Broken Games That Were Never Fixed, Despite Promises
Do developers always keep their word? Of course not! Sometimes they promise long-term support and fixes for release bugs, but eventually abandon their flawed creations.
Table of Contents
- Broken Games That Were Never Fixed, Despite Promises
- Batman Arkham Origins won't get patches, but it will get a DLC!
Batman Arkham Origins won't get patches, but it will get a DLC!
The series about the adventures of the the Dark Knight generally enjoys good esteem. Nonetheless, individual installments varied in quality. The biggest controversy came with the 2013 installment, Batman Arkham Origins. Is it a bad game? Or a near-perfect title? It depends how you look at.
In terms of gameplay and story, Batman Arkham Origins definitely delivered. However, if we look at the number of bugs and glitches, things are not so rosy. Suddenly, we find ourselves dealing with a game that was simply unfinished. It's hard to call a game full of bugs that require players to use external software to complete missions.
Of course, one could have assumed that everything would be fixed in time and the mistakes would be forgotten, but what happened next was the exact opposite. The developers themselves admitted that patches have been put aside as the team wanted to focus on creating story-driven expansions. It is noteworthy that this installment was created by a different studio than the previous Arkham games released by Rocksteady, and you could see a completely different idea for Batman's adventures.
The team declared it would not intend to fix minor bugs that were affecting only a handful of people. Only if the community identified issues that affected everyone and actually prevented play, then the developer would step in. Otherwise, they decided it would be best to focus on further DLCs.
This all contrasts sharply the fact that the team initially promised something else. They admitted they are aware of the problems that Batman Arkham Origins had, and that they would fix everything and improve the game. Instead, we currently have a game combining new, post-release content and old bugs that no one cared to mend. Fortunately, fans have found quite a few ways to deal with such problems. There's no shortage of solutions to some of the major bugs and issues.
Towns found 200,000 residents and then disappeared
Steam is a veritable dumping ground for abandoned games or those that can't leave the Early Access program. Usually, the developers vanish without a trace and their projects are left to crumble into negligence. However, the creators of Towns decided not to hide their intentions – they simply announced that the game would not be further developed. What's the catch?
Towns didn't appear in Early Access in 2012. Instead, the developers simply released the unfinished game directly on Steam, to which the community responded immediately. Naturally, solemn promises that everything will be improved and streamlined were made. Shortly thereafter, the creators packed up their stuff and left their game without any support. During that time, Towns has been purchased by over 200,000 people!
Towns was intended to combine Diablo, Dungeon Keeper and Dwarf Fortress. We were supposed to build a city for our hero, but the product ultimately fell far short of what was promised. Poor reviews, a lot of hype and low quality, plus general confusion didn't hinder the sales. The farce went on for a year, and then unexpectedly, the lead developer announced he was leaving. His successor also resigned shortly thereafter, leaving Towns to itself.
The reason for leaving was simple – sales of the game had plummeted, so it was deemed not worthwhile to develop the title further. It's worth adding that there wasn't really any "development" going on, as players were sold something incomplete. And finally, a little surprise – the team responsible for Towns is considering a sequel! Hopefully, it won't come to that. If players were able to learn those lessons, things like that would stop happening years ago.
Friday the 13th: The Game has a license for bad luck
You may be familiar with a series of movies about a certain, unlucky Friday that's the thirteenth day of the month. You also must have heard about a game using this universe – Friday The 13th: The Game. Unfortunately, it will not be developed further, but not because of any reluctance on the part of the developers (though they are not entirely blameless). In this case, legal issues were the problem.
When you hear "asymmetrical network horror" Dead by Daylight probably springs to your mind first, but we also have Friday the 13th: The Game. This is an extremely unfortunate game that initially took a severe hit for its eminently non-functioning servers. Then it was revealed that the developers had abandoned the idea of completing the single-player campaign and introducing a storyline to the game. Instead, they wanted to continue working on another project.
However, this is not the end of the confusion around this production, as the worst thing happened at the end – there was a licensing problem. Due to the legal confusion, Friday The 13th: The Game will not be further developed and the game will no longer receive any additional content.
It's worth mentioning that the lawsuit was not brought against the game's creators. A battle ensued between Victor Miller (original screenwriter) and Horror Inc. (movie producer). Friday The 13th: The Game found itself in a messy situation that forced the developers to stop further work on the game. These may not resume until the dispute around the license and rights is resolved.
However, the lawsuit could drag on for years, so it's unlikely Friday The 13th: The Game will return. The developers themselves have indicated that they have no rights to do anything around the game, even if it was only slightly related to the universe. They also don't intend to develop anything in advance, waiting for the day it may be released. Therefore, it was decided to end the development of this title.
