Top 20 Online Games That Didn't Last a Year

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Online Games That Didn’t Last a Year!

For this list, we’re taking a look at games that either ceased support or were shut down after launch roughly a year - or less - after launch!

Did you get to try any of these games before they got their plugs pulled? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below!

While it may not have been the first iteration of “Marvel Heroes”, its “Omega” version was something to celebrate. Not only was it a definitive launch for a Marvel MMO, but it had finally made its way onto console after being on PC and Mac for a lengthy period of time. Unfortunately, the roster of 100+ characters couldn’t save this title. In November 2017, Disney would be the death of the game as they severed ties with developer Gazillion Entertainment. Later that month, “Marvel Heroes” would have its servers closed, its website taken down, and its developers unemployed. It’s a real shame considering how the game improved upon itself to reach its “Omega” launch.

Ever since Valve opened the floodgates for anyone to submit a game, it’s become harder and harder for games to get noticed, which is why you may not want to go down the rabbit hole of online games. Originally conceived from a cancelled BioWare game, “Breach” sought to provide players an experience where they could become “modern-age mages”, blending elements of dungeon-crawling and hack-&-slash titles like “Devil May Cry”. However, when the game made its early access launch in January 2018, it was a technical mess. Severe lag, framerate problems, and an ugly monetization model caused many players to dip, and the game would shut down in April 2019 after developer QC Games failed to find ways for additional funding.

Of all the franchises that could possibly benefit from a battle royale format, one would think “Twisted Metal” would be a good contender, but Sony doesn’t seem to want anything to do with the franchise. Salt aside, “Not My Car” aimed to be that “Twisted Metal battle royale” experience, focusing on weaponized cars blowing each other to Hell. While it was a great idea, there simply wasn’t enough support for it. “Not My Car” could not find additional funding, and after the devs had spent over two years working on the game, it only survived five months after launch.

“The Witcher III” boasted a hefty amount of great content, and some of it took place in a little side game known as “Gwent”. After a successful launch on PC in October 2018, CD Projekt would port the game over to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One just a few months later. Unfortunately, the console versions would be on the chopping block a year later as CD Projekt announced in December 2019 that it was shutting the game down, meaning the game would only be available on PC and mobile. Matchmaking support ceased only five days after this announcement with support ending in June 2020. That’s one less fantastic free-to-play game for the console market.

Some may say that “PlanetSide Arena” was already heading for the grave after suffering two delays, but no one was sure enough to see how troubled its short life would become. Despite seeing a decent player count at launch, that number quickly dipped. How bad was it? Well, “PlanetSide Arena” was developed with the thought of a couple hundred players on a single server, not fifty or fewer. In December 2019, just three months after launch, developer Daybreak Game Company announced the game would shut down in January 2020. Probably didn’t help that the game launched shortly after “Borderlands 3” and “Gears 5” released, both having online multiplayer components. Oh, and it was a battle royale game.

Ever since games like “Friday the 13th: The Game” and “Dead by Daylight” popularized their formulas, asymmetric multiplayer horror games have become about as common as battle royales. “Don’t Even Think” was yet another horror-centric PvP game who’s gameplay was as uninspired as its title. Human players must collect resources while avoiding the werewolf players and survive the night. Overall, it was about as bland as a horror survival game could get. So, it wasn’t all that surprising to see the game get removed from sale in June 2020 - not even a year after release, and servers were shut down two months later.

One would argue that “Darwin Project” died as soon as it made its awkward esports-like demonstration at E3 2017. Over the next three years, we’d question what the hell that was all about until the game finally released in January 2020, just under two years since entering early access. Someone clearly didn’t get the memo that battle royales have tired out the gaming community. The few outlets that did pick it up found a game that was no different than the hundreds of other battle royales that have come since “Fortnite” exploded. As a result, the game stopped receiving support five months after launch and the servers are expected to close by the end of the year.

While “The Tomorrow Children” aimed to focus more on player cooperation rather than PvP like most games, it simply didn’t provide a deeper experience. There was a lot of material harvesting, collecting, waiting, and distributing, and players weren’t about that. “The Tomorrow Children” practically died at launch, holding lobbies that barely even reached the double digits. So, it wasn’t all that surprising to hear Sony announce the servers would be shutting down just a few days after its one-year anniversary. Had there been a little more depth in its gameplay loops, the game could have bought itself another year or two.

“Blur” had everything it takes to be a fantastic online game. In addition to its thrilling races and frenetic atmosphere, “Blur” managed to perfectly mesh street racing formulas established by “Need for Speed” and “Burnout” with “Mario Kart’s” item-based combat. If only it’s level of quality matched its sales numbers… Despite seeing solid reviews from critics, the game only managed to sell over thirty thousand copies within its first week. Because of its poor financial performance, developer Bizarre Creations was promptly closed down by publisher Activision. Probably didn’t help that “Blur” released around the same time as “ModNation Racers” and “Split/Second”. Racing game enthusiasts clearly had their hands full already.

Not every game requires a multiplayer component to the experience, and “Hellgate: London” would learn this the hard way. While critics argued about the MMO’s combat and story, most would agree about the abysmal quality of its multiplayer, citing frequent bugs, frame dips, and crashing. You can bet players didn’t stick around. Then again, this is an MMO we’re talking about, and “World of Warcraft” was fairly popular around the time of its launch. So, was it much of a surprise when servers shut down over a year later? Eh, not really…

In this twin-stick MOBA (word not letters) shooter, two teams must fight for control over a powerful energy known as the Strain. Reviews were scathing, citing “Kill Strain’s” lack of content and confusing gameplay. Less than a year after launch, “Kill Strain’s” servers shut down due to a dwindling player base. The loss in profit would prompt Sony San Diego to layoff several employees. What makes the whole thing worse is that “Kill Strain’s” failure caused the cancellation of another game: an online game called “Gnomageddon”, To think we could have been playing as Garden Gnomes killing each other.

“Battleborn” would not be the only game to suffer from “Overwatch’s” success. Boss Key Productions launched their own hero shooter, “LawBreakers”, on August 8, 2017, over a year since the aforementioned games released. Critics found the game fun and exciting, but the positive feedback was not enough to save the ill-fated shooter. In April 2018, Boss Key admitted that “LawBreakers” failed to find an audience big enough to sustain the company. Although, this wouldn’t be the last game we’d see before the company shutdown, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Okay, let’s make things perfectly clear; “Resident Evil” does NOT need to be a multiplayer game, especially an eSport one. So, why on this glorious, green Earth did Capcom need to make something such as “Umbrella Corps”? The gameplay is chaotic to the point where nobody knows what the hell is going on, not even the player! On top of that, the game was overloaded in bugs and glitches, making it borderline unplayable. In theory, a multiplayer “Resident Evil” game could work, but for something as messy as this? Just...no.

Amazon has been trying really hard to break into the gaming landscape. Owning and operating Twitch is one thing, but forming large teams and launching high-budget games is another. And they’ve already stumbled with their first big game, “Crucible”. After spending six years in development, the game finally launched in May 2020 only to be deemed totally unimpressive by critics. The apathy and mediocre state of “Crucible” caused Amazon Game Studