List of commercial failures in video gaming

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As a hit-driven business, the great majority of the video games industry's software releases have been commercial failures. In the early 21st century, rules of thumb noted by industry commentators estimated that 10% of published games generated 90% of revenue;^[1] that around 3% of PC games and 15% of console games have global sales of 100,000+ a year (with even this level insufficient to make high-budget titles profitable);^[2] and that about 20% of games return at least some profit.^[3] The rate of commercial failure has been estimated at 95% by the International Game Developers Association.^[4]

Some of these have drastically changed the video game market since its birth in the late 1970s. For example, the flops of E.T. and Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 were high profile games of low quality, contributing to the video game crash of 1983. Some games, despite being commercial failures, are well received by certain group of gamers and are considered cult games. Many of these games live on through emulation.

Contents 1 Video game hardware failures 1.1 3DO Interactive Multiplayer 1.2 Amiga CD32 1.3 Amstrad GX4000 and Amstrad CPC+ range 1.4 Atari Jaguar 1.5 Bandai Pippin 1.6 Commodore 64 Games System 1.7 digiBlast 1.8 Gizmondo 1.9 Nokia N-Gage 1.10 PSX (DVR) 1.11 Virtual Boy 2 Video and computer game software failures 2.1 Battlecruiser 3000AD 2.2 Beyond Good & Evil 2.3 Daikatana 2.4 Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 2.5 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600) 2.6 Grabbed by the Ghoulies 2.7 Pac-Man (Atari 2600) 2.8 Psychonauts 2.9 Shenmue 2.10 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2.11 The Last Express 3 Arcade game failures 3.1 I, Robot 3.2 Jack the Giantkiller 3.3 Professor Pac-Man 3.4 Radar Scope 3.5 Sundance 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Video game hardware failures

For the sake of scope, a commercial failure for a video game hardware platform is generally defined as a system that either fails to become adopted by a significant portion of the gaming market place, or fails to win significant mindshare of the target audience. This definition should be applied internationally, and not based strictly on the success or failure of a platform in any one given market (e.g. North America).

[edit] 3DO Interactive Multiplayer

Main article: 3DO Interactive Multiplayer

Co-designed by RJ Mical and the team behind the Amiga, and marketed by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, this "multimedia machine" released in 1993 was marketed as a family entertainment device and not just a video game console. The success and quality of subsequent next generation systems which began coming onto the market in the mid-90's, the limited library of titles, the lack of third-party support, and a refusal to reduce pricing until almost the end of the product's life (US$699.95 at release) were among the many issues that led to the platform's demise and the company's exit from the hardware market.^[5] This exit also included The 3DO Company selling the platform's successor, the M2, to Matsushita.^[6]

[edit] Amiga CD32

Main article: Amiga CD32

Released in 1993, the decline of the Amiga product line and Commodore's poor marketing and lack of product support could be blamed for the failure of this product. While it was initially billed as all the power of an Amiga computer in a console, it was not priced competitively to the Amiga 500/1200 lines. These were certainly factors, but Commodore was already treading water after its loss of the XOR patent infringement lawsuit. It was forbidden from shipping product into the US until it paid, which it was unable or unwilling to do. Eventually most of the consoles manufactured were seized to cover a portion of Commodore's debt to the Philippine manufacturer.^[7]

[edit] Amstrad GX4000 and Amstrad CPC+ range

Main articles: Amstrad GX4000 and Amstrad CPC#Plus models

In 1990, Amstrad attempted to enter the console gaming market with hardware based on its successful Amstrad CPC range but also capable of playing cartridge-based games with improved graphics and sound. This comprised the Amstrad CPC+ computers, including the same features as the existing CPCs, and the dedicated GX4000 console. However, only a few months later the Sega Mega Drive, a much-anticipated 16-bit console, was released in Europe, and the GX4000's aging 8-bit technology proved unable to compete. Many of the games were also direct ports of existing CPC games (available more cheaply on tape or disc) with few if any graphical improvements. Fewer than thirty games were released on cartridge, and the GX4000's failure ended Amstrad's involvement in the gaming industry. The CPC+ range fared little better, as 8-bit computers had been all but superseded by similarly-priced 16-bit machines such as the Amiga, though fans of the computer discovered software hacks that made the advanced console graphics and sound accessible to users.^[8][9]

[edit] Atari Jaguar

Main article: Atari Jaguar

Released in 1993, this 64-bit system was promoted as much more powerful than its contemporaries, the Sega Genesis and the SNES; (hence its "Do the Math" slogan) however, its sales were hurt by a lack of quality software, a flaw in the hardware which made programming difficult, a hard to hold/manipulate controller design, and a number of crippling business practices on the part of Atari senior management. The system never attained critical mass in the market before the release of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, and without strong leadership to drive a recovery, it failed alongside the company.^[10][11] The system has since been released to the public, meaning legitimate homebrew can be and has been produced.

