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
Quake Champions
- Release: 2017 (early access)
- Genre: shooter
- Biggest Advantages: Gameplay
Many factors affect the longevity of online games. Only one of them is sheer quality. The case of Quake Champions shows that it doesn't have to translate into financial success. In the case of the heir to the Quake series, the sales turned out to be meager. Suffice it to say that the producers decided to make the game free-to-play less than a year after the release!
Quake Champions was announced relatively late, at the Expo fair in 2016. Closed beta-tests commenced in April 2017, and by August, the game was on Steam. The dynamic gameplay and intuitive interface were appreciated, for example, at the Gamers 'Choice Awards, where the production was awarded in the category of... the public's favorite shooter.
The atmosphere of the game refers to previous installments of the series, with particular emphasis on Quake III: Arena. Multiplayer battles take place in small spaces. Players collect equipment during the game, also using special abilities. The sensational technical optimization and perfectly balanced firepower of the heroes didn't ensure commercial success, however. This could have been influenced by numerous micropayments and a high level of difficulty. It's a pity, because it remains one of the best network shooters on the market – even now, when id Software and Bethesda have mostly neglected it.
