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10 games that inflated hype and failed miserably

 

10 games that inflated hype and failed miserably

Many developers calmly and measuredly advertise their new game, without promising gamers mountains of gold. But there are studios that, after the first teaser, start a funny train of hype, rushing at breakneck speed towards gullible gamers.


Unfortunately, it happens that the "artificial" hype becomes unjustified, and the game is quickly forgotten. At least because of the poor quality of the final product. In this article, we have collected the most memorable cases when aggressive marketing did not bring success to a game and it failed miserably.


Fallout 76 (2018)

Fallout 76


Let's start with a game that caused a lot of scandals a couple of years ago. This now long-suffering Fallout 76 from Bethesda looks more or less playable, but on release it was some kind of nightmare. Players hoped to see an amazing post-apocalyptic game that would borrow all the best from the previous games in the series, and in the end we got a kind of beta version, and even for money. The most important thing is that initially, in order to play Fallout 76 , you had to not only buy it, but also pay a monthly subscription.

Bethesda initially launched a huge wave of hype around the multiplayer game in the Fallout universe and it really managed to attract the attention of a huge number of players. As a result, not only did the game fail to live up to expectations, the developers did not even fulfill all the promises they made during the announcement. After the first reviews, people began to massively return money for the pre-order, and those to whom the disks were nevertheless delivered, almost immediately posted ads on trading floors. It was impossible to play it at the start, but the good news is that the creators realized their mistakes and soon removed the monthly subscription, and then began to release large-scale updates with content. Today Fallout 76 can be tried, maybe it will come to you.


Ryse: Son of Rome (2013)

Ryse: Son of Rome


After the first announcement, Ryse: Son of Rome did not look at all like it did on release. First, the game was first person. Secondly, the developers have spent a lot of time creating believable sword duels. And, thirdly, it seemed that this is one of the few games from Microsoft , where the creators managed to competently tie the use of Kinect to the gameplay.

Unfortunately, there is something wrong with the ambitions of the creators, and in order not to risk it, they decided to completely change course and start making their own clone of God of War, only about Rome and without monsters. The result was a boring thing with poor combat mechanics, and the game failed miserably. The most interesting thing is that even after the change of course, which completely destroyed Ryse: Son of Rome, the hype did not subside. The developers continued to flood players with trailers and emphasize that the game will become a serious franchise, and finally there will be a way to wipe Sony's nose with their "God of War". Sadly , as a result, Microsoft wiped its nose on its own.


Knack (2013)

Knack


Sony made a huge bet on the first part of Knack , because it was one of their two exclusives at the start of the PlayStation 4. The Japanese were very lucky that they also released Killzone: Shadow Fall at the same time, otherwise sales of the new product would most likely fail. At the same time, around the primitive arcade game with incomprehensible characters, it was possible to raise such a hype that many gaming forums are still making memes that Knack 3 should become the top PS5 exclusive.

Naturally, the marketing move failed, because it cost players to launch Knackhow it became clear that it was impossible to play. The game is wildly boring, and after a couple of hours you will publish an advertisement for the sale of a disc with the game on Avito. And you still have to find a fool who will buy it from you - this is a puzzle with an asterisk. In addition to the miserable gameplay, the players were waiting for an incomprehensible universe, where you have to manage some kind of stuffed animal from all the garbage. In general, everyone forgot about the game for a long time, and those who fell for the HYIP and could not resell the disc are still crying into their pillow at night, sitting at home with this “masterpiece” in their hands.


The Order 1886 (2015)

The Order 1886


If in the situation with Ryse: Son of Rome the creators wanted to repeat the success of God of War from Sony , then in the case of The Order 1886 , the opposite happened. The Japanese wanted to make their own franchise like Gears of War and thus acquire a top exclusive. The Order 1886 almost completely copied the mechanics and gameplay of "Gears of War", but at the same time attracted attention with an interesting plot and setting. All these ancient conspiracies, werewolves, electric weapons and airships created a simply stunning environment, many wanted to try the game after the first teaser.

Before the release, the hype grew more and more and turned into a snowball, which eventually crashed against a brick wall.The Order 1886 turned out to be a mediocre game with terrible gameplay and an unrealistically short storyline (the game can be completed in an evening), which the creators relied on. Many dubbed the game such a "probe" of the capabilities of the PlayStation 4 and, perhaps, the game coped with this task perfectly.


Anthem (2019)

Anthem

One of those cases when the game was hyped as best they could. There was a lot of advertising, and BioWare was trying to lure as many people as possible into its new multiplayer game. They promised a huge open world, characters in modern exosuits with a lot of possibilities, detailed customization of their hero and a lot of loot. In fact, it turned out to be some leftovers from the candy that Anthem was introduced to everyone .

The most annoying thing here was the gameplay, on which, in fact, they were betting. The developers promised a completely new experience that with Anthem you will forget about Titanfall and similar games forever . As a result, terrible controls, a lot of unfinished mechanics, too little content for a multiplayer game, which ultimately led Anthem to failure and booing from gamers.


