20 Biggest Video Game BOMBS That Deserved Better

Sometimes you can measure the quality of a game by how much it sells, but more often than not, that isn't the case at all. And there have been plenty of brilliant titles across the years that didn't sell the amount of copies they deserved to. I'm Josh from WhatCultureGaming and these are the 20 biggest video game bombs that deserved better. Ubisoft hasn't released a lot of great games over the past decade First up, Phoenix Rising. or so, and sadly the ones that are good didn't sell. Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is probably the highest quality game the publisher has dropped in a generation, and it sold so badly that the developers were shut down. Avatar Frontiers of Pandora was so much better than the crap movie tie-in game it could have been, and again, nobody bought it. Sadly, this trend began before either of these two titles, with Immortals Fenyx Rising. This was another open-world Ubisoft game, but with a twist. It was essentially, to be polite, heavily inspired by Breath of the Wild, with similar open-world exploration, combat and art style. Despite being mechanically derivative, though, it still made for a breath of fresh air in the Ubisoft library and absolutely nailed a sense of freedom and experimentation. The writing and story were charming as well. Again, a nice, colourful change of pace. Despite being something different, though, Immortals struggled to get off the mark. For a while, Ubisoft did see potential in the game and Greenlit a sequel, which was then unfortunately cancelled alongside a bunch of other projects a few years later. And sadly, the franchise remains dead at the time of recording this. Next up, Mad World. Mad World is a 2009 gritty hack-and-slash with an unforgettable black-and-white art style akin to something like Sin City. The visuals aren't the only similarity to the comics either, as the game also portrays a similar degree of violence and brutality that, prior to its release, had generated quite the hype for the game. However, although Mad World certainly delivered what it promised, the same cannot be said about its fans. While Mad World is exactly what it advertised, a dark and violently satisfying beat-em-up with fully unique visuals, lore and characters, the wave of enthusiasm the game had enjoyed didn't stick around for its official publication. The many controversies surrounding Madworld's cartoonishly exaggerated violence, combined with it being released on the Wii, which was mostly associated with family-friendly titles, led to abysmally low sales, which ultimately ruined the game's chances at creating a wider franchise. Still, Madworld provides a quality experience, being developed by none other than Platinum Games, the studio behind many greats like Bayonetta. So if you're in the market for a meaty hack and slasher, it's definitely the way to go. Next up, System Shock. System Shock is arguably one of the most influential sci-fi immersive sims in video game history. But this said, its legacy unfortunately did not translate to good sales. At the time of its release in 1994, System Shock showcased some truly innovative and never-before-seen features in its gameplay. Not only was it a first-person experience that allowed you to freely explore your environment, with custom physics for the player and individual objects, something that hadn't been properly done in a game before, it also offered a ton of interactivity with its set pieces that created a truly emergent form of gameplay. The game's innovations were so great it quickly managed to be recognized as a technological marvel, and it even acquired multiple awards Questions throughout its existence. Despite this, though, the game was only a moderate commercial success, with sales barely exceeding 170,000 copies, causing its developer, Looking Glass Technologies, to lose money. The sales also reflected on its somewhat limited popularity, as aside from a small cult following, the game didn't really amass a huge fanbase at the time. The story does, of course, have a happy ending, though, as in 2023, Night Dive Studios released of the original System Shock, which managed to sell exceedingly well, giving the title the redemption arc it deserves. Next up, Haunting Ground. Haunting Ground is a 2005 survival horror game often compared to the hit series Clock Tower. In fact at the time of its release it was compared to the franchise so much it actually caused people to dislike it and miss out on all the amazing things it had to offer. Although at first glance Haunting Ground might seem derivative of the big early 2000s survival horrors, to say the game is a clone of Clock Tower or Resident Evil is doing it a huge disservice. While Haunting Ground does share some similarities with its competitors, it also comes with its own uniquely eerie world and a ton of gameplay elements that have not been utilized in many of the horror games to this day. The main protagonist, Fiona, is accompanied by her dog, which she can use to fend off pursuing horrors and solve puzzles. And how you treat the dog can actually impact how he behaves. In addition, there's an alchemy system and plenty of clever puzzles that can be a nerve-wracking experience themselves, amidst all the creepy things that are chasing you. The game