[edit] Bandai Pippin

Main article: Bandai Pippin

A game console designed by Apple Computer and produced by Bandai in the mid-1990s based around a PowerPC 603e processor and the Mac OS. It featured a 4x CD-ROM drive and a video output that could connect to a standard television monitor. Apple intended to license the technology to third parties; however, the only Pippin licensee to release a product to market was Bandai. By the time the Bandai Pippin was released (1995 for Japan, 1996 for the United States), the market was already dominated by the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. The Bandai Pippin cost US$599 on launch, more expensive than the competition.^[12]

[edit] Commodore 64 Games System

Main article: Commodore 64 Games System

Released only in Europe and being Commodore International's first venture in the video game market, the C64GS was basically a Commodore 64 redesigned as a cartridge-based console. Aside from some hardware issues, the console did not get much attention from the public, who preferred to buy the cheaper original computer which had far more possibilities. Also, the console appeared during the apogee of the 16-bit era, which left no chance for it to succeed.^[13]

[edit] digiBlast

The digiBlast portable console was launched by Nikko at the end of 2005 and promised to be a cheap alternative (selling at approximately €80) to the Game Boy Advance and PSP. The handheld could be used for games on cartridges. Cartoon (WinX Club, SpongeBob SquarePants) episodes and were released on cartridge as well as cartridges containing music videos. Also a cartridge for MP3 playback and a cartridge with a 1.3 Megapixel camera were planned. A shortage of chips around the release date and thereafter resulted in a failed launch and loss of consumer interest.^[14][15]

[edit] Gizmondo

Main article: Gizmondo

A handheld gaming device including GPS and a digital camera was released by Tiger Telematics in the United Kingdom on 19 March 2005. The console sold poorly, due to a lack of games, and being unable to compete with the cheaper Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. On 23 January 2006, the UK arm of Tiger Telematics went into administration. Several high-ranking Tiger executives were subsequently arrested for fraud and other illegal activities related to the Gizmondo.^[16]

[edit] Nokia N-Gage

Main article: Nokia N-Gage

Made by the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, and released in 2003, the N-Gage was a small handheld console, designed to combine a feature-packed mobile/cellular phone with a handheld games console. Sales were poor and many video gamers mocked the system for its design. Sales were so bad that the system's price dropped by $100 within a week after its release. Common complaints included the difficulty of swapping games and the fact that its cellphone feature required users to hold the device "sideways" (i.e. the long edge of the system) against their cheek.^[17] A redesigned version, the N-Gage QD, has since been released to eliminate these complaints. However, the N-Gage brand still suffered from a poor reputation and the QD did not address the popular complaint that the control layout was "too cluttered". The N-Gage failed to reach the popularity of the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP. In November 2005, Nokia announced the failure of its product, in light of poor sales (less than 3 million units sold during the platform's 3 year run, against projections of 6 million), and while gaming software is still being produced for its Series 60 phones, Nokia has ceased to consider gaming a corporate priority until 2007, when it expects improved screen sizes and quality will increase demand.^[18]

[edit] PSX (DVR)

Main article: PSX (DVR)

Built upon the PlayStation 2, the PSX enhanced multimedia derivative was touted to bring convergence to the living room.^[19] The device failed in Japan, however, due to its high price and lack of consumer interest^[20] and that cancelled plans to release it in North America and the rest of the world. Not only was it an unsuccessful attempt by Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi to revive the ailing consumer electronics division,^[21] it also hurt Sony's media convergence plans.^[22]

[edit] Virtual Boy

Main article: Virtual Boy

The red monochromatic 3-D "virtual reality" system failed due to issues related to players getting eye strain and headaches when trying to play it. It was the first (and so far, only) console flop from Nintendo. Gunpei Yokoi, the designer of the platform and the person largely credited for the success of the original Game Boy handheld and the Metroid series of games, resigned from the company shortly after the Virtual Boy ceased sales in order to start his own company. Many speculated his departure from Nintendo was a face saving offering related to the Virtual Boy's failure.^{[weasel word sentence][23]}

