Board 8 > Worst game launch ever?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Snubs include SimCity 2013, Anthem, and Star Wars Battlefront II

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Personally, I think this is between Fallout 76 and Cyberpunk. Both have done severe damage to their companies' reputations. Fallout 76 takes the win via duffel bag-assist

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ET is way worse than any of these.
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Sim city 2013

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It was definitely Sonic 2006. Some of the listed games were terrible on launch but had a redeeming conclusion. Sonic 2006 was a massive shit on the chest of gamers and still is

FFXIV 1.0

They literally made an entirely new game from scratch and gave it to everyone who bought the original for free.

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This poll is stacked.

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Possibly Umbrella Corps. Had below 100 player count within the first two days iirc.

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how do we define worst? worst expectations to sales ratio? expectation to reviews ratio? expectations to gameplay? hit to the company's reputation? # of people asking refunds? how long the negative shit just keeps coming in as people discover new bad shit?

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XIV has to be the answer, but my first thought was No Man's Sky

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My first thought was Sims City 2013. And I defined it as "worst launch" and not "worst game at launch" if it makes sense. Good games can have bad launch.

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Some of these don't event count because the games themselves just suck. The launches of Sonic 06 and Daikatana have nothing to do with them being bad.

76 and NMS are the only real contenders here against the champ, but FFXIV....like, I know some people may not be aware, but A Realm Reborn is a different video game than 1.0. The launch of 1.0 was so horrific that it was irreparable, there was nothing that could be done. They fucking blew it up and started over. New code, new engine, there is nothing fundemental that remains. It's not like they even had the story, ARR takes place 5 years AFTER 1.0.


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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Some of these don't event count because the games themselves just suck. The launches of Sonic 06 and Daikatana have nothing to do with them being bad.

76 and NMS are the only real contenders here against the champ, but FFXIV....like, I know some people may not be aware, but A Realm Reborn is a different video game than 1.0. The launch of 1.0 was so horrific that it was irreparable, there was nothing that could be done. They fucking blew it up and started over. New code, new engine, there is nothing fundemental that remains. It's not like they even had the story, ARR takes place 5 years AFTER 1.0.

Realize that everything youve said is about the developers reaction to the launch, not the launch or the game itself. Maybe this just proves that Japanese game developers take more pride in their work, and actually feel shame when they fuck up?


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The entire Sega Saturn US library, wherein the launch was so bad that multiple companies openly refused to sell anything Sega related.

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I voted No Man's Sky because the launch itself was dreadful. Bugs, missing features, bad communication, etc. Cyberpunk is another good example

As far as I know Sonic 06, for example, is just a bad game that came out at some point. Not sure what the criteria is supposed to be, or perhaps it was intentionally left open to interpretation

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Mighty No. 9 came to mind first, even though it seems OK to me

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XIV 1.0 by a mile.

There was absolutely nothing about that launch that should have been redeemable.

(Greatest gaming comeback ever)

jcgamer107 posted...

Mighty No. 9 came to mind first, even though it seems OK to me

I thought of this, but it wasn't the worst launch, but more, the worst everything before launch

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GTM posted...

the worst everything before launch

Not Daikatana?

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what about ArchAge

I also feel like Cyberpunk doesn't belong here because the game isn't actually fixed and may never be. They're back on the PSN store, they have no reason to try and sell new copies because they already made bank and an absurd number of people own the game, the game still basically doesn't work on PS4 and there's no indication it ever will. They've basically ended up getting away scott free with no REAL negative repercussions other than their reputations, and there's maybe 100 people on earth tops who would skip Witcher 4 who planned to buy it in the first place just because of what happened with Cyberpunk.

"Got pulled from PSN" sounds real bad in a vacuum, but I honestly don't think launch Cyperpunk and current Cyberpunk are even all that different.

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Disgaea mobile is a hilarious one, where the game came out, was playable for like an hour, and then the servers went down for 8 months.
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The answer is XIV.

As far as I know of in history there has never been another game that they had to make a brand new game from the ground up to replace the first and then give this brand new game and all its new assets to everyone who bought the first for free. It is unique, and hopefully no other game will ever join it.

NominateMoogles posted...

The answer is XIV.

As far as I know of in history there has never been another game that they had to make a brand new game from the ground up to replace the first and then give this brand new game and all its new assets to everyone who bought the first for free. It is unique, and hopefully no other game will ever join it.

I mean there totally have been games where they HAD to do that to save it. They just didn't.

KokoroAkechi posted...

I mean there totally have been games where they HAD to do that to save it. They just didn't.

Isnt that the inherent difference between a bad launch and a bad game?

NominateMoogles posted...