definitely has more than enough originality to stand on its two legs, or I guess, four legs in the case of its dog, but unfortunately, back in 2005, critics were too quick to draw unflattering comparisons, and as a result, the game sold like rotten cakes. Next up, Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time. They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and sadly the same sentiment applies to gaming studios as well. That's because when you look at the sales for Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time, which sailed across the 5 million mark, you might be fooled into thinking that it was a huge success. I mean, that's a number pretty much every other entry on this list would dream of hitting. But the difference is, this game was made by Activision. And for that publisher, anything other than a mega-hit is considered a flop. The absolutely brilliant return two new single-player Crash games reviewed well and resonated with fans, but was ultimately considered a disappointment because it didn't come anywhere near the ridiculous 20 million plus copies sold that the Crash N. Sane Trilogy achieved a few years prior But is that a fair comparison? Sure, it's the same franchise, but Crash 4 is a brand new game in a series that hadn't had a genuinely good new game in forever. While the N. Sane Trilogy remade three of the most beloved platformers of all time and sold them in one package scientifically designed to hit the nostalgia receptors of the millennials along us. Crash 4 then, no matter how good it was, could never live up to that. And this is all a shame because Crash 4 really was that good, and it's a darn shame that the developers weren't able to continue the franchise with a proper sequel. Next up, Alan Wake. Alan Wake is a game so unlucky that it's one of the few entries on this list that technically flopped twice. Three times if we include the sequel as well. This horror shooter had a difficult development process starting out as an Xbox 360 open world game before being chopped It's often changed into a more linear action-horror title, where you control the titular writer through a horror story that he himself has written, but cannot remember writing. It was a brilliant, if admittedly a little rough, effort from Remedy, a loving ode to the genre and its biggest names, and an overall meta-commentary on storytelling and the creative process. And sadly, despite gaining a cult following, was not the hit that the developer nor Microsoft Microsoft wanted it to be. So, a decade went by of hardcore fans dreaming of an Alan Wake 2, while Xbox had no interest in risking more money on building a franchise that stalled at the first hurdle. But thankfully, Remedy was able to acquire the rights to the game and start building it themselves, releasing Alan Wake Remastered to try and capitalise on the decade of strong word of mouth and give the title the spotlight it deserved. Then the re-release dropped and... And it still didn't make any money, selling less than anticipated. Thankfully that didn't stop Remedy from making Alan Wake 2 a far superior sequel and one of the best horror games ever made, but these things come in threes and that game also struggled to break even across its first year on sale. Next up, Conker's Bad Fur Day. Conker's Bad Fur Day is a platformer developed by the legendary studio behind the Banjo-Kazooie series, Rare. Unlike the company's biggest hits though, Conker's Adventure is unique in that it's aimed at a mature audience. It's filled with adult jokes and doesn't shy away from making crude references to R-rated movies of the time. Now, if you think this shift in tone would lead to ostracising a big chunk of Rare's demographic, well, you're being kinda correct. However, it's actually just half of the reason why the game didn't perform well. Despite being arguably more creative than Rare's other projects, and definitely on par in the platforming collect-a-thon department. The second major reason why Conker didn't manage to sell as many copies as Banjo-Kazooie, reaching only 55,000 sales in the first month of its release, was because Rare sold it at a higher price to make up for its smaller audience. And seeing as it was coming out for Nintendo 64 right at the end of its life cycle, next to no one was willing to pay an inflated price for it. Still, Conker remains an absolute peak of video game satire, one you should definitely play if you manage to get your hands on it. Next up, The Order 1886. The Order 1886 is one of the most unique shooters of the last decade, or I guess decade plus now. Released in 2015 during the heyday of the PlayStation 4, the title turned heads with its steampunk horror setting, where the streets of London were haunted by werewolves and vampires. In the age of same-looking modern warfare FPS games, The Order stood out. Its uniqueness afforded it moderate commercial success, and its developer even had plans for a trilogy, but Sony ultimately considered the game a failure and nipped the idea of of a sequel in the boat. Now, the nail in The Order's proverbial coffin was its painfully mediocre reviews at the time. Due to the game going against the 2015 trends of open-world adventures, opting for a more linear and narratively driven experience, and a short one at that, clocking in at