Game development is a high-risk business. Large budgets, demanding schedules and ambitious creative plans can still produce a disappointing result, while some troubled launches eventually recover through years of updates. Others never find an audience and leave a lasting mark on the companies behind them.
These are ten major commercial and critical failures, ranging from rushed licensed software and troubled live-service projects to games undermined by technical problems, unclear direction or an unfortunate release window. They also show why thoughtful planning matters in every kind of gaming project, from a blockbuster console title to a home arcade machine buying guide.
10. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2023)
Daedalic Entertainment took a sizeable creative gamble with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, but the game failed to deliver on its promise. Players criticised its bugs, lack of personality and weaknesses across almost every part of the experience. Sales were as poor as the reviews, and Daedalic subsequently left game development to concentrate on publishing. The studio had previously released several successful graphic adventures, including the Deponia series.
9. Babylon’s Fall (2022)
PlatinumGames’ reputation for energetic action made Babylon’s Fall an unexpected disappointment. Developed for Square Enix, the action RPG opened with heavy microtransaction pressure, unremarkable visuals and combat that felt slow beside the studio’s work on games such as Bayonetta and NieR: Automata.
Attempts to build a community continued for months after launch, but even free copies offered by GameStop could not create momentum. The service closed shortly before its first anniversary and disappeared from digital storefronts, leaving physical copies with little practical use.
8. Immortals of Aveum (2023)
Immortals of Aveum attracted encouraging previews before its release, yet much of that enthusiasm faded at launch. Its colourful spellcasting replaced conventional firearms, but players felt the overall experience did not separate itself enough from shooters such as Call of Duty.
Electronic Arts reportedly invested more than $100 million in development. The game then faced formidable competition from Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield, while Ascendant Studios laid off nearly half its workforce a few weeks after release. A different launch period may have softened the impact of its shortcomings.
7. Too Human (2008)
Silicon Knights and Microsoft intended Too Human to begin a series blending Norse mythology with science fiction. Microsoft committed substantial funding after the studio’s earlier success with Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, but the project became entangled in a legal dispute with Epic Games over Unreal Engine 3.
Epic maintained its position, and court discovery found that thousands of lines from its tools had been used directly in Too Human’s code. Silicon Knights was ordered to pay millions in damages, destroy unsold physical copies and remove the game from storefronts, although Microsoft later restored it. The order also covered unsold copies of the studio’s 2011 release X-Men: Destiny.
6. The Callisto Protocol (2022)
Striking Distance Studios’ The Callisto Protocol had an impressive pedigree. It was directed by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, with publisher Krafton investing millions in the science-fiction horror project. Its visual presentation was strong, but its linear structure did not give players the breadth many expected.
The game failed to reach its target audience, and Schofield resigned soon after launch. The team later explored the setting in other ways, eventually releasing Redacted with some success. The disappointing debut was a difficult outcome for a project that had generated considerable anticipation.
5. Forspoken (2023)
Originally revealed as Project Athia, Forspoken was positioned as a showcase for PlayStation 5 hardware and Square Enix’s Luminous Engine. Its pitch combined a photorealistic fantasy world, rapid traversal and elaborate spell effects.
The finished game struggled with awkward dialogue, technical problems and muddy visuals, although its parkour movement was widely regarded as one of its strongest features. Some early promotional lines became a meme before release, and the final character interactions reinforced those concerns for many players. Weak sales led Square Enix to disband Luminous Productions and favour established tools such as Unreal Engine and Unity for future projects.
4. Anthem (2019)
BioWare’s standing after the Mass Effect series created enormous expectations for Anthem. After Mass Effect Andromeda failed to recapture the studio’s familiar appeal, public messaging presented the new project as the major release that would restore confidence.
The finished product was a live-service game rather than the richly focused single-player adventure many players associated with BioWare. It also differed substantially from the experience audiences believed had been promised. A roadmap of updates might have helped, but Electronic Arts cancelled the planned support. The servers closed earlier this year, ending the project’s run.
3. Marvel’s Avengers (2021)
Crystal Dynamics delivered a playable third-person superhero action game, but Marvel’s Avengers struggled to turn that foundation into a satisfying long-term product. Players faced cosmetic microtransactions and battle passes alongside the initial purchase price, while endgame content was limited and affected by bugs.
COVID-19 disrupted development, and the game ultimately cost Square Enix a substantial amount of money. It may also have contributed to the publisher’s decision to sell Crystal Dynamics to Embracer Group in 2022. The digital release was later removed from sale, so newcomers now need to locate a physical disc.
2. Redfall (2023)
Redfall promised a cooperative vampire adventure led by distinctive heroes. The concept came from Arkane Austin, the team behind Prey and Dishonored, which made the eventual reception especially damaging.
Warning signs appeared before release, including confirmation that the Xbox Series X version would be limited to 30 frames per second and that a persistent online connection would be required even for solo play. At launch, crashes, awkward controls and weak artificial intelligence overshadowed the premise. Microsoft apologised and closed Arkane Austin in 2024.
1. E.T. (1982)
Atari’s E.T. remains one of the clearest examples of how schedule pressure, licensing costs and poor quality control can combine into a commercial disaster. Atari paid $23 million for the film licence, then gave developer Howard Scott Warshaw only five weeks to complete the game.
The result featured fiddly controls and objectives that were difficult to understand without reading the manual. Players were disappointed, while the wider market was already crowded with low-quality releases. Atari produced huge numbers of cartridges that failed to sell, and millions were famously buried in a New Mexico desert. Years later, recovered cartridges appeared on eBay for hundreds of dollars each.
What these flops teach the arcade industry
Not every failure comes from a lack of talent. Some projects are rushed, some chase an unsuitable business model and others arrive beside unusually strong competition. Hardware, software and audience expectations must all line up for a game to succeed.
That lesson applies to home arcade collecting too. Before choosing a cabinet, consider the available space, controls and the games you will actually play. RETROCADE’s arcade machines, bartop arcades and arcade parts cover different approaches, from a compact setup to a larger dedicated machine.
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