10 Games That Severely Damaged a Publisher's Reputation
Script written by Ty Richardson Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 games that have forever stained their publishers.
#10: “WWE 2K20” (2019)
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For a time, the “WWE 2K” series was the laughingstock of the entire gaming community. Wrestlers often looked like poorly sculpted models of their real-world counterparts, and the gameplay was constantly overcomplicating the controls. But "2K20" was the breaking point for many on account of its horrible state. As if the aforementioned problems weren't enough, the game was in the buggiest, most broken and unstable state any game in the franchise had ever been in. Publisher 2K and developer Visual Concepts have done good on recent titles. However, 2K suffered from this stinky dud for a long while, and many still haven't forgiven the publisher.
#9: “Resident Evil 6” (2012)
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We all know Capcom today for its newfound successes across “Resident Evil”, “Devil May Cry”, and various collections preserving classic “Street Fighter”, “Mega Man”, and “Ace Attorney” games. However, there was an era when Capcom was mocked as “Crap-com”. Many would point to “Street Fighter X Tekken” as the start of this tumultuous era, but RE6 was the focal point of the company’s dark era. RE6 was a sign that Capcom was simply trying to chase trends and pivot anything and everything towards what competitors were doing. Why else would you turn your horror franchise into a multiplayer action shooter? Capcom has redeemed themselves today, yes, but the stench of RE6 still wafts around them every so often.
#8: “Fallout 76” (2018)
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Much like Capcom, Bethesda once found themselves chasing trends rather than setting standards. Sure, the name “Bug-thesda” was floating around here and there. However, the second “Fallout 76” launched, everyone was calling them that. Not only did “Fallout 76” feel like a lazy cash-in on the live service train, it was riddled with all sorts of bugs and glitches. The honor Bethesda had held thanks to their efforts with “Skyrim” and “Fallout 3” had suddenly dissipated, and many fans, casual and hardcore, vowed their refusal to purchase future products. To this day, Bethesda hasn’t been able to shake off this tumultuous moment in their history.
#7: “Skull Island: Rise of Kong” (2023)
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One could argue that GameMill Entertainment never had a great reputation to begin with. That was debatable at one point as “Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl” and the “Nickelodeon Kart Racers” games have been solid packages. But “Skull Island: Rise of Kong'' was the laziest product they ever put out on account of shoddy combat design, bland environments, and piss-poor visuals. Developer IguanaBee was quick to throw GameMill under the bus, revealing the quality was caused by GameMill handing a miniscule budget to the developers and imposing a tight one-year turnaround with no guidance as to what the game needed to be. This took a mental toll on IguanaBee staff and even led to some staff being let go for budgetary reasons. GameMill’s reputation worsened when they published “The Walking Dead: Destinies”, which was just as atrocious as “Rise of Kong”.
#6: “No Man’s Sky” (2016)
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Hello Games did manage to turn things around with “No Man’s Sky”. They deserve all the credit in righting their wrongs and making the experience they promised audiences. However, the studio still hears its echoes every now and again. We all remember what it was like in 2015 and 2016; the cycle of over-promising with features and mechanics was starting to expose the weeds. Yes, when “No Man’s Sky” was making its marketing runs, there was an endless stream of “yes, you can do this, and you can do that” such as the supposed ability to run into other players while exploring a planet. You can do that now, but every now and again, Hello Games does something that raises up “No Man’s Sky’s” initial launch again - like they’re doing with Light No Fire
#5: “Star Wars Battlefront” (2015)
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Electronic Arts has honestly been a much better publisher than it used to be. As soon as it obtained the “Star Wars” license, it went full villain mode. The 2015 reboot of “Battlefront” was riddled with problems. EA had the audacity to demand players pay sixty bucks for a package that had no single-player content, required an online connection to access, and came with a small selection of maps. Players were furious, especially when EA asked for MORE money for future content updates. From there, players began to grow weary of EA’s plans for “Star Wars” games, and 2017’s “Battlefront II” made it substantially worse. Like we said, EA has gotten better, but some will never forget the greed that was on full display here.
#4: “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982)
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“E.T.” may be known as one of Spielberg’s best movies, but to the gaming community, it was the IP that led to the infamous video game crash of 1983. Atari had flooded the market with so much garbage that eventually, no one was buying video games anymore. Their name had become synonymous with one of the worst games ever made, and this has followed them for DECADES. Sure, there was a small resurgence in the early to mid-2000’s, but 2008’s “Alone in the Dark” hit the reset button. Nowadays, the company is significantly smaller in size and licenses out their IP to indie studios. Surprisingly, “Pong Quest” and “Haunted House” are excellent games, but many still see them as “that one company that almost brought an end to video games”.
#3: “Warcraft III: Reforged” (2020)
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Much like Hello Games, Blizzard Entertainment had marketed this remake of “Warcraft III” as a means to bring the original game forward and introduce it to a new generation. Imagine everyone’s disgust when it launched and was simply the original game with new visuals. None of the new cutscenes were present, and many features were cut completely. What’s worse is that the game was a technical catastrophe. Fans immediately began review-bombing the game, causing it to become the lowest user-rated game on Metacritic (which Blizzard’s own “Diablo Immortal” would later claim). The notoriety for this would follow Blizzard for years as they churned out “Diablo Immortal” and “Overwatch 2” in 2022.
#2: “Marvel’s Avengers” (2020)
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“Avengers” was a total disaster for Square Enix. As its 2020 release date drew closer, players began to lose interest more and more. With the loot-based progression and grinding system, live service elements, and subpar story, players just did not want “Marvel’s Avengers”. Units were refusing to leave store shelves to the point where the game was getting marked down at stupidly huge discounts. Not even Spider-Man’s arrival saved the game as the web-zipping was widely ridiculed and mocked on social media. All Square Enix reaped from “Avengers” was poor commercial and critical performance, years wasted on making Crystal Dynamics develop a game the studio has no experience in, and a massive net loss of more than $63 million. And now, with an aggressive push towards incorporating AI into their developments, Square Enix has prompted many to walk away from their games.
#1: “Saints Row” (2022)
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Say what you will about "Saints Row". It isn't an awful game compared to "Avengers" or even RE6, but as a long-awaited return for longtime fans, it was far from what anyone wanted. With its mediocre gameplay and awful writing, "Saints Row" failed to capture any ounce of the edge, wit, and spirit of the original games. Despite selling enough units to reach certain milestones and meet Embracer Group’s expectations, that’s pretty much all it did. Since the launch of “Saints Row”, Embracer Group has found itself in financial turmoil, prompting them to shutter Volition, the studio that created the IP in the first place, as well as several other studios under its umbrella. On top of that, Embracer has garnered a reputation to where most view the publisher as a total joke. Which game do you feel did the most damage to a publisher’s reputation? Did it make our list? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to WatchMojo for more great videos everyday!