just five hours, the game received plenty of mediocre scores from critics, looking for something more open-ended and more polished. Although the public was receptive to the game at first, the wave of average reviews and average consumer sentiment eventually soured its reputation until The Order 1886 was considered a critical failure. As a result, Sony didn't greenlight the game's potential sequel, and forever plunged its unique world into total obscurity. Next up, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is an open-world RPG that that most likely few It's arguably up there with the other major titles in this genre. Originally released in 2012, Kingdoms of Amalur's mix of Diablo-style combat and your typical RPG worldbuilding wasn't really thoroughly explored, especially to the extent that this game had accomplished it, with its hundreds upon hundreds of quests and genuinely in-depth lore. The game managed to sell moderately well at the time, but the company behind it still failed due to amassing a huge debt, causing Kingdoms of Amalur to fade into obscurity for the next eight years. The project was eventually given a second chance to make a name for itself in 2020, when THQ Nordic released a remaster called Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. The thing is though if you know anything about THQ Nordic's terrible business decisions at the time and the list of all the huge games that came out in 2020 like The Last of Us Part 2 and Hades just to name a few you can tell that this wouldn't end well. Kingdom of Alima was robbed of its redemption arc even though it definitely deserved success. Next up Gravity Rush 2. Gravity Rush 2 is a sequel to the massively popular action-adventure game about a superhero A hero named Kat. The first game in the series was heavily praised at the time for its use of its main premise to create an incredible sense of freedom while exploring its unprecedented world and defeating enemies in new and creative ways. The sequel to Gravity Rush expanded on all the ideas that made it great. Its world was bigger, its gravity-controlling gameplay was smoother and more fluid, and And the use of Cat's powers was more creative. Unfortunately, though, just as the game developed on the original's best qualities, it also did the same with its flaws, and this came to bite it when it was released. Gravity Rush 1's main issue was its boring side activities, and the sequel suffered from a similar issue, only on a bigger scale. The frequency of subpar stealth sections that prevented players from using Cat's powers, the main selling point of Gravity Rush 2, sparked an avalanche of mediocre reviews, which in turn caused the game to undersell and made people forget about the main parts of the game which are genuinely the best use of gravity powers in games to this day. Next up, Titanfall 2. Titanfall 2 is probably one of the best and most creative first-person shooters, period. Everything from its clever level design to the use of the titular Titans, which are giant mechs that turn you from a simple foot soldier to a giant machine of death that can punch people out of existence, is executed so perfectly that the game still enjoys a big following to this day. And yet, at the time of its release, it barely managed to make any traction at all and was considered a financial failure. Why? Well, the answer lies in two important factors. The game's poorly timed release date and its almost non-existent marketing. Titanfall 2 came out in 2016, around the same time that another title in the FPS genre made its appearance, Battlefield 1. Suffice to say, against one of the most recognisable franchises in first-person shooter history, and with Call of Duty just around the corner, Titanfall 2 had little ground to compete on, especially considering Battlefield 1 was attempting to bring something new to the series with its World War 1 setting. Perhaps the game could have had some chances to become more recognisable had it had better marketing, but unfortunately this wasn't the case either, and Titanfall 2 slipped past most people's radars. While its greatness was rediscovered years later, it was too little, too late. Next up, Psychonauts. These days, Psychonauts is considered a classic franchise, and its sequel is one of Double Fine Productions' best-selling titles. However, despite its long-term success, those who followed the news about the game during its release window would know that it actually faced a lot of hardships and ended up being a huge commercial flop. Now, the story here is quite complicated but the gist of it is this. Despite Psychonauts' unique premise of a platformer about entering people's minds, the game's focus groups gave mixed feedback to Microsoft as they found the game's story to be both too confusing and too childish at the same time As paradoxical as this criticism sounds, it convinced Microsoft to drop the project entirely, and Double Fine's development team had to look for another publisher, Majesco. The new funding helped As a result, the game barely managed to sell 100,000 copies back in 2005. Thankfully, its charm and creativity were eventually recognized, though, resulting in its current acclaim. Next up, Okami. Okami features one of the most visually stunning art styles in gaming history, and its giant white