Gourt Home::Gourt :: List of major commercial failures in computer and video gaming
The computer and video games industry has seen several commercial failures since its birth in the late 1970s, some of which have drastically changed the video game market. For example, the flops of E.T. and Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 were high profile games of low quality, contributing to the video game crash of 1983. Some games, despite being commercial failures, are well received by certain group of gamers and are considered cult games. Many of these games live on through emulation.
Video game hardware failures
For the sake of scope, a commercial failure for a video game hardware platform is generally defined as a system that either fails to become adopted by a significant portion of the gaming market place, or fails to win significant mindshare of the target audience. This definition should be applied internationally, and not based strictly on the success or failure of a platform in any one given market.
3DO Interactive Multiplayer
Co-designed by RJ Mical and the team behind the Amiga, and marketed by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, this "multimedia machine" was marketed as a family entertainment device and not just a video game console. Few titles utilized the console's full potential, which, along with its high price (699.95 USD at release) and the inability of the console market to sustain multiple platforms, put it in an early grave. The final nail in the coffin was the scuttling of the project after the expensive development of the successor console, the M2.Amiga CD32
Released in 1993, the decline of the Amiga product line and Commodore's poor marketing and lack of product support prevented any kind of serious traction for this product. While it was initially billed as all the power of an Amiga computer in a console, it was not priced competitively to the Amiga 500/1200 lines. Additionally, the lack of original titles meant that few gamers wanted it when they could buy the more feature-intensive A1200.Apple Pippin
A game console designed by Apple Computer in the mid-1990s based around a PowerPC 603e processor and the Mac OS. It featured a 4x CD-ROM drive and a video output that could connect to a standard television monitor. Apple intended to license the technology to third parties. However the only Pippin licensee to release a product to market was Bandai. By the time the Bandai Pippin was released, (1995 for Japan, 1996 for the United States) the market was already dominated by the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. The Bandai Pippin cost US$599 on launch, far more expensive than a PlayStation.Atari 7800
The successor of the Atari 5200, it was released in select California test markets in 1984 before being cancelled (along with other Atari video game projects) by Jack Tramiel upon the purchase of the Atari, Inc. home consumer division by Tramiel's holding company, Tramel Technologies, Ltd. Upon seeing Nintendo of America successfully reviving the video game market with the NES, the 7800 was released nationwide in 1986. However, most of the video game market was then already dominated by the NES, which drastically reduced the 7800's possibilities to succeed. In addition to its competitors, it faced problems as an attractive platform for consumers: there were few third-party software companies supporting the console, most of the games were enhancements of old Atari 2600 games or ports of computer games from the Commodore 64 and/or Atari 8-bit computers, and what's left failed to impress gamers. The Atari 7800, along with the Atari 2600 and the Atari 8-bit computer line, was officially cancelled by Atari Corporation in 1992.Atari Jaguar console
Released in 1993, this 64-bit system was (in theory) much more powerful than its contemporaries, the Sega Genesis and the SNES. However, a number of crippling business practices on the part of Atari senior management, a hard to hold/manipulate controller design and lack of quality software hurt sales. The system never attained critical mass in the market before the release of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn and without strong leadership to drive it, it failed alongside the company.Atari Lynx handheld
Only months after the release of the Game Boy in 1989, Atari launched their first color hand-held system co-Designed by RJ Mical, featuring a large, backlit display, and significantly higher powered hardware compared to the Game Boy. However, due to a bulky design and an extremely low battery life, the system failed to garner any significant sales. Eventually Atari released a smaller more manageable version branded the Lynx II, but the differences were only cosmetic and it proved too little too late, appealing mostly to owners of the original system. The similar Sega Game Gear fared somewhat better due to a stronger marketing campaign and better titles but it still suffered from similar flaws that plagued the Lynx.Commodore C64 Games System console
Released only in Europe and being Commodore International's first venture in the video game market, the C64GS was basically a Commodore 64 redesigned as a cartdrige-based console. Aside from some hardware issues, the console did not get much attention from the public, who preferred to buy the cheaper original computer, which was far more complete. Also, the console appeared during the apogee of the 16-bit era, which left no chance for it to succeed.Gizmondo
A handheld gaming device including GPS and a digital camera was released by Tiger Telematics in the United Kingdom on 19 March 2005. The console sold poorly, due to a lack of games, and being unable to compete with the cheaper Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. On 23 January 2006 the UK arm of Tiger Telematics went into administration. In related recent events, several high-ranking Tiger executives were arrested for fraud and other illegal activities related to the Gizmondo.Microvision handheld
The first attempt at a handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges. To reduce the price of the console itself, the CPU was put in the cartridges; causing manufacturing prices of the game titles to increase. Furthermore, it was plagued by other problems such as LCD screens prone to leaking, and "flimsy" buttons. The problems of the Microvision lead to discontinuation circa 1981.Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color handhelds
SNK's cult classic pocket system, discontinued after 2 years when SNK decided to pull out of the home video game market which was then followed by the company closing operations in 2001. The system quickly disappeared from the market at that time as SNK recalled all outstanding unsold product in order to avoid costly long-term support issues. In recent years, remaining color systems have been repackaged into clamshells and sold at budget prices with a set of six relatively popular, mostly first-party titles. However, the console has recently gained a cult following.Nintendo Virtual Boy