[edit] Video and computer game software failures

[edit] Battlecruiser 3000AD

Main article: Battlecruiser 3000AD

One of the most notorious PC gaming failures, Battlecruiser 3000AD (aka BC3K) was hyped for almost a decade before its disastrous release in the US and Europe. The game was the brainchild of Derek Smart, an independent game developer with a flair for self-promotion and a penchant for public excoriation of his critics. The concept behind BC3K was extremely ambitious, giving the player the command of a large starship with all the requisite duties, including navigation, combat, resource management, and commanding crew members. Advertisements appeared in the gaming press in the mid-1990s hyping the game as, "The Last Thing You'll Ever Desire."^[24] Computer bulletin boards and Usenet groups were abuzz with discussion about the game. As time wore on and numerous delays were announced, excitement turned to frustration in the online community. Smart exacerbated the negative air by posting liberally on Usenet.^[25] The posts ignited one of the largest flame wars in Usenet history.^[26] During the development cycle, Smart refused to let other programmers have full access to his code and continued to change directions as new technology became available, causing the game to be in development for over seven years.

Finally, in November, 1996, Take Two Interactive released Battlecruiser 3000AD in the United States (reportedly over protests from Smart).^[27] The game was buggy, even unfinished in many areas. It was written for a DOS environment at a time when most games used Windows 95. It employed outdated graphics, MIDI music, a cryptic interface, and contained almost no documentation - a huge problem since the commands were unintuitive (e.g. Alt-Ctrl-E to fire weapons). It was joked that the only thing that worked properly was the introductory movie. Critics and the gaming community were merciless, panning BC3K across the board. Smart continued to publicly battle his detractors, but kept working on the game, even in the face of harsh criticism. Eventually, a stable, playable version of the game was released as Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0. Smart eventually released BC3K as freeware and went on to create several sequels under the Battlecruiser and Universal Combat titles.

[edit] Beyond Good & Evil

Main article: Beyond Good & Evil (video game)

Although critically acclaimed and planned as the first part of a trilogy, Beyond Good & Evil flopped commercially. Former Ubisoft employee Owen Hughes stated that it was felt that the simultaneous releases of internationally competing titles Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and in Europe, XIII (all three published by Ubisoft and all of which had strong brand identity in their markets), impacted BG&E's ability to achieve interest with the public. The game's commercial failure led Ubisoft to postpone plans for any subsequent titles in the series indefinitely;^[28][29] however, the sequel was announced in 2008 at the end of Ubidays 2008 opening conference.

[edit] Daikatana

Main article: Daikatana

The brainchild of Ion Storm developer John Romero, Daikatana was a first-person shooter for the PC and Nintendo 64. The initial design had been completed in March 1997 and Romero believed the game could be finished a mere seven months later, in time for the Christmas 1997 retail season, using the Quake video game engine. However, Id software showed the Quake II engine at E3 in June 1997, so Romero decided to upgrade Daikatana for it. This switch was more difficult than first imagined and pushed the game's release schedule to 1998. Due to internal conflicts over the Dominion project, almost the entire Daikatana team (except Romero) quit and the schedule was again pushed out. A demo which only supported multiplayer deathmatch mode was released in March 1999 to lackluster reviews. At E3 1999, the game was a huge disappointment and led to the absorption of Ion Storm by publisher Eidos Interactive. In December 1999, a huge release party was held for the game which was now nearly complete, but it was not actually released until April 2000. The Nintendo 64 version fared far worse, with pared down graphics, large amounts of fog placed in levels to obscure detail, and blurriness making gameplay very difficult.

[edit] Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3

Main article: Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3

The first title released by Ion Storm, Dominion was a real time strategy title similar to Command & Conquer and Warcraft. The game was originally developed by 7th Level, but was purchased by Ion Storm for US$1.8 million. The project originally had a budget of US$50,000 and was scheduled to be finished in three months with two staff members. Due to mismanagement and Ion Storm's inexperience, the project took over a year, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.^[30] Dominion was released in July, 1998. It received bad reviews and sold poorly, falling far short of recouping its purchase price, let alone the cost of finishing it. The game divided employees working on Ion's marquee title, Daikatana, arguably leading to the walkout of several key development team members. It put a strain on Ion Storm's finances, leading the once well-funded startup to scramble for cash as Daikatana's development extended over several years.^[31]