Isnt that the inherent difference between a bad launch and a bad game?

The thing is if you actually use that distinction FFXIV current should just count as a separate game. It just has the same name as the failed product. Even the dev team that worked on A realm reborn is different from the original.

KokoroAkechi posted...

I mean there totally have been games where they HAD to do that to save it. They just didn't.

Potentially, but genre matters here.

FFXIV is an ongoing game that needs active players to survive. Initial sales numbers mean very little in terms of the cost of the product, all that matters is specific number of units. It's to such a degree that FFXIV and it's first expansion are free indefinitely, with no time limit or monthly fee, and only a few limitations.

Plenty of games are terrible and could have absolutely used a ground up remake. There's no actual incentive to do that though.

FFXIV HAD to be fixed, or it had to be shutdown. It was nothing but pure negative profits for an entire year. They didn't have a choice, a failed launch meant a product meant to have a lifespan of years was dead in the water. No amount of regular old patches was ever going to fix that.

And the craziest thing is that 1.0 launched worse than just about every other failed MMO on the market launched, and yet all of them just gave up and shut down.

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KokoroAkechi posted...

Even the dev team that worked on A realm reborn is different from the original.

Not the case. The director and producer changed (into one person). A vast majority of the dev tram remained the same, splitting into a team to try and make good on 1.0 as much as possible and a team working on 2.0, before merging after 1.0 experienced it's WEE.

I feel like that part of the story gets lost to a lot of people as well. They NEVER stopped working on 1.0 until the end, even when they were working on 2.0 at the same time. It actually did end up becoming a serviceable if very flawed product by the end there!

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

they have no reason to try and sell new copies because they already made bank and an absurd number of people own the game, the game still basically doesn't work on PS4 and there's no indication it ever will. They've basically ended up getting away scott free with no REAL negative repercussions other than their reputations, and there's maybe 100 people on earth tops who would skip Witcher 4 who planned to buy it in the first place just because of what happened with Cyberpunk.

They lost a lot of money they would otherwise have made, and hypothetically intend to release a nextgen version of the game that they would also have sold a bunch of.

also CDProeckt Red went from being a beloved studio among gamers to absolute disaster. I dont think any game on this list had as much of a negative effect on a previously legit studios reputation.
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first thought was No Guy Buy

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I mean, XIV and 76 were disasters, but they came from companies that were far less dependent on each game and didnt have nearly the level of hype that Cyberpunk had. The other two have stuff to fall back on, Cyberpunk is all CDPR will have for a long while.
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ff14

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MoogleKupo141 posted...

They lost a lot of money they would otherwise have made, and hypothetically intend to release a nextgen version of the game that they would also have sold a bunch of.

also CDProeckt Red went from being a beloved studio among gamers to absolute disaster. I dont think any game on this list had as much of a negative effect on a previously legit studios reputation.

you dont think 76 tanked their companys rep?

NominateMoogles posted...

you dont think 76 tanked their companys rep?

no lol

CDPR and Hello Games tanked their reps with their respective disaster releases way more than Beth did with 76

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Fallout 76 is also pretty good now

Cyberpunk still made a profit and will recover over time

FF14 is truly a special case

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Lucavi000 posted...

no lol

CDPR and Hello Games tanked their reps with their respective disaster releases way more than Beth did with 76

Bethesda was made a laughing stock over 76, and plenty of people said theyd never trust/buy from them again. Will that hold up, probably not, too many games and IPs people will purchase. But this is just about the launch, and 76 was a disastrous launch that did away with decades of Bethesda goodwill.

Cyberpunk definitely hurt CD Projekt Red's rep worse than Fallout 76 hurt Bethesda, but I think people are forgetting just how many parts of the Fallout 76 launch that were screwed up besides the game itself. They refused refunds, didn't give people their collector's edition merchandise, doxxed a lot of people's personal information due to poor site security, lied repeatedly about the situation, and had the most legendary PR response of all time:

https://i.redd.it/yxq49gvig3121.jpg

And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head!

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76 was an ongoing clownshow for a while, but Cyberpunk also had the most hype/good faith behind it leading up to launch. CDPR were held to the highest levels of god tier developer for people, especially trying to play up the "we're just like you guys, average joes!" despite growing into a larger company. And Cyberpunk looked great from all leadings up to it (outside of the cringe marketing quasi-transphobic stuff). And then it all blew up in their faces, even if it did ultimately make them money. They completely shot their golden reputation.

XIV works too, can't really argue against that point

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

76 was an ongoing clownshow for a while, but Cyberpunk also had the most hype/good faith behind it leading up to launch. CDPR were held to the highest levels of god tier developer for people, especially trying to play up the "we're just like you guys, average joes!" despite growing into a larger company. And Cyberpunk looked great from all leadings up to it (outside of the cringe marketing quasi-transphobic stuff). And then it all blew up in their faces, even if it did ultimately make them money. They completely shot their golden reputation.