The red monochromatic 3-D "virtual reality" system failed due to issues related to players getting eye strain and headaches when trying to play it along with the problem that the system required the player to be isolated during play thus killing any social interaction while playing. It was the first (and, thus far, only) Nintendo console to flop and the fallout forced Gunpei Yokoi (who earlier developed the highly successful Game Boy) to resign from the company.Nokia N-Gage
Made by the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, the N-Gage was a small handheld console, designed to combine a feature-packed mobile/cellular phone with a handheld games console. Sales were poor and many video gamers mocked the system for its design. Common complaints included the difficulty of swapping games and the fact that its cellphone feature required users to hold the device "sideways" (i.e. the long edge of the system) against their cheek. A redesigned version, the N-Gage QD, has since been released to eliminate these complaints. However, the N-Gage brand still suffered from a poor reputation and the QD did not address the popular complaint that the control layout was "too cluttered". The N-Gage has yet to reach the popularity of the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP, although the N-Gage's pioneering of mobile online gaming likely influenced the DS and PSP to include that feature.Pelican VG Pocket
The sales were poor because this product had games which were basically clones of games which were available as Emulation ROM images. And also, the unit was cramping to hold despite its abilities to connect to the TV and its backlit LCD display, and even with a low price of $29.99 USD, it had hardware problems since the games went twice as fast when connected to the TV.PSX (DVR)
Built upon the PlayStation 2, the PSX enhanced multimedia derivative was touted to bring convergence to the living room"Sony adds Bells and Whistles to PlayStation 2", San Francisco Gate, May 29, 2003. However, it was a failure in Japan due to its high price and lack of consumer interest"Next Gen Console Wars: Revenge of Kutaragi", TeamXbox website, June 13, 2005 and that cancelled plans to release it in North America and the rest of the world. Not only was it an unsuccessful attempt by Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi to revive the ailing consumer electronics division"Mr. Idei's Kurosawa Ending", Robert X. Cringely, March 10, 2005, it also hurt Sony's media convergence plans "PSX Failure is a Blow to Sony's Convergence Dreams", Rob Fahey, October 9, 2004. This device also lacked standard PlayStation controller ports.Sega Dreamcast
The Dreamcast was initially very successful, thanks to Sega's strong launch titles, not to mention that they had a jump on the previous generation Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. Despite Sega's best efforts which included wooing developers and introducing online play, Sony countered by announcing the PlayStation 2 far in advance, causing the Dreamcast to lose critical momentum as gamers decided to wait for the PS2. The Dreamcast was discontinued early in 2001, having been only in the market for under two years, although it had still sold a respectable 8-10 million units worldwide during its lifespan. Afterwards, Sega withdrew from the console hardware market. [http://netscape.com.com/2009-1040-252689.html This system is often remembered by gamers as the last "gamer's system," targeted to "hardcore" rather than casual gamers. The system still shares a large cult following.Sega Nomad
Sega's second entry into the handheld market. At first known as Project Venus (keeping with Sega's "planet theme" at the time), this system was much smaller than the company's previous attempt, but fans were soon disappointed to discover that the system was nothing more than a portable Genesis. Like the Game Gear it suffered from a low battery life and weak third party support as developers had already been moving away from the cartridge format and had abandoned Genesis development years earlier, although it can be argued that the extensive back catalog of Genesis games available for the system gave it an extremely strong library regardless of the status of new games. Sales were limited partially due to Sega releasing the system only in the USA, and exclusively to the Toys "R" Us chain of stores. Eventually, Sega sold the manufacturing rights to a third party company who had managed to make strong sales of both Sega handheld systems in Brazil. Because of different cartridge shells, the Nomad is largely incompatible with Electronic Arts titles, as well as some of those produced by Accolade (such as Star Control) and accessories such as the Sega 32X.Sega Saturn
While the Sega Genesis was a success and competed head-to-head against the Super NES, the succeeding Saturn fell to a distant third place behind the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. Sega had harmed its reputation due to the unsuccessful Sega CD and Sega 32X upgrades for the aging Genesis, with the latter criticized as a stopgap product. The Saturn hardware itself was difficult to program 3D graphics for due to its dual CPUs. While more than able to hold its own against the PlayStation in Japan, many successful games were never imported to North America. In 1997, when the Saturn fell behind after its second holiday season, Sega's focus on the upcoming Dreamcast caused many developers (including Japanese) to abandon the system and this hastened the Saturn's demise.Tiger Game.com handheld
Produced by Tiger Electronics, the Game.com handheld was a handheld game console that could double as a PDA. The system was intended to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy, and was targeted at the economy market. The monochrome LCD screen, which featured low-resolution touchscreen functionality, had a tendency to blur that made high-speed games like Sonic the Hedgehog practically unplayable. Due to poor game quality and selection (only 20 games were ever released for it), the system was discontinued in 2000, only 3 years after its release, although the PDA touchscreen capabilites would be duplicated 5 years later with the release of the Nintendo DS.TurboGrafx-16
A console by NEC, launched in 1989, an 8-bit system with 16-bit quality graphics and the first console with a CD add-on. In Japan, under the name PC Engine, the console had outsold Nintendo's Famicom and was the Super Famicom's main competition. However, in America it was released just a few months before the Sega Genesis. Aside from the timing, the system was not marketed properly and there was not a considerable number of key titles that showed the capabilities of the system by the time the Genesis and, later, the Super Nintendo appeared. The CD add-on (which was a key of the system's success in Japan) was very expensive and few games were released. Even with the introduction of the Turbo Duo (an integrated console which could play the CDs without an add-on,) the TurboExpress (a handheld version of the console which used the same games as its predecessor,) and some aggressive marketing from the new owner TTI, it was too late for the console to put a dent on the 16-bit market.The PC Engine has a rather sizeable cult following in Europe, especially the CD titles. The TurboGrafix was resurrected in spirit when Nintendo announced in 2006 that its upcoming Wii console will be capable of downloading vintage TurboGrafix games.
