase: The Normal Ending. Yeah, you saved Princess Honey, but she winds up going out with Prince Studley Clown of Clownistan instead.
- Knights of the Old Republic and the sequel has both Revan and the Jedi Exile vanish into the Unknown Regions to seek out the old Sith Empire to finish the fight, leaving behind a love interest (and all their allies, for that matter) in both cases. It's later revealed in Revan that Revan did get the girl; he and Bastila were married between the two games, and she was pregnant with his son when he vanished (on a trip that was supposed to only be temporary).
- The Last of Us Part 2: Ellie has a chance to settle down and make a happy life for herself with her true love Dina and her son, after their brutal campaign of revenge against Joel's murderers has concluded. However, Joel's brother Tommy shows up and guilt trips Ellie about how she let the one most responsible, Abby, live and accuses her of breaking the promise to kill her. Ellie eventually decides to finish the job. Dina, who is tired of the senseless violence gives Ellie an ultimatum, life with her or revenge against Abby. Ellie chose revenge and loses Dina for good, which the ending makes clear when she returns to an empty farmhouse where they were staying.
- Love & Pies: When Eve announces her plans to propose to her long-distance partner, Yuka, who had been crushing on Eve for more than a week, leaves the café, heartbroken. She moves on from her the next day by storing away her mementos of her in her "Eve box".
- Lyrica: Du Mu really has bad luck in his romance. First, he falls in love with a beautiful dancer named Zhang Haohao, but her employer took her as a concubine before he could make any moves on her. Then he meets Shiue and falls for her, but of course he can't be with her since she doesn't exist in his timeline. He manages to encounter a girl who looks almost exactly like Shiue and wants to marry her, but she's too young for that. After forming an agreement with the girl's family to marry her within ten years, he fails to return at the allotted time (thus voiding the agreement), and the girl marries someone else.
- One of two endings to Metal Gear Solid shows Snake and Meryl riding off together into the sunset. In the sequel, she's nowhere to be found. The book written by Nastasha makes it canon that she survived, but the only reference to her in the game proper is some optional dialogue where Snake says he's had enough of tomboys. Cue the fourth game where Snake's an old man and Meryl gets married to the very guard she knocked out at the beginning of the first game. (See Cartwright Curse.) In addition, it seems like this in Raiden's case but it's later subverted when it's revealed it was a cover story he wasn't in on. This is justified for Snake's case, however. Being a clone, Solid Snake is sterile, and he carries a modified virus created by Naomi, which randomly kills people injected with nanomachines. In short, he is essentially a walking FOXDIE and is too dangerous to have a relationship with anyone. See also Ellen Madnar and Holly White from the first two games.
- Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark reveals that the Hero of Neverwinter was good, male, and completed the romance subquest with Aribeth. Then Aribeth was executed for treason with the Hero protesting every step of the process and the Hero leaves the city, estranged from its lords and his friends. The fan-made module The Bastard of Kosigan has the hero's former love interest die an unavoidable death at the hands of French assassins, even if you attempt to renew your relationship with her.
- Neverwinter Nights 2. Both possible Love Interests die in the collapsing fortress at the end, unless you drove Elanee off.
- Persona:
- While the ending of Persona 2: Innocent Sin is an example of that other trope, Eternal Punishment plays this straight as Tatsuya ends up returning to the Other Side, and if Maya ever gets involved with This Side's Tatsuya there'd be a risk of screwing over the world again, so seeing him or his brother isn't really an option either. The ending movie has Maya accepting this and walking by Tatsuya without saying anything. In fact, this is built into the title of the games; this is Tatsuya's "Eternal Punishment" for the "Innocent Sin" that he committed during the first game.
- The Protagonists do not get the girls/guys in Persona 3. A Heroic Sacrifice to become the Barrier Maiden for the world can do that.
- Persona 4 and Persona 5 both end with the protagonist going back home after spending a year in Igada and Tokyo, respectively, resulting in them breaking up with whatever love interest they might have had. It's made especially explicit if the protagonist romanced Yukiko in 4 (as she's planning to stay and run her family's inn) or Kawakami in 5 (who breaks up with the protagonist because he's underage and she's his home room teacher). The one exception is in Persona 4 Golden if the protagonist romances Marie, who announces that she loves him on live TV in the epilogue.
- The Prince of Persia (2008): Epilogue ends on this note. After an entire game's worth of semi-witty Will They or Won't They? sexual tension, Elika finally has enough and literally runs off on the Prince because he freed the God of Darkness who they spent the entire time trying to seal away, on the misguided notion that he could bring Elika back to life and use her to defeat it once and for all. Only, she didn't think she could, and didn't want to even try. Nice Job Breaking It, Dumbass.