XIV works too, can't really argue against that point

Sonic 06 had the most hype going into launch. Its easy to forget that 15 years later and one of the worst games of all time.

But 06 had ridiculous hype that it was gonna save Sonic as well as be the perfect start to a new generation (PS3 launch Title). It was only weeks before release that leaks came and some hopes faltered. But even lowered hopes couldnt prepare for the finished product.

Street Fighter X Tekken should be considered.

All that hype around a fighting game that is just so absurdly broken on the fundamental level. It had a disastrous reality show for cripes sake. It was the first major miss for Capcom after the Street Fighter IV resurgence. They just blew the launch of this game so badly.

-P2W Gems
-Gems, in general, not really being worth it outside of the same ones.
-Timeouts were more frequent than actually ending matches.
-So many jabs. The games were mostly spent just jabbing.
-Pandora mode comeback mechanic was completely worthless.
-Character story stuff was awful, even by fighting game standards
-Paid DLC fighters were on the disc already, complete or near complete

It all just killed faith in Capcom fighters after that and was the start of a serious downturn in the popularity of the genre.

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite was also atrocious, but that was when fighting games had become less popular. But that game did a ton wrong, but not as wrong as Street Fighter X Tekken.

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Sonic 2006 was only a PS3 launch title in Europe where the system came out a few months later, it launched on 360 earlier and the release was slightly after the PS3 launch in NA and Japan. Everybody knew how bad it was by then.

However, anybody hyping it was already all the way in on Sonic. Sonic had three 3D games that were mediocre at best and a 3D spinoff in Shadow the Hedgehog that was bad. Despite them using the title as a way to imply a reboot, it was clear from the marketing that this was a continuation of the Adventure games and Shadow. I remember the trailers for it, they looked terrible. It was never going to be good, the question was how bad it would end up as. I am not even sure it was what finally eliminated all hope of a good 3D Sonic game, as Secret Rings came out a few months later and wasnt awful, then people hyped Unleashed and the sequel to that accordingly only for them to be bad, then Colours was good and Generations was okay which led people to hype Lost World and so on.

It wasnt a bad launch it was just a terrible game. Anyway, the answer is XIV as it nearly killed the franchise which none of these other games can claim really. No Mans Sky was just bad communication, and Fallout 76 was an early access game released as an actual launch instead.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

Sonic had three 3D games that were mediocre at best

I'll make you eat those words

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Mighty No. 9

The hype-to-disaster ratio was insane.

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Control-F "Andromeda"

Huh.

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WarThaNemesis2 posted...

The entire Sega Saturn US library, wherein the launch was so bad that multiple companies openly refused to sell anything Sega related.

The games themselves weren't that bad, but the Saturn launch in the US has to be up there if console launches can be considered.
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special mention to kickstarter projects that don't release

azuarc posted...

Control-F "Andromeda"

Huh.

Game is just shit, launch has nothing to do with it.

The bugs were a factor, not the reason. A perfectly running Andromeda is still a trash game.

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azuarc posted...

Control-F "Andromeda"

Huh.

that's in the triple a's of disastrous launches. this here is the major leagues.

Fallout 76 was honestly the first thought I had though the stories I hear about FFXIV's original launch are indeed hard to beat - though part of that is because Square actually had the resources/cared enough to actually do it right leading to such a unique story. If we included disasters that the dev/publisher went "lol" and just shrugged and abandoned in that state it'd be a lot less unique.

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Yeah, I don't think it's FF14. I think the launch wasn't really the disaster, it was more that they made a bad game and it was an MMO, and an MMO without players lost them a ton of money. And by the end it was something much more playable, but it still didn't make money (which is the fault of the launch). It's not even as unique as people are saying - No Man's Sky did the same thing (make essentially a new game and give it out for free) on a much smaller scale!

There's some bias because FF14 1.0 is over and done with while F76 and 2077 are still getting updates. Cyberpunk 2077 and Fallout 76 were much more notable to me for being major AAA releases a little more mainstream than an MMO, and there being a ton of tangential drama besides just the game itself being bad. It's kind of a tossup to me but I'd have to go Cyberpunk.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Game is just shit, launch has nothing to do with it.

The bugs were a factor, not the reason. A perfectly running Andromeda is still a trash game.

I played it a couple months ago -- not to completion, which might be needed to have a proper opinion, but a fair bit -- and it didn't strike me as trash. The main reason people crapped on it at launch was the bugs, and those have been patched out.

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