Watch Dogs (2014)

Watch Dogs


Despite the fact that at the start of Watch Dogs was considered a deception of universal proportions, over time, gamers still accepted the game. Nevertheless, at the time of release, on a huge wave of hype, Ubisoft simply screwed up. The thing is, at E3 in 2012, they showed a trailer with stunning graphics that weren't there as a result. The downgrade of the picture was visible to the naked eye. The gamers just got furious because they were shown one thing and forced to play completely different. Ubisoft 's

main problem was that from the moment of the announcement until the very release, videos with degraded graphics were not published. Everyone learned about this surprise from the developers after the first launch of the game. In fact, the move with the downgrade was quite reasonable. Watch dogswas supposed to be released on the current and last generation of consoles, as well as Wii U and PC at the same time. It was simply not realistic to leave the picture from the first trailer. I had to go for a trick, but the publishers did not slow down the hype. Actually, in the end they got what they deserved from the gaming community, and they were very lucky that over time, Watch Dogs was recognized as a good game.


Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 (2015)

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5


In principle, before the release of each part of the franchise, marketers started their own HYIP truck and rushed on it, sweeping away everything in its path. Unfortunately, they didn't think that an aggressive promotion strategy would only work if it was good. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 was unlucky not only with the promotion in the media, but also with the developers. The fact is that in the process of creating the game, Neversoft studio was bought by Activision . Some developers were left to cut the next Call of Duty , while the rest were simply fired.

As a result, the continuation of the skate simulator went into the hands of Robomodo, which had already spoiled a couple of Tony Hawk parts and acquired a disgusting reputation. Still Activisionfor some reason I decided that I needed to give the guys another chance, but that was exactly what became their main mistake. The terrible physics made it impossible to play, and the nasty graphics made it painful to watch. The hype did not come true at all, and the players, together with the journalists, buried the series.


Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013)

Aliens: Colonial Marines


An example of how negligence in work can cause a wave of resentment and make players hate developers to such an extent that they even decided to sue them, along with the publishing house SEGA . Gearbox studio , which had a hand in this "masterpiece", managed to get out in its time. The creators stated that they did not have time to complete the game on time and therefore gave part of the work to freelancers. At the same time, they somehow managed to hype Aliens: Colonial Marines , and even continued to do it until the release. It has been repeatedly mentioned in promotional materials that this is the best game based on Alien and its plot will continue the films. Apparently, neither the developers nor the marketers looked at the end result.

The game came out terrible from the word at all. It has poor graphics, which received a noticeable downgrade worse than Watch Dogs . In addition, the game simply amazed enemies and NPCs with stupidity. Absolutely everything behaved inadequately, which made the gameplay unbearably annoying. In addition, the developers thought of screwing a multiplayer mode to Aliens: Colonial Marines , but what they did only confirmed that they cannot do multiplayer. In general, there was a lot of hype, but in fact it turned out to be such a slag that the game can torture schoolchildren who spend hours playing video games and do not want to do their homework. They will definitely remember this lesson for a long time.


Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)

Assassin's Creed Unity


Perhaps this is the part of the series that everyone polls dubbed the worst. The problem is not so much in the game itself as in the fact that the players' expectations were not met at all. The fact is that Ubisoft promoted Unity as a game in the Assassin's Creed universe, which will show all the possibilities of the new PS4 and Xbox One consoles at that time. Naturally, gamers were waiting for a furore, but just got a slap in the face.

Unity was full of bugs, and for every taste and color. During the passage, the characters lost their faces, the textures of the floor could suddenly change, and people in the crowd just mysteriously disappeared. Along with this, Ubisoft also implemented a disgusting co-op. To play comfortably, you had to go through several tests with crashes and constant freezes.

Poor assassins after this already began to beg the player to just let them throw themselves off the roof and die, because Unity is the ultimate form of punishment for them. Fortunately, the publisher learned the lesson and slightly reduced the hype around their next games, while also trying to work them out much better.


No Man's Sky (2016)

No Man's Sky


It was because of the wave of hype around the game before its release that No Man's Sky was literally hated. The developers promised an almost complete simulation of life in space. They said that there will be so much content that, in addition to you, your children will also stick to the game. The creators regularly released cinematic videos and published various art for the game. At first glance, it seemed that this was the first indie game to outshine AAA titles, but in reality everything turned out differently.

No Man's Sky on release was a faded copy of himself from the stories of marketers. There was so little content that after a couple of hours I wanted to say goodbye to the game forever. In addition, the players were waiting for a wagon of bugs and various kinds of problems that prevented them from enjoying even what the developers eventually released.

Fortunately, No Man's Sky was gradually refined with patches and even began to release large-scale updates that put the game in order. If it came out today in the form in which it is now, then even with a huge hype there would be no complaints.

Surely we missed some other games that received a lot of hype, but in fact turned out to be so bad that they disappeared without a trace in the bottomless abyss of the gaming industry. Therefore, do not forget to write in the comments for other examples that match the topic. And also tell us how you feel about excessive hype in the time of game promotion? Is it necessary, or is it always a lure for gamers to buy obviously failed games?

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