author: Patryk Fijalkowski
Good Games, Bad Launches - 11 Titles With Flunked Releases
My disappointment is immeasurable. You sure know that feeling, when a game you've been anticipating for years is released and it turns out a complete flop. Today, we're talking about cases of great games that were almost unplayable upon release.
Table of Contents
- Good Games, Bad Launches - 11 Titles With Flunked Releases
- Batman Arkham Knight
- Star Wars Battlefront II
- GTA Online
Star Wars Battlefront II
- Released in: 2017
- Who flunked it? EA along with DICE
- Main issue: aggressive microtransactions, pay-to-win
- How did it end? Bad for the game, good for the gaming community. It turns out there is a final frontier of corporate greed. Battlefront II's disastrous character development system met such strong opposition that DICE, along with EA, backed out of it and drafted a new one. Only cosmetic items remained in lootboxes. Either way – the controversy surrounding the game translated into results below expectations.
A good portion of the games listed above had purely technical problems. EA's second Battlefront, however, suffered from an entirely different malady. In this case, it was the infamous loot boxes, conceived in an unacceptable form. The boxes with loot weren't just a fancy addition to make your guns sexier – the game's entire character development was based on these. When it came to new skills, better stats or weapons, we were doomed to the randomness of lootboxes and the cards hidden in them. In addition, cult heroes such as Darth Vader could only be unlocked through a long grind or bought for real money...
However, this was never realized – the scandal ensued before the release and the game debuted with the internal store completely turned off. The company, with its aggressive policy of microtransactions and making character development dependent on lootboxes, crossed a line that has alienated audiences. The developers had to back off from their plans, and the development system was remodeled so that it would not allow you to buy an advantage over other players. Unfortunately, the stench hovering over this title was so intense that Battlefront II was less successful than it would have been without the planned cash grab. However, it's worth expanding on this statement. According to data published in The Wall Street Journal, EA sold nine million units of the game in the last quarter of 2017. The vast majority of studios and publishers would consider such a result an overwhelming success.
NOTE! CONTROVERSIAL OPINION ;-)
In the end, despite everything, Battlefront II was a successful, very pretty, and content-rich online shooter, allowing you to take part in really impressive and large-scale battles. It is regrettable that business decisions did not allow this project to fully spread its wings.
Martin Strzyzewski
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
- Released in: 2014
- Who flunked it? Microsoft Studios
- Main issue: Unplayable network modes
- How did it end? A series of huge patches eventually eliminated the problem. Players that were impacted the most also received redress from Microsoft.
It was supposed to be beautiful and nostalgic. The Master Chief Collection refreshed four Halo installments, allowing you to relive those adventures once again and face other players on the servers. Unfortunately, the former could be delayed by a "modest" release patch of fifteen gigabytes, and the latter was simply impossible for most. The remaster collection had massive matchmaking issues – users could spend hours in the lobby and not find a single match.
So, if someone was focused on multiplayer – and that's a pretty natural thing for Halo – it was practically impossible to enjoy the game. The problem was fixed after a few updates, but that doesn't change the fact that the initial bugs in the eyes of many critics made for one of the worst AAA releases of the last decade. Those who purchased the game within the first month of its debut received Halo 3: ODST, a month of Xbox Live Gold and a special avatar for free as an apology.
BioShock: The Collection
- Released in: 2016
- Who flunked it? 2K, who didn't make sure of the quality of the remaster
- Main issue: constant crashes and poor performance, mainly on the PC version
- How did it end? Bad reviews on Steam, and then months-long process to patch the game. Currently, the remasters of the first two BioShocks are already technically stable.
Another collection, another slip-up. This time, not involving multi and not as spectacular as The Master Chief Collection, but notable nonetheless. In this case, PC users were again victimized – it was on this platform that BioShock: The Collection had a lot of technical problems.
We're primarily talking about the first two BioShock installments. These included the greatest performance problems. They liked to shut down for no reason (and frequently), and sometimes delete the last save. As if that wasn't enough, it was difficult to adjust mouse sensitivity, the sound coming from the speakers was of poor quality, and there was no option to adjust the FoV.
These glitches were annoying enough that The Collection took a solid hit on Steam. Shortly after its release, part one had only 42% positive reviews, and part two even less – 39%. 2K apologized for the inconvenience, promising appropriate updates. Those eventually arrived, though some fixes didn't come until more than a year after the release. And that was the moment the games could be said to even run properly.
