Probably not - it just didn't survive development and reach a final stage where it could be released. Lots of professionally developed games are canned every year so it's nothing new.
Vaporware is usually used as a term for games/software that undergoes development for years after its announcement.
Prey was announcenced to be a "Quake (1) killer" in 1995 but didn't release until after Quake 4 had been released 11 years later. Many believed Prey was vaporware but it
was actually released commercially.
Duke Nukem Forever is probably the best known vaporware since it was announced in 1997 and finally cancelled in 2009.