Great Games That Sold Poorly (at Least Initially)
It's no news that artistic success doesn't have to go hand in hand with commercial one. However, sometimes it's hard to believe that the titles which are successful and popular to this day were complete commercial flops in their first years.
Table of Contents
- Great Games That Sold Poorly (at Least Initially)
- Shenmue and Shenmue 2
- Planescape: Torment
- Okami
- Psychonauts
- System Shock 2
- Quake Champions
- The Evil Within 2
- Original War
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
- Bulletstorm
- Tales from the Borderlands
- Grim Fandango
Planescape: Torment
- Release date: 1999
- Genre: RPG
- Greatest advantages: Story, story, story!
If there was a video games Nobel Prize, Planescape: Torment would have undoubtedly been honored with it in 1999. Although it seems an absolutely bizarre idea, the literary and philosophical value of this game is really on par with the most moving books and film.
Whenever I write or talk about this title, I say it's a video game Dostoevsky would make if he was a dev. Planescape: Torment emphasizes different problems and gives a different conclusion to the whole story, but in a way, it's an interactive version of Crime and Punishment. If Dostoyevsky had been born in the 1970s, he might have created something similar (or participated in the development of Torment).
Unfortunately, despite walls of the sensational text, the thrilling, touching and sometimes amusing story, characters of flesh and blood, a rich lore and a multitude of story permutations, the game sold very poorly. For this reason, Black Isle was forced to gradually move away from such lush stories. Also, to be honest, the combat system stood in the way of enjoying the wonderful story, as it was clunky, grind-intensive, and plain unsatisfying. But even this spoon of tar did not prevent Torment from becoming a cult-classic. Perhaps it is THE cult-classic.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a spiritual heir to Black Isle's legacy. Funded on Kickstarter, it initially aroused great interest from players who were generous in supporting this project. Unfortunately, the developers promised more than they could deliver. As a result, although the game equalled the first Torment in terms of originality and quality, it was significantly lacking in terms of content. The disappointment of those who supported the developers in the beginning did not go unnoticed and in the end, this production sold poorly.
