Everyone looks forward to the launch of a new game. After all the pre-release marketing and hype has swollen to bursting point, the launch of a game is supposed to be a celebration of a developer’s hard work and perseverance.
Unfortunately, some games just don’t quite get it right. Months of anticipation can come crashing down around a developer, or in more recent cases, a publisher. Whether it’s because the game arrives completely broken out the gate or its release is marred by an industry controversy, a bad launch can often derail what should’ve been an otherwise popular game.
In today’s world of day-one patches, a disastrous launch should, theoretically, be easier to avoid. However, the advent of always-online and multiplayer-heavy titles depending on often unreliable servers makes it considerably harder to predict how a launch will go. Not only that, but the internet’s intolerance for anti-consumer business practices is at such a high that it can smash a game’s reputation to pieces before it’s even on the shelves.
The following games learned all too well what happens when you underestimate your audience, in more ways than one.