We’ve already discussed the best this generation had to offer, but what about the opposite end of the spectrum? What about the biggest flops that this generation brought the gaming community?
You might hate the way publishers pushed retailers to carry exclusive pre-order DLC, or think that PlayStation Network outage was just the worst, but those weren’t really flops as much as they were just annoying or unfortunate. We’re looking for the things which should have been so much more, but for whatever reason just blew up in the faces of those pushing them.
Check out our list below and sound off in the comments section about what flops you think we’re missing in our list.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
This is part three of a six part series getting us ready for the next generation to start. Check out the other pieces from this series below:
Part I – Top 10 Developers of the Generation
Part II – Top 25 Games of the Generation
Part III – Top 10 Biggest Flops of the Generation
Part IV – Top 10 Franchises of the Generation
Part V – Top 10 Underrated Games of the Generation
Part VI – Top 15 Original Soundtracks of the Generation
Extra – Top 10 New Video Game Clichés
Extra – Eleven Great Experiences This Generation has to Offer
———————————————————————————————————————————
10. 38 Studios
When you’re traveling the road paved with good intentions, it’s impossible to skip over the 38 Studios debacle. The studio, which was founded by former Major League Baseball great, Curt Schilling, consumed much of Schilling’s life savings as well as millions of Rhode Island taxpayers’ dollars on its way to bankruptcy.
Upon release the studio’s sole title, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, was met with generally positive reviews. Unfortunately, the game’s financial failure was the eventual nail in the coffin for 38 Studios and co-developer Big Huge Games. Needing to sell over 3 million copies to break even, Kingdoms of Amalur sold just over 1.2 million copies after 90 days, falling well short of the financial success needed to make it a sustainable venture. From there, it was an ugly downward spiral that included missed paychecks for employees, bounced checks to the State of Rhode Island, resigning executives, and ultimately a liquidation of Schilling’s personal property. Epic Games eventually purchased Big Huge Games, the other studio caught in the fallout of Kingdoms of Amalur, re-christening it “Epic Baltimore.” That venture also ended up failing, as Epic Games closed the doors of the studio less than a year later in February 2013.
9. Duke Nukem Forever
By the time it finally launched in 2011 very few people expected Duke Nukem Forever to be anything better than mediocre, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could’ve guessed that it would have been as bad as it was. Full of outdated gameplay, misogynistic one-liners, and uncomfortable scenes that exposed a beyond-archaic view of how women should be represented in media, Duke Nukem Forever was easily one of the most outstanding, albeit predictable, flops of this generation.
What’s even worse is that people were extremely excited for the launch of the game, as 90s gamers longed for the series to bring back that old-school feel. Sadly, it did more to expose the antiquated conventions that came with a decade-and-a-half long development cycle. Not unfamiliar with collateral damage, the critical bashing of Duke Nukem Forever also led to a PR rep losing his job over hinting at a potential media blacklist in a tweet. It seemed as though there was nothing but a black hole of negativity following the idea of a classic FPS series from the 90s getting a proper resurrection, but 90s FPS fans finally got their savior in the recent reboot of Rise of the Triad.
Check out our review of Duke Nukem Forever, as well as a piece examining whether or not the game was as bad as everyone said it was.
8. Nintendo’s Online Attempts
Source: Game Informer
This generation saw a renaissance for online gaming, but for Nintendo it was less of a revolution and more of an awkward adolescence. The Wii offered choppy online experiences at best, while the 3DS and Wii U (though technically a next-gen console) dashed away the opportunity to rid the world of the hated Friend Code convention in favor of something a bit more like what Sony and Microsoft use.
Sadly, even while Nintendo moves forward and makes improvements with the Wii U, it has maintained the concept of Friend Codes while only slightly improving them. There still remains a reluctance for many developers to include online modes in games for Nintendo, however, speaking volumes about the reputation that the company established for itself through the failures of the Wii’s online infrastructure. The quote pictured above, which was spoken by Satoru Iwata a mere four months following Halo 2‘s revolutionizing of the online landscape of console games, likely didn’t help much either.
7. Ouya
The hype for the Ouya, one of the most popular Kickstarter campaigns during the site’s infancy, was almost too much for it to live up to even if it was a good product. To make matters worse, however, the console has so far been unable to provide any meaningful experiences despite the strong pedigree behind it. Top that off with low quality controllers and an overly idealistic outlook on the gaming community, and the Ouya has an uphill battle going forward if it hopes to thrive.
Once billed as a console for the people and a hip alternative to the Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s of the world, the Ouya is now a cautionary tale of how hard it is to develop quality hardware using a crowd-funded budget. The Ouya has been a learning process for the creators, but rather than learning the harsh lessons of hardware development in the privacy of pre-launch debugging, the Ouya has experienced many of its growing pains in the public eye, which never paints a pretty picture on the creators or the hardware itself.
6. PlayStation Home
As we’re seeing in the next generation of consoles, being social is going to be a huge part of the gaming experience going forward. So why wasn’t PlayStation Home, a free downloadable piece of software centered around this idea, exactly what everyone wanted? People just stopped using it, relegating Home to the likes of Google Plus and MySpace as far as online social experiences are concerned.
Sony tried to get people back with everything from fun mini-games to exclusive content featuring the people behind games, but for whatever reason it just never took off in the way that it should have. Home wasn’t necessarily for everyone, but the concept behind it is incredible. Also, the community that did take to Home never really developed into the social community that such a piece of software necessitates, creating a very niche experience for everyone involved and relegating PlayStation Home to nothing more than an afterthought.
The post VGW’s Top 10 Biggest Flops of the Generation appeared first on Video Game Writers.