Computer and video game accessory failures
Nintendo e-Reader
The e-Reader was a peripheral for the Game Boy Advance which would optically scan data printed on paper cards in the manner of a barcode reader. This functionality was implemented in several games (such as Animal Crossing, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire), as well as the Pokémon TCG which included mini-games encoded on the cards. The system proved to be too cumbersome for most players and failed to gain much success in North America, but had greater success in Japan. The physical design of the e-Reader eventually made it incompatible with anything but the Game Boy Advance or the Game Boy Advance SP, although with some modifications can be played on a Nintendo DS. It will also fit in a Game Boy Micro or a DS Lite.Nintendo 64DD
The "Dynamic Drive" expansion system for the Nintendo 64 was announced at 1995's Nintendo Shoshinkai game show event (now called Spaceworld). Using rewritable magnetic discs, it was supposed to be Nintendo's answer to the CD-ROM based PlayStation. The N64DD was heavily hyped, and many high-profile games, such as EarthBound 64 and Ocarina of Time were supposed to be compliant with it. Several retailers even allowed gamers to place deposits as a reservation for the expansion system, but later returned the deposits when it became evident that the system would not be available in the U.S. In the end, however, the N64DD was only released in Japan on December 1 1999 - after being delayed for many years. Many of the titles originally planned for it were simply shelved, or released for the normal N64 due to impatience. Nintendo, anticipating that their long planned out disc drive peripheral would become a commercial failure, sold the systems through a subscription service called RANDnet rather than selling the system directly to consumers or to retail outlets. As a result the 64DD was only supported by Nintendo for a short period of time.Sony PlayStation 2 HDD
In 2001, Sony announced that a hard drive add-on to the PlayStation 2 was to be released to coincide with the PS2 release of Squaresoft's popular Final Fantasy XI MMORPG. Although the hard drive was initally released in 2001 in Japan, problems with the high price of the add-on (the hard drive was first sold in Japan for $299 USD) caused Sony of America to actually think about cancelling the American release of the hard drive. However, Sony retracted the statements and released the add-on in America in 2004, three years after the initial launch date in Japan. Despite many games in Japan supporting the hard drive's features, only six games supported them in America (the aformentioned Final Fantasy XI, U.S. Navy SEALs, EA's NHL and Madden 2005 games and both Outbreak games), basically turning the expensive peripheral into a glorified memory card to house save files. Sony later redesigned the PlayStation 2 to use a slimmer, smaller design that does not support the hard drive feature, providing the death knell to the add-on. It is currently unknown whether the hard drive for the forthcoming PS3 will allow for similar functionality with existing PS2 HDD-utilizing titles.Sega 32X
Designed as an upgrade for the aging Sega Genesis, the 32X was criticized at the outset for reverting to the cartridge and not using the CD-ROM media like the earlier Sega CD; the cartridge would mean significantly restricted content despite the 32X's capabilities. Most of all, the 32X project was overshadowed by the true Genesis successor, the Sega Saturn, which alienated much third-party support for the 32X. Most 32X games were simply ports of already popular Genesis titles; with the notable exception of the popular game Doom which was ported into other systems where the 32X version lacked the BFG9000. 36 32X games, which included five CD-based games, never saw the light of day. The 32x is often considered as the break point at which Sega started to go downhill.Sega CD/Sega Mega CD
This was a CD-ROM drive built for Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis system. Despite the add-on being the driving force behind what the industry would become years later, the high cost of the perceived system 'upgrade', combined with the lack of unique software for the platform prevented it from really taking off. Fearful of losing sales, Sega maintained a practice of simultaneous cartridge/CD-ROM releases of many games. Unfortunately the CD-ROM versions rarely featured more than improved audio. Another factor that impacted sales was the over reliance on Full Motion Video style content over gameplay and originality in a significant number of titles.Computer and video game software failures
The 11th Hour
The sequel to the hugely successful game The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour spent two years in development. When Trilobyte finally brought it to market in 1995, over a year behind schedule, the technology it used was outdated. The designers created the game for DOS, which by then had been replaced with Windows 95, leaving many people unable to get the game working on their computers. Those who could get it working still had to deal with other technical issues, especially the touchy sound settings. Gamers also found the puzzles themselves disappointing; they were generally either direct lifts of T7G puzzles, or more difficult than those of The 7th Guest, many utilizing an AI opponent in the form of Stauf (particularly noteworthy is the final puzzle, which is a game of Pente and would get substantially harder with each completion of the game) and most were not nearly as much fun to solve. In the end, despite huge numbers of preorders, The 11th Hour sold well below expectations, and a planned third installment in the series was never made.Fallen Kings