wolf is known to anyone who experienced gaming during the 2006 era. With perfect review scores and a captivating painterly-like look, you'd think the game The game would be a huge success. And yet, the studio behind it, Clover, has declared Okami was a huge commercial failure. The reason why the game didn't make it, despite being a seemingly perfect experience, was because of its lack of marketing and a very, very unfortunate release date. The game was a PS2 title that came out in 2006, aka the year that the PlayStation 3 launched. Being a last-gen console release on the day of your publishing is already pretty bad, but to make things worse, Clover and its publisher Capcom had made no effort to advertise the game. Most people knew it existed because someone in their friend group decided to give it a shot, or it was recommended in the small handful of magazines that bothered to write a review for it. And the game could have easily sparked a franchise had it not been for its abysmal marketing. Thankfully, we are getting a sequel in And let's hope it lives up to expectations. Next up, F-Zero GX. Anyone who's played Smash Bros. knows the character of Captain Falcon, but only a few people these days know the game that he originates from, F-Zero. F-Zero is a series of futuristic racing games that go as far back as the year 1990, which is practically ancient history at this point. Originally a pseudo-3D title that was considered one of the best entries in the gaming genre, one of the most beloved installments is F-Zero X, which was a massive hit, but an equally amazing experience can be found in the title that officially concluded the franchise's existence, F-Zero GX. F-Zero GX is one of the most fast-paced and adrenaline-pumping races that you can play, and just as good as its massively successful predecessor, if not better given its higher difficulty level that adds a new challenge to the series. The game really feels like the perfection of the F-Zero formula, however it still sold quite poorly during its release, forcing Nintendo to end the franchise's life cycle forever. The main reason for the poor reception was the game's higher difficulty that I just mentioned that failed to appeal to more casual players. Even though, like I explained, it's exactly this quality of GX that the fans of the series praise nowadays. Next up, Sunset Overdrive. Insomniac Games is a titan of the video game industry, with titles like Ratchet & Clank and their hit Spider-Man series receiving worldwide acclaim. However, there is one game under their belt that, despite sharing the same quality and ingenuity as their better-known franchises, actually left the market with less than desirable results – Sunset Overdrive. Set in a post-apocalyptic city overrun with mutants created by a freak energy drink accident, the game implements a completely original combat system featuring grinding and combo tricks similar to a Tony Hawk game. The issue, though, was the humour. Even in the 2010s the brand of ironic meta-humour felt overdone and a bit cringe, which didn't result in queues outside the door on opening day. Then there was the problem that it also came out as an Xbox exclusive, and since Insomniac's fanbase mostly resided with PlayStation players, what with the company working exclusively with Sony for over 20 years at that point, the Xbox market was almost completely unacquainted with their work. Sunset Overdrive's originality ended up only alienating the Xbox fanbase instead of roping them in, despite the fact that these days most people consider it to be an Xbox One classic. Next up, Guardians of the Galaxy. The 2021 Guardians of the Galaxy is everything a Marvel fan could want out of a game based on their beloved IP. It's a fun adventure with plenty of witty banter, action, and arguably a better characterization of the titular heroes than their MCU counterparts. Arguably. The game has received great reviews and was even the second best-selling game in the UK at the time of its release, but despite this apparent success, it was still considered a bomb, completely failing to meet the studio's sales expectations. And again, there were two major reasons for this. The first was the game's pricing. At the time of its release, Guardians of the Galaxy's price tag just seemed like a huge Which turn off for the majority of players. As the market was becoming more accustomed to paying for huge 100-hour experiences. The second and more damning reason, though, was the release of Marvel's Avengers a year prior. That game, also published by Square Enix, was a huge disappointment and soured players on Square Enix making Marvel games. Which meant that by the time Guardians of the Galaxy came around, fans were sceptical. And that is a huge shame because in terms of gameplay and story, Guardians of the Galaxy is the polar opposite to the Avengers. Next up, Grim Fandango. If you thought Double Fine had it bad with Psychonauts, then Grim Fandango is another one of the studio's failed projects that shows that the studio could just never catch a break. Grim Fandango is the brainchild of the talent from both Double Fine Productions and LucasArts Games Department. In fact, it was the reason why the latter studio made the decision to end their adventure game development entirely and possibly bring about