Top 10 Developers Who Ruined Their Reputation with One Game

"Godus" (2013)

Well before the travesty that was “Godus”, Peter Molyneux already had a somewhat-notorious reputation with gamers. While working on the “Fable” games, Molyneux had a tendency to over promise on future titles only to underdeliver. However, “Godus” ultimately decimated his credentials. Molyneux tried selling this title on Kickstarter like it was a work of art. Indeed, the game looked unique in its simplistic visuals, but when backers finally got to download the full game, they found it was an aggressively monetized mobile game, rather than the PC god sim they were promised. The controversy would be too much for Molyneux, and he would cut all ties with the press in 2015, stating “The only answer for me is to retreat.”

"The Last Guardian" (2016)

Despite still having a dedicated fan following thanks to “Ico” and “Shadow of the Colossus”, It’s Ueda’s business relationships that got him on this list. Beginning development in 2007 “The Last Guardian” went through development hell for nine years, spending four of them under Team Ico’s umbrella before Ueda left Sony and the team dissolved in 2011. Development would move to Ueda’s new studio, GenDesign. When the game finally released in 2016 after 9 years, it was met with mixed reception, due to technical issues and AI problems, resulting in the game bombing at retail. Ueda is working on a new game, but Sony is no longer interested in working with him. Can’t say we blame them.

“Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts” (2008)

Once upon a time, Rare were gaming gods. Responsible for classics like “Donkey Kong Country” “Goldeneye 007” & “Banjo Kazooie” on Nintendo’s platforms. Then in 2002 the company was purchased by Microsoft to develop titles exclusively for the Xbox platforms. While some titles saw between good to lukewarm reception. It was their reinvention of Banjo Kazooie’s wheel that ruined everything. “Nuts and Bolts” was a vehicle construction sandbox game, rather than a 3D platform like it’s predecessors. The culmination of poor sales and mixed reception, resulted in Microsoft restructuring the company to work on ‘Kinect Games’ for almost a decade. Which many fans saw as a fate worse than defunct.

"Shenmue III" (2019)

Ever since “Shenmue II” ended on a cliffhanger in 2001, fans had been clamoring for a sequel so that the story may close properly. They would get their wish when series creator Yu Suzuki announced the game…’s Kickstarter in 2015. Four years, six million dollars, and a couple delays later, “Shenmue III” was released in late 2019 to mediocre reception. Worse still just like the first two games; it was a massive commercial failure. Much to the fans’ dismay, “Shenmue III” ended its story on yet another cliffhanger after the 18 year wait, with Suzuki wanting to make more sequels. He stated “If at all possible, I would still like to realize the full story of eleven chapters.” Yeah, best of luck on getting the funds for that.

"Mighty No. 9" (2016)

In 2013, Inafune and his team announced the Kickstarter for a “Mega Man” spiritual successor - “Mighty No. 9”. With gorgeous concept art of characters and environments, it looked like this would be the game Blue Bomber fans had been craving. Alas, the project was a complete disaster. Where to begin? The project was delayed three times despite supposedly being “finished” in January 2015. During these delays, Inafune and Comcept tried launching a Kickstarter for an entirely different project which would eventually get backed by Fuze Entertainment. When fans complained about the shoddy quality of the game, Infaune’s translator said the game was “better than nothing”, which prompted enough mockery from other studios to make a bad guy cry like an anime fan on prom night.

"Warcraft III: Reforged" (2020)

While Blizzard had already alienated fans after BlitzchungGate, this pushed many of them over the edge. “Warcraft III: Reforged” was to be a remaster of the original “Reign of Chaos”, complete with new character models and improved cinematics. Then, came launch day… and while the character models were greatly improved, many significant changes Blizzard promised throughout development were missing. To add further insult to injury; features from the original game were removed to coincide with the remasters launch. Seriously why would you do that? After it became the lowest user-rated game on Metacritic, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack issued an apology, and the company began offering full refunds. So, who’s still buying “Diablo 4” now?

"Metal Gear Survive" (2018)

Konami’s reputation was already on shaky grounds after the infamous break up with Hideo Kojima. As if the move to pachinko machines wasn’t irritating enough, Konami would drive the “Metal Gear” franchise into the ground with “Metal Gear Survive”. No longer were we hiding in boxes and sneaking around enemy bases - now was the time to fight zombies with pretty crystals impaled into their heads! It was absolutely uninspiring and a poor excuse to capitalize on the zombie survival trend. Oh, and Konami wanted you to pay ten bucks for additional save files!! If this didn’t push gamers away from Konami, “Contra: Rogue Corps” certainly did.

Fallout 76" (2018)

Much like Peter Molyneux, Todd Howard has had a history of overpromising on his games. (Come on… “Fallout 3” has 200 endings? “Skyrim” has an infinite number of quests?) However, the biggest lie came in the form of “Fallout 76”. It all sounded too good to be true. Sixteen times the detail? Four times the size of “Fallout 4”? And most importantly; (“It just works”) That’s not what the countless bugs and glitches said… Bethesda would only make things worse for the “Fallout” franchise by selling Power Helmets that molded easily, replacing canvas bags in the Power Armor edition with nylon bags, and delaying a significant expansion before hamfisting in a subscription service that DIDN’T WORK. It didn’t work! It just didn’t work!

"Daikatana" (2000)

With John Romero being tied to successes like “Wolfenstein”, “DOOM” & “Quake”, the man thought he was unstoppable when he founded “Ion Storm” in an expensive penthouse skyscraper in Dallas. With the infamous advertisment “John Romero is going to make you his b***h”, “Daikatana” was expected to be a brutally difficult game with impeccable AI. Indeed, the game was difficult...to play, the AI was so laughably bad that no one took it seriously. Thus it became one of the biggest commercial disasters in gaming history. Romero left Ion Storm a year later and the studio itself would later close down in 2004. While Romero still continues to release games, none of them have even come close to matching his original success stories.

"E.T.: The Extraterrestrial" (1982)

Many of the developers here have simply had a bad habit of overhyping games. At least none of them have caused something as catastrophic as the 1983 crash, which is more than enough reason to put Atari at the top spot. Years of saturating the market and no quality control finally caught up to them in 1982 when “E.T.” launched. Put together in only 6 weeks, the game was such a monumental failure that it made the public wary of buying video games, with unsold copies infamously being buried in a New Mexico landfill. Atari made multiple attempts to get back into the console scene, but it never saw the same success like it had with the Atari 2600 ever again.