The sequel to one of the more popular early MMORPGs on the market, AC2 is generally considered the first "second generation" MMO. Originally published by Microsoft, developer Turbine took over complete control of the game shortly after its release. While initially moderately successful, a number of critical bugs (including an unwieldy, often broken chat system) and a rather short leveling cycle caused a rapid exodus of players, resulting in a consolidation of servers within the first year. While many of these issues were ultimately fixed, it never saw a rebound in subscription numbers. After an expansion pack, Legions, sold poorly despite mostly excellent reviews from longtime players, the game was canceled at the end of 2005. AC2 was active for just over two years and did not outlive its predecessor, Asheron's Call, which remains a popular niche MMORPG.Battlecruiser 3000AD
One of the most notorious PC gaming failures in history, Battlecruiser 3000AD (aka BC3K) was hyped for almost a decade before its disastrous release in the US and Europe. The game was the brainchild of Derek Smart, an independent game developer with a flair for self promotion and a penchant for licentious public excoriation of his critics. The concept behind BC3K was extremely ambitious - give the player the opportunity to captain a large starship with all the requisite duties, including navigation, combat, resource management, and commanding crew members. Advertisements appeared in the gaming press in the mid-1990s hyping the game as, "The Last Thing You'll Ever Desire." Computer bulletin boards and Usenet groups were abuzz with discussion about the game. As time wore on and numerous delays were announced, excitement turned to frustration in the online community. Smart exacerbated the negative air by posting liberally on Usenet. The posts ignited one of the largest flame wars in Usenet history, as Smart and his critics launched scorching attacks over many months.During the development cycle, Smart refused to let other programmers have full access to his code and continued to change directions as new technology became available, causing the game to be in development for over seven years. Finally, in November, 1996, Take Two Interactive released Battlecruiser 3000AD in the United States (reportedly over protests from Smart). The game was buggy, even unfinished in many areas. It was written for a DOS environment, even though most gamers were running Windows 95 by that time. It employed outdated graphics, MIDI music, a cryptic interface, and contained almost no documentation - a huge problem since the commands were far from intuitive (e.g. Alt-Ctrl-E to fire weapons). It was joked that the only thing that worked properly was the introductory movie. Critics and the gaming community were merciless, panning BC3K across the board and relentlessly taunting Smart online. Smart continued to publicly battle his detractors, but kept working on the game, even in the face of harsh criticism. Eventually, a stable, playable version of the game was released as Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0. Smart eventually released BC3K as freeware and went on to create several sequels under the Battlecruiser and Universal Combat titles, but was never able to shake the spectre of BC3K's incredible failure.
Beyond Good & Evil
Although this game was critically acclaimed, it flopped commercially. It was commonly suggested that the release date, which conflicted with the release of the popular titles Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and The Sands of Time (both coincidentally released by the same publisher as BG&E, Ubisoft), was rather unfortunate. The game's commercial failure forced creator Michel Ancel and Ubisoft to place plans to continue the planned trilogy of BG&E on indefinite hold.Live and Reloaded
The second (and, ultimately, final) game developed by Rareware for Microsoft's Xbox system, Live and Reloaded was a remake of Rare's critically lauded and genre-breaking Nintendo 64 hit, Conker's Bad Fur Day. It was eagerly anticipated by fans of the original game because it included the revamped single player missions and the new online component. Also anticipated by "mature" gamers who had missed the game the first time around. However, even though reviews were generally positive, the game was not strongly marketed by the publisher (Microsoft Game Studios), and many saw the fact that Rare was remaking one of their past successes as an admission that the company was getting increasingly desperate for a return to their former position as a respected and successful games company (as their Game Boy Advance games were not selling very well, apart from arguably their ports of the Donkey Kong Country games; and Rare's recent Xbox game, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, was the biggest flop in the company's history). Rare later vowed to make a fresh start when the Xbox 360 launched.
Daikatana
This video game from John Romero's company Ion Storm was intensely advertised early in development, including an infamous magazine advertisement captioned, John Romero's about to make you his bitch. followed by the phrase, Suck It Down. The ad was perceived by many as hubristic and the attitude of the gaming community started to turn against Romero and Daikatana. This animosity was only exacerbated by the game's constant delays. Daikatana missed several announced deadlines and ended up taking four years to complete, including going through numerous engine upgrades/changes, as well as development team changes on a seemingly routine basis. Feeling insulted by the hype, some popular gamer websites (notably Old Man Murray and Ctrl+Alt+Del) subjected Daikatana and Romero to relentless mockery, making them the butts of jokes for several years.
The negative press contributed a major role in the game's failure similar to that of the film Heaven's Gate. The game was hated by critics and gamers alike when it was released. Several features had been cut significantly from the initial feature list that had been used for the game's promotion. The released version was so glitchy that it actually made the game impossible to complete. Despite all of this, Daikatana did sell over 200,000 copies worldwide. Normally this would be considered a financial success, but due to the high production costs the game didn't even break even and is still considered a commercial failure.
References to the game, or simply the word "Daikatana", remain as a sort of joke throughout the gamer community, and a catch-all metaphor for a spectacular failure by the video game industry.