the unfortunate decline of the genre The game is a beautifully stylized title inspired by the aesthetics of the Mexican Day of the Dead. The player controls Manny, a resident of the underworld, as he travels his undead home, solving puzzles and helping out the other inhabitants. Like Psychonauts and other Double Fine projects, Fandango has a unique charm and can easily captivate any player with its sharp visuals and cheeky, chappy characters. Despite this, of course, the game experienced several challenges during its development, with plenty of missing file fiascos forcing the team to release a flawed final product that most people found unintuitive and difficult to control. These issues were eventually fixed in a remastered version, but the original backlash and loss of trust have forever tarnished the reputation of this otherwise incredible game and also caused it to be a sales bomb. Next up, Mad Max. If you were around the gaming block 10 years ago you might remember that in 2015 Mad Max Fury Road ended up with a strange video game tie-in a few months later. What you might have more trouble remembering though is that the game was surprisingly pretty awesome and that's because no one really played it at the time. Although most people would be rightfully skeptical about the quality of game adaptations, the 2015 Mad Max is uncharacteristically well made. The title came out during the peak of open world games' popularity, it actually features an engaging and quite expansive map for you to explore, which is a lot of fun thanks to its polished driving mechanics that do its motorised apocalypse setting justice. Unfortunately though, being an adaptation and being unlucky enough to come out on the same day, As Metal Gear Solid V, at the time of its release, most players weren't willing to give it a shot, worried about potentially wasting their money on a lazy cash grab capitalizing on the movie's prior success. It also didn't help that the studio behind the game, Avalanche, experienced several hiccups during the production and was unnecessarily rushed by Warner Bros. who wanted to publish the game as close to the movie's premiere as possible, which led to more people becoming suspicious of its quality. It might be too little too late, but as we always bang on about in these videos, you need to play it, it's really good. Next up, Prey. Prey is an immersive sim developed by the studio many would consider the kings of the genre, Arkane. The game tells a deeply intricate and fascinating sci-fi story topped with incredibly creative powers that have never really been explored by any other game since Prey's 2017 release. So why is it then that to this day barely anyone has experienced it for themselves? Well, the short answer to this question is intellectual property rights. I know, boo, boo, it's boring, but let me explain, it's more interesting than it seems. As the name might suggest, and not much else beside it, Prey is a reboot of the 2006 first-person shooter of the same name. Work on a sequel to that game began shortly after the commercial success of its release, however in 2011 the intellectual property rights to the franchise were transferred to Bethesda, and starting from there, the game's development began to spiral, first with three changes to the game's development team, and then the decision to completely reboot the franchise instead of making a sequel. As a result, Prey 2017 ended up being nothing like Prey 2006, and although on its own the 2017 release is a brilliant title about shapeshifting aliens and mind powers, its drastic change has estranged most of the original game's fanbase and left everyone else confused about why the hell Bethesda called it Prey to begin with. And finally, Marvel's Midnight Suns. Marvel's Midnight Suns is an XCOM-like, turn-based, deck-building, superhero-themed strategy game with roguelike elements and a little bit of a dating sim thing thrown in the mix as well. And if those seven descriptions sound really confusing and all over the place, then you can already tell what went wrong with the title's release. Although the genre mix is a bit much at first glance, Marvel's Midnight Suns is a surprisingly well-polished game, with a lot of thought put into both its combat and its other features. It works incredibly well. The XCOM-style missions blend seamlessly with its in-depth deck-building system, and combined with the downtime conversations and events that you can experience with your Marvel team of heroes, it quickly turns into an addicting gameplay loop that keeps you coming back for 80 hours or more. Unfortunately, though, the number of different genres crammed into the game turned out to be a PR nightmare. It was hard to advertise each of the game's aspects at once, and it eventually led to a lot of players being confused and turned off from the game, especially the Marvel crowd the game was aimed at, who sought a more straightforward, action-packed experience. Still, the game did manage to amass a cult following of players who gave it a shot, who to this day lament its unfortunate end, including our very own Scott Telford. So that's our list, let me know if you agree that these games should have been more successful in the comments. And while you're here, if you want more videos like this, click the screen right now.