- Red Dead Redemption 2: Mary Linton loves Arthur Morgan dearly but doesn't want to be with him while he's still riding with a gang. He promises once he gets enough money he will run away with her. Though she still loves him, she breaks things off with him for good via a "Dear John" letter once word reaches her of the gang's botched robbery at Saint Denis. Tragically, Arthur is in the final stages of tuberculosis by the time he receives the letter, and before he can patch things up with her, he either gets killed by Micah Bell (low honor) or succumbs to the disease (high honor). She is seen in the credits crying at his grave.
- Shadow Hearts does this a few times. The Canonical ending of the first ends with Alice dying, meaning Yuri did not get the girl after all. However, Yuri's next apparent love interest, Karin, was sent into the past, meaning she did not get the guy....instead becoming his mother. But, the Stable Time Loop allows Yuri to earn his happy ending after all.
- Soul Series: According to the Soulcalibur V profile for Leixia (daughter of Xianghua), her father is not Kilik, Xianghua's love interest for the previous four games.
- At the end of Super Mario Odyssey, Mario tries to propose to Princess Peach, but Bowser butts in and they get caught up in a squabble over her and end up just shoving flowers in her face. Annoyed by their immaturity, Peach shoots them down and preserves the status quo.
- In Sticky Business, David tries asking his crush out by gifting her the stickers his dad bought from your store. However, she only likes him as a friend, but David is fine with hanging out with her platonically, anyway, and even gifts her more stickers for her birthday.
- In Tales of Xillia:
- Jude did not get Milla because she had to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
- Despite their history together, Alvin did not get to be with Presa. Same with Rowen and Nachtigal's sister, whom he was engaged to. She was presumed dead during an accident, but can be found later alive and healthy, but suffering from Amnesia, with no memories of Rowen, and she is Happily Married.
- Tales of Xillia 2:
- A case can be made for Ludger and Alternate Milla, with heavy implications that Milla had feelings for Ludger. Likely a case of Foregone Conclusion, as being part of a fractured dimension means she was never supposed to be in the prime dimension to begin with. And she ultimately has to die, in order for the prime dimension's Milla to return and brings things back in order.
- Just as with the previous game, Jude and Milla still cannot remain together, as Milla can only remain in the Human Realm for a limited time now. Same can be said for Gaius and Muzét or Ludger and Muzét, with the former admitting in his diary that he has a crush on her, though how severe this case is debatable; Muzét is the only Great Spirit who can freely walk between the Spirit and Human Realm.
- Tron 2.0: While it's clear Jet and Mercury were attracted to one another, he has to return to analog, and she has to stay in the digital world. Poor guy got his Honorary Uncle's luck.
- Some of the potential party members Alain can give the Ring of the Maiden (which only requires a strong personal connection, not necessarily a romantic one, between two people to activate) to in Unicorn Overlord, even those he has a degree of Ship Tease chemistry with, will either result in a Will They or Won't They? ending or they'll pointedly opt out of being his queen entirely, although in either of these sub-scenarios, they'll remain on good terms with him.
- Towards the end of Wolfenstein: The New Order, B.J. Blazkowicz realizes that as long as the Nazis still remain, he can not get Anya, and instead allows her to Take Up My Sword for the war to come, knowing that he'll likely die in the battle against Deathshead. Which he does, unless the sound of an approaching helicopter means that No One Gets Left Behind. Averted in the sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, where BJ gets rescued, Anya is pregnant, and against all odds, lives to the end of the game and proposes to Anya in the ending.
- Yakuza 0: Goro Majima is sent to assassinate someone named Makoto Makimura, which turns out to be more complicated than it seems when Makoto turns out to be an innocent blind girl whom everyone wants dead or in their possession for reasons neither of them knows. Majima decides to protect Makoto and starts to become attracted to her, but when she's injured near the climax he realizes life around a gangster like him would not end well for her, so he leaves quietly and instructs the doctor who saved Makoto's life to look after her. When they reunite eighteen years later in Kiwami 2, Makoto is Happily Married with a son, and Majima stays quiet during their massage session so she won't recognize who he is (though he slips her a personal gift to tip her off so she could get some closure with the man who saved her life).
- Adol in the Ys series, almost every time. Of course, apart from Feena in I/II, it was more like the various girls Did Not Get The Guy.