Dark Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis
Although not a commercial failure itself, this 2003 expansion divided the highly popular MMORPG's player community, affected the fortunes of its parent game, Dark Age of Camelot, and remains controversial. The adding of master levels (special powers obtained through the completion of lengthy, multi-part quests requiring large raid parties) and artifacts (powerful items activated through the acquisition of rare scrolls) introduced a high degree of "grinding" and "camping" to a game that had been remarkably casual-player friendly. The new powers and items also tipped the balance of the game's popular realm v. realm (RvR) feature by giving a sizable advantage to the hardcore gamer. Player criticism was harsh and a number left in protest, causing a decrease in subscriptions. Mythic Entertainment responded to the reproval by reducing the difficulty of some of the MLs and increasing the availability of some of the rare scrolls in an effort to give more players access to the TOA features. In 2005, three "classic" servers were brought online, each of which excluded the lands of Atlantis. They quickly became three of the most populous servers in the game. Trials of Atlantis has its proponents and detractors to this day, but most agree that it was a flop, particularly given the unqualified success of the game's five other expansions and Mythic's ongoing efforts to mitigate the effects of TOA.Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3
The first title released by Ion Storm, Dominion was a real time strategy title in the vein of Command & Conquer and Warcraft. The game was originally developed by 7th Level, but was purchased by Ion Storm for $1.8 million. Dominion was released in July, 1998. It received tepid to highly negative reviews and sold poorly, falling far short of recouping its purchase price, let alone the additional cost of developing it into a finished product. Dominion might well be forgotten, but for the part it played in the history of Ion Storm's demise. The game divided the team working on Ion's marquee title, Daikatana, arguably leading to the walkout of the latter's entire development team. It also put a strain on Ion Storm's finances, leading the once well-funded startup to scramble for cash as Daikatana's development extended over several years.E.T. (Atari 2600)
Reputedly coded in just six weeks, this game was rushed to the market for the 1982 holiday season, and it was based (very loosely) on the popular E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial movie that was a box office hit. The game was hard to play, simplistic and took place mostly in pits that the player had to somehow levitate out of. It was expected to sell millions, and even Steven Spielberg seemed excited about the idea of having his hit movie made into a video game. Word of mouth spread fast and the video game sold extremely poorly during the holidays and beyond. Expectations were so high for this game by Atari, that warehouses were filled with cartridges for the would-be rush of buyers running to get the game. It turned out that the game was such a huge disaster, that millions of unsold excess cartridges ended up buried in a landfill in a desert.* This game, along with just as rushed and ill-fated Pac-Man for the Atari 2600, is thought to be one of the main causes of the video game crash of 1983 and contributed to how Atari went from the US's greatest games publisher to a laughing stock. Widely considered to be one of the first big video game flops ever, it was a real wake-up call to the companies who felt that people were so video game crazy they would buy anything that had a familiar name on it. This proved that this was not the case and some companies (and, to an extent, the entire market) never recovered from the damage caused by such games. This game was also the first of a trend still lamented by gamers: bad video games based on successful movies.A Fork in the Tale
Rob Schneider starred in this full motion video adventure from now defunct Any River Entertainment. Ads for the game contained the tagline, "Think FMV sucks? Think again." The game was heavily dependent on the video scenes and the star power of Schneider to carry it. Just before the game's February 1997 release, Any River closed its doors. The game did not fare well with critics and gamers passed it by. As one reviewer succinctly put it: "Think FMV sucks? You'll think it again."Grabbed by the Ghoulies
The first game to be developed by Rareware for Microsoft's Xbox system was eagerly anticipated for fans of the company and the game system alike. Rare had created several innovative smash hits on previous consoles, most notably Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007, and Microsoft had acquired Rare, paying US$377 million. Microsoft hyped the game as much as they could; and even pushed for the game to be released in time for Christmas (the most lucrative period for toys and video games alike). However, the game performed extremely poorly in terms of sales, due to mixed reviews from games magazines and journalists, a highly confusing storyline and content, and highly unorthodox controls. This remains, as of 2006, the biggest flop in Rare's history.Jack the Giantkiller
In 1982, the President of Cinematronics arranged a one-time purchase of 5000 PCB boards from Japan. The boards were used in the manufacture of several games, but the majority of them were reserved for a new arcade game called Jack the Giantkiller, based on the classic fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Between the purchase price of the boards and other expenses, Cinematronics invested almost two million dollars into Jack the Giantkiller. It completely flopped in the arcade and many of the boards went unsold, costing the company a huge amount of money. Insiders sometimes refer to the game as "Jack the Company Killer" for the part it played in Cinematronics' eventual bankruptcy.Trespasser
A 1998 release from Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Interactive, Trespasser was billed as a sequel to the 1997 DreamWorks film The Lost World. The story was that of a young woman named Anne (voiced by Minnie Driver) who found herself alone on InGen's Site B and was forced to fend for herself against the numerous prehistoric predators populating the island as she attempted to escape. Originally slated as a dark, horror-themed game, budget constraints and other factors caused the game to change to an action shooter late in development. The game employed a unique but unwieldy interface in which the player controlled Anne's right arm and had to look down at a tattoo on her breast to determine her health level (not very practical in a combat situation). PC Accelerator magazine referred to the main character as a, "freakish mammary robot," that was, "merely a pair of boobs with a broken mannequin arm on one side.""The Ass Olympics, An Epic Battle of Ineptitude", PC Accelerator, Issue 20, May 2000 Manipulating objects was a chore and simple tasks often required complex solutions. The highly anticipated game engine was considered by many to be revolutionary, but did not translate to good gameplay and was difficult to scale to the prevailing hardware of the time, leaving many of the nice graphics features unseen. Although a critical and commercial failure, Trespasser has a dedicated fan community which has generated mods and tools for the game and remains active almost a decade after the game's release.Laserdisc video games