[edit] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Main article: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)

Reputedly coded in just five weeks, this game was rushed to the market for the 1982 holiday season, and it was based (very loosely) on the popular E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial movie. The game was hard to play, simplistic and took place mostly in pits that the player had to somehow levitate out of (very slowly). It was expected to sell millions, and even director Steven Spielberg seemed excited about the idea of having his hit movie made into a video game. Despite selling 1.5 million copies, the game came nowhere near Atari's expectations as they ordered 4 million copies. This resulted in warehouses being left filled with cartridges for the would-be rush of buyers running to get the game. It turned out that the game was such a huge disaster, that millions of unsold excess cartridges ended up buried in a landfill in the New Mexico desert.^[32] The game is highly emblematic of the video game crash of 1983 and contributed to Atari's fall from grace. It is widely considered to be one of the first big video game flops ever. It also played a big part in the decision of Atari filing for bankruptcy as bad sales coupled with the $25 million Atari paid for the rights meant huge financial losses for the company. Atari subsequently announced bankruptcy with debts of $536 million. It was divided and sold in 1984.

The scale of the E.T. disaster has become almost legendary and the game is still well known nearly 25 years after its publication, despite the fact that few gamers today will have played the game. E.T. was ranked in 21st place in GameSpy's "25 Dumbest Moments in Video Game History".^[33] More recently, the game (and its creation process) was parodied extensively in an episode of the G4 TV show Code Monkeys.

[edit] Grabbed by the Ghoulies

Main article: Grabbed by the Ghoulies

The first game to be developed by Rareware for Microsoft's Xbox system was eagerly anticipated for fans of the company and the game system alike. Rare had created several innovative smash hits on previous consoles, most notably Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007, and Microsoft had acquired Rare, paying US$377 million. Microsoft hyped the game heavily, and even pushed for the game to be released in time for Christmas (the most lucrative period for toys and video games alike); however, the game performed extremely poorly in terms of sales, due to mixed reviews from games magazines and journalists and highly unorthodox controls.^[34][35]

[edit] Pac-Man (Atari 2600)

Main article: Pac-Man (Atari 2600)

The home version of the highly popular Pac-Man arcade game was eagerly anticipated, but was an incredible failure. In 1982, Atari created twelve million cartridges in hopes of the game boosting system sales. Atari did sell close to seven million cartridges, but consumers and critics alike gave it low ratings. The game was rushed to make the 1982 Christmas season. The high number of unsold units (over five million), coupled with the expense of a large marketing campaign, led to large losses for Atari. This game, along with E.T., is often blamed for sparking the video game crash of 1983. Shortly after the disappointment of Pac-Man, Atari reported a huge quarterly loss, prompting parent company Warner Communications to sell the division off in 1984. Atari never regained a prominent position in the home console market.^[36]

[edit] Psychonauts

Main article: Psychonauts

Despite being a critical success and being highly innovative for a platformer,^[37] the game initially sold fewer than 100,000 copies.^[38] The game led to troubles at publisher Majesco, including the resignation of its CEO and the plummeting of the company's stock,^[39] prompting a class-action lawsuit by the company's stockholders.^[40] This game has been declared the "poster child" for the recent failures in innovative games.^[41] Its poor sales have also been blamed on a lack of marketing coupled with a high-end, US$50 price tag. Since this, the game has been placed onto Valve's digital distribution service, "Steam". Due to Valve's policy of not releasing sales statistics, it is not known how the game is performing in this new market. It is also available on GameTap.^[42] The game did however go on to sell over 400,000 after further positive buzz and a lower price tag on services such as Steam.^[38] The game is available on Microsoft's "Xbox Originals" via Xbox Live.

[edit] Shenmue

Main article: Shenmue

Shenmue on the Dreamcast is more notorious for its overambitious budget than its poor sales figures. While it sold a respectable number of units, at the time of release, the game had the record for the most expensive production costs (over US$70 million),^[43] and its five-year production time. Shenmue was a critical hit, earning an average review score of 89%.^[44]

[edit] Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Main article: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (video game)

In an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Terminator movie franchise, Atari released Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines to correspond with the third movie in the franchise. The game was widely panned by video game reviewers^[45] and failed to catch on with gamers. A major reason for the game's failure was Atari's failure to release the game in a timely fashion. The game was only released in November 2003, several months too late to capitalize on its movie tie-in.