While Dragon's Lair was a tremendous success for Cinematronics when it came out in 1983, the fallout from its success was a disaster for the arcade industry. Because of its complex laserdisc technology, Cinematronics sold Dragon's Lair machines to operators for $4000 each, twice as much as a normal machine. The operators passed the extra expense on to gamers, charging 50 cents to play it instead of the normal 25 cents (setting a precedent that later became standard practice for all new arcade games). Although gamers flocked to it when it was new, the replay value turned out to be very low; between the high cost of playing and because it was possible to memorize the entire game, many gamers never came back once they beat it. As a result, the cash flow into Dragon's Lair machines quickly dried up and even with the 50 cent charge many operators never recovered the money they paid for it. Finally, it ushered in the short-lived "laserdisc era" in arcades, which featured many more games styled after Dragon's Lair that attempted to cash in on its success. The vast majority of these games were expensive to produce, poorly received by gamers, and ended up being money-losers for companies and operators alike.The Last Express
This 1997 computer game by Jordan Mechner, is a real-time adventure game and one of the most expensive and innovative ever made. The project took nearly four years to complete and included a month-long blue-screen filmshoot and a round-the-clock staff of up to 50 animators, artists, asset wranglers, and programmers. The game only remained in stores for a few months, despite it having great critical acclaim. Brøderbund's marketing department quit just weeks before the game was released, resulting in virtually no advertising for it. Softbank pulled out of the game market, dissolving its subsidiary GameBank and canceling several dozen titles in development, including the nearly finished PlayStation port of Express. The Last Express was out of print long before its first Christmas season and nearly a million units shy of breaking even. By dropping their support of an already completed game, Brøderbund and Softbank most likely increased their losses.Pacific Assault
Following their great success with the 2002 game of the year Allied Assault, a WWII themed FPS based in the European theater of the war, EA decided to follow up with a game taking place in the Pacific. Unfortunately, given the previous title's success, the game's production was rushed, with a cheaper, lower quality engine being utilized. Given this, the game was released in an unoptimized state, taking up more space and running slower (even on high-end machines) than a game of its graphical level normally would. It was also sold with a variety of bugs and glitches for which EA did not offer sufficient support to contain, nor did they release fixes to halt cheating, which soon became rampant on online multiplay matches. For these quality and support reasons the game received widespread condemnation among reviewers and fans alike, with the original Allied Assault and its expansions being preferred to this day.Writ of Fate
The last game in the Might and Magic series produced by New World Computing suffered from outdated graphics and poor gameplay; the game and several failed spin-offs of the series were among the nails in the coffin of The 3DO Company.Mortal Kombat (SNES version)
To comply with the "family friendly" policy enforced by Nintendo at the time, blood was recolored to resemble sweat and all fatalities that involved blood and dismemberment were toned down (burning-related fatalities, namely Scorpion's and Sonya's, were left intact). While the Sega Genesis version was graphically inferior to the SNES version, the Sega version had blood effects and original arcade fatalities (the main reason the game became popular in the first place) intact and unlockable with a cheat code. This resulted in Sega's version outselling the SNES version exponentially, even giving the Sega console a temporary edge in console sales. The losses caused by the incident led Nintendo to loosen creative control over developers in the future, and Mortal Kombat II and its sequels would arrive fully uncensored on the SNES, outselling the Genesis versions.Mourning Online
Mourning Online (previously known under the alternate titles, Realms of Torment, Mourning, and Age of Mourning), an MMORPG that was developed in Romania for almost 3 1/2 years, "debuted" on February 25th 2005 and was quickly discovered to have none of the features claimed in many previews of the game. When the preorder version arrived, fans say that they got only a white box containing a burned CD-RW with an old beta client and nothing else. Those receiving the hastily prepared product discovered that the game was hardly "finished" to any extent. Of particular note was the sheer number of bugs in the game, almost preventing any sort of enjoyment being had from it. Problems ranged from crash-to-desktop bugs to incredible lag to extremely long server downtimes. The game sold no more than 211 copies, and total lack of tech support from the developers prompted many to cancel their Mourning Online accounts. The game continued development in spite of highly negative word of mouth, extremely bad press (including delisting by MMORPG.com and WarCry) and accusations of downright immoral behavior on the part of the developers. Still, Mourning Online barely qualified for the "massively multiplayer" designation. On average, no more than 10 players were online at a time, and on the occasion when the number touched 50, the server crashed due to the poor networking code of the game. The few players that remained complained of lack of animation for the characters, rather simplistic player vs. player combat, only 2 quests for the entire game, and many bugs that were never fixed, though reported numerous times.In summer of 2006, it was announced that Mourning Online was going back into development under the title Thrones of Chaos. Portland, Oregon-based Loud Ant Software will be developing the latest incarnation of the troubled title, with a targeted re-release of December, 2006.
Pac Man (Atari 2600)
The home version of the highly popular Pac Man arcade game was eagerly anticipated, but was an incredible failure. In 1983, Atari created 12 million cartridges (despite having sold no more than 10 million 2600 systems in total) in hopes of the Pac Man cart boosting system sales. Atari did sell close to 7 million cartridges, but the game was a poor adaptation of the arcade version, and consumers and critics alike gave it low ratings. The game was rushed to make the 1983 Christmas season. As such, it was missing a lot of the charm of the original. The familiar "wakka-wakka" sound was replaced with a cacophonous buzz, the maze was not the same configuration fans of the game were familiar with (e.g. the tunnel was top to bottom rather than left to right) and it was filled with dashes rather than dots. Pac Man himself didn't even turn his head when moving vertically, and when he stopped, his mouth kept opening and closing. The high number of unsold units (over 5 million), coupled with the expense of a large marketing campaign, led to large losses for Atari. This game, along with the disastrous E.T., is often blamed for sparking the video game crash of 1983. Shortly after the disappointment of Pac Man, Atari reported a huge quarterly loss, prompting parent company Warner Communications to sell the division off in 1984. Atari never regained a prominent position in the home console market, as Nintendo and Sega, and later Sony and Microsoft, rose to become the chief players in a market Atari once completely dominated.Psychonauts
Despite being a critical success (It won several "special achievement awards" in GameSpot's Best of 2005and being highly innovative for a platformer, sales for the game were deplorable. Psychonauts followed the adventures of a young boy in a summer camp designed to teach kids how to use their psychic powers. The game sold less than 90,000 copies on the PC, Xbox, and PS2 and has led to the recent troubles at Majesco, the publisher of the game (including the resignation of its CEO *)." target="_blank" >Many gaming experts believe that this game is the poster child for the recent failures in innovative games and symbolizes what is wrong with the state of video games today[http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/psychonauts/news.html?sid=6141519. In fact, one of the awards it won in GameSpot's Best of 2005 was 'Best Game that No One Played.' It could be argued that the game's failure was the direct result of Majesco's reputation as a third-rate republisher of D-Grade games (this reputation being gained in their early days, as a reseller of surplus Genesis 3 and other various doomed console units at blowout rates). Its poor sales have also been blamed on a lack of marketing coupled with a high-end, $50 price tag.Red Baron II
The sequel to Red Baron was released with no support for 3D graphics cards, inaccurate flight models, and bugs. The sequel, Red Baron 3D, was later released to solve most of these problems and existing Red Baron II users were able to upgrade to it for free. With a proliferation of unofficial patches, Red Baron 3D maintains a niche following amongst fans.Persona
Persona, the first title from the highly-popular Japanese Megami Tensei series to be released in English for the Playstation, did not receive a similar reception in the United States and Europe. While Persona received good-to-excellent reviews from critics and players alike, its lack of advertising, mediocre localization, and extremely low number of copies released by its parent company, Atlus, have resulted in it being an obscure cult game that few people are aware of, and even fewer are able to obtain.
Soccer management games since 1999
One of the most active genres during the 8 and 16-bit computer era (80s and early 90s), the genre had a massive decline after Championship Manager 3 started to monopolize the market. EuroLeague Football (follow-up to the 97-99 lineage of Premier Manager and English version of PC Fútbol 2000), Bubball's UEFA Manager 2000 (and the follow-up 442 Touchline Passion), EA Sports' Premier League Manager and the ZOO Digital's rebirth of Premier Manager all failed in the market (except in some circles) due to the monopoly of the Sports Interactive franchise. However, even Championship Manager was not flawless: the shipped version of CM4 was deemed incomplete, and some of the yearly revisions received only a lukewarm welcome. Eidos Interactive then took the reins of the brand name, with SI using the existing code, community and database to create 'Football Manager'. Eidos Interactive's CM5, was released late and bug-ridden, losing the battle to Football Manager and even TCM 2005.''Note that Football Manager 2005 onwards (the name revived from Football Manager on a variety of 8-bit consoles in the 1980s) is a product of Sports Interactive, who surrendered the Championship Manager series' name after Championship Manager 03/04, following a dispute with their then-publishers, Eidos Interactive. Championship Manager 5 and Championship Manager 6 have nothing to do with Sports Interactive, instead being developed by Beautiful Game Studios under the auspices of Eidos. SI took their expertise in creating the series (as well as their huge databases of football information) to Sega to release Football Manager 2005. Fans of Sports Interactive see the Football Manager as the inheritor of the Championship Manager tradition due to being made by the same development team. Judging by the respective sales figures, these fans are in the majority. A comparatively small number of early Championship Manager fans seem to have stuck by Eidos and the new studio who now own the name.