[edit] The Last Express

Main article: The Last Express

Released in 1997 after five years in development, this 6-million-dollar^[46] adventure game was the brainchild of Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia. The game was noted for taking place in almost complete real-time, using Art Nouveau-style characters that were rotoscoped from a 22-day live-action video shoot,^[47] and featuring intelligent writing and levels of character depth that were not often seen in computer games. Despite rave reviews,^[48][49] Brøderbund, the game's publisher, did little to promote the game, apart from a brief mention in a press release^[50] and enthusiastic statements by Brøderbund executives.^[51] Released in April, the game was not a success, selling only about 100,000 copies,^[52] a million copies short of breaking even.^[53]

After the release of the game, Mechner's company Smoking Car Productions quietly folded, and Brøderbund was acquired by The Learning Company,^[54] who were only interested in Brøderbund's educational software, effectively putting the game out of print.

[edit] Arcade game failures

[edit] I, Robot

Main article: I, Robot (arcade game)

Released by Atari in 1983, I, Robot was the first video game ever to use 3-D polygon graphics, and the first that allowed the player to change camera angles.^[55] It also had gameplay that rewarded planning and stealth as much as reflexes and trigger speed, and even offered players the option, instead of playing the primary game, of selecting a sandbox mode called "Doodle City," where they could make artwork by playing around with the polygons. Today, I, Robot is frequently described as a game that was too far ahead of its time; polygon graphics, player-controlled camera angles, and even sandboxes are now commonplace, but in 1983 gamers and operators who were used to much more straightforward fare like Galaga and Pac-Man didn't know what to make of it, and it became one of Atari's biggest arcade flops as a result.^[56] Production estimates vary, but all agree that there were never more than 1500 units made at most.

[edit] Jack the Giantkiller

In 1982, the President of Cinematronics arranged a one-time purchase of 5000 PCB boards from Japan. The boards were used in the manufacture of several games, but the majority of them were reserved for the new arcade game Jack the Giantkiller, based on the classic fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Between the purchase price of the boards and other expenses, Cinematronics invested almost two million dollars into Jack the Giantkiller. It completely flopped in the arcade and many of the boards went unsold, costing the company a huge amount of money at a time when it was already having financial difficulties.^[57]

[edit] Professor Pac-Man

Main article: Professor Pac-Man

Midway released this quiz arcade game in 1983 as one of their unauthorized Pac-Man games. They planned three versions. There was family (For all ages but geared toward a young audience), public (Like family but geared toward arcades and bars), and prize (For casinos). The game was a huge flop almost as soon as it came out. Only four hundred units were ever made, all of which were the public version. Almost all of them were returned to Midway, where they were converted to Pac-Land.

[edit] Radar Scope

Main article: Radar Scope

Radar Scope was one of the first arcade games released by Nintendo. It was released in Japan first, and a brief run of success there led Nintendo to order 3,000 units for the American market. American operators were unimpressed, however, and Nintendo of America was stuck with about 2,000 unsold Radar Scope machines sitting in the warehouse.^[58] Facing a potential financial disaster, Nintendo assigned the game's designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, to revamp the game. Instead he designed a brand new game that could be run in the same cabinets and on the same hardware as Radar Scope.^[59] That new game was the smash hit Donkey Kong, and Nintendo was able to recoup its investment by converting the remaining unsold Radar Scope units to Donkey Kong and selling those.^[60]

[edit] Sundance

Main article: Sundance (arcade game)

Sundance was an arcade vector game. Producer Cinematronics planned to manufacture about 1000 Sundance units, but sales suffered from a combination of poor game play and an abnormally high rate of manufacturing defects. The fallout rate in production was about 50%, the vector monitor (made by an outside vendor) had a defective picture tube that would arc and burn out if the game was left in certain positions during shipping,^[61] and according to programmer Tim Skelly the circuit boards required a lot of cut-and-jumpering between mother and daughter boards that also made for a very fragile setup.^[62] The units that survived all of that to reach arcade floors were not a hit with gamers - Skelly himself reportedly felt that the gameplay lacked the "anxiety element" necessary in a good game and asked Cinematronics not to release it, and in an April, 1983 interview with Video Games Magazine he explicitly referred to Sundance as "a total dog."^[63]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Dumbest 25 moments in gaming from GameSpy
• The all time worst games from MobyGames
• Top and Bottom Games from Game Rankings
• EGM's Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time from Seanbaby.com