'' Sonic X-Treme
Sonic X-treme was a planned installment in the Sonic The Hedgehog series, but never made it to market. Sonic X-treme was planned to be the first Sonic release for the Sega Saturn, and the first 3D Sonic title. Sega gave it a release date of Christmas 1996, but disputes between Sega's American and Japanese divisions and the declining health of the game's producer sent it to development hell until Sega finally shelved it in 1997. There is at least one known copy of Sonic X-treme, which was sold at an auction.Force Commander
The first traditional RTS based in the Star Wars franchise, this game used a sub-par 3D engine and its interface and game design were poorly-received. Like many games that are generally judged to be of poor quality, Force Commander underwent several complete remakes during its development - at times looking like games such as "Total Annihilation" or "Command & Conquer" - yet the final version did not resemble these games. Of all Star Wars games, Force Commander is often thought among the worst games in the area of excessive pre-release hype and poor game value.The Angel of Darkness
Expected to revive the long-stagnant Tomb Raider series, it was repeatedly delayed. When it finally shipped in mid-2003 (after major cutbacks were made from the developers original intentions due to Eidos rushing for a February release date) it was not well received by video game critics due to multiple bugs and outdated game-play elements. The game was even criticized by Paramount Pictures, who said that gamers' dissatisfaction with the game contributed to the poor commercial performance of their movie The Cradle of Life. * This was the last Tomb Raider game to be developed by its creators, Core Design. Eidos the publisher of the series, assigned their other game studio Crystal Dynamics to develop the next Tomb Raider game ( Legend) due to The Angel of Darkness' low sales numbers and poor reception.Ultima IX: Ascension
Richard "Lord British" Garriott's final Ultima game was to be the denouement to the "trilogy of trilogies" that comprised the seminal computer RPG series. The final product, however, was a huge disappointment on many levels, particularly in the area of software bugs and glitches that rendered the game virtually unplayable. There was such a massive outcry from fans that Origin was forced to shut down an official online help page, due to the high volume of negative posts. An unofficial patch (1.19) was released which got the game to its most playable state, and other fan-made patches have since been released on the internet. While Electronic Arts (Origin's parent company) kept the rights to the Ultima name, the bad press, substandard support, user animosity, and the resulting poor sales forced EA to terminate the series. EA announced a MMORPG titled Ultima X Online that was slated for a 2005 release and would continue the Ultima series storyline, but it was canceled and all resources were redirected to Ultima Online. Enthusiastic fans, disgusted with Ultima IX, have undertaken a project to supplant the disappointing title, calling the new game Ultima IX: Redemption.World Cup Carnival
The official game of the Mexico '86 FIFA World Cup by US Gold, which had several problems during development, forcing the company to acquire an older game and modify it to suit the license. Buyers and the complete industry alike frowned upon the attempt to distribute a mediocre two year old game as a new one.Wizardry 8
Wizardry 8 was the long-anticipated sequel to Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, one of the most highly-regarded and successful computer role-playing games in the history of the genre. Temporarily cancelled on more than one occasion as a result of Interplay (its parent company) suffering severe financial losses and eventually a complete bankruptcy, Wizardry 8 was eventually released with little hype or advertising. Sirtech, the company behind the game, was forced to sell advertising space in the game to fund it's production, and also made an exclusivity deal with EB games in order to market the game.
In spite of little in the way of marketing, Wizardry 8 went on to be named RPG of the Year by Computer Gaming World in 2001, and received excellent reviews from industry press and players alike as evidenced by scores collected by Metacritic
While the game has received overwhelmigly positive reviews, many people unfamiliar with the Wizardry franchise feel disappointed by the game's bad textures and in-game ads. The game has a small fanbase, but unfortunately the lack of advertising makes this game virtually unknown to those who haven't played other Wizardry games. The game is generally considered good by those who have played it, but the people who have actually played the game are few.
WWE WrestleMania X8
The natural assumption of the gaming community was that this game would represent the fifth title (And first for the next-generation Nintendo Gamecube system) produced by the collaboration between Japanese developer AKI and its American publishing partner, THQ. The AKI-built WWF games had singlehandedly transformed the wrestling game genre from a laughingstock to a million-selling institution, and it seemed only natural to the massive contingency of wrestling game fans that the creatively and financially lucrative partnership would continue.
However, THQ had other plans. Due to circumstances that still remain unclear (Presumably financial in nature), the publisher severed ties with AKI and put the developers of their Playstation-based Smackdown! series--Japan-based Yuke's--in charge of the new franchise. As damage control measures in the face of fan community rage, THQ repeatedly insisted that they had brought in "key members of the AKI team" to ensure that the new project entailed the quality standards of its predecessors. This was clearly not the case, as the finished game featured a stripped-down version of Yuke's proprietary wrestling engine, scaled-back features, and lackluster gameplay. The backlash against THQ's propaganda campaign was so severe that it even resulted in the genesis of what might be the first consumer concern group in the history of the gaming industry: Wrestling Gamers United. Succumbing to the very loud and angry disappointment of their constituency, THQ spent millions over the next four years trying to meticulously replicate the AKI engine in their consequent releases for the Gamecube system.
WWE WrestleMania 21
This is the third WWE game to be released for the Xbox console by THQ following its previous lackluster titles, WWF RAW and WWE RAW 2. Developer Studio Gigante promised that it would redefine the wrestling game genre with an all-new pro reversal system, motion-captured moves, and realistic graphics. Unfortunately, everything but the visuals and extensive voice acting failed to meet expectations, and the advertised online features of the game did not work until a patch was released some time later. Studio Gigante soon ceased operations.Computer and video game service failures
Sega's Online services
Sega Meganet, Sega NetLink and SegaNet were online services for the Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast, respectively. They allowed players to play against each other online, use email, and other services. Failure to attract substantial player bases and the demise of each console soon brought about the end of their respective services.The Sega Channel was a unique online service for the Genesis, allowing users to download games through cable television service, and compare high scores with other users. Although it became reasonably popular, the eventual demise of the Genesis console led Sega to discontinue the service.
References
External links
- The Dumbest 25 moments in gaming from GameSpy
- The all time worst games from MobyGames
- Top and Bottom Games from Game Rankings
- EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time from Seanbaby.com
History of computer and video games | Computer and video game flops | Commercial failure lists | Entertainment flops
"List of major commercial failures in computer and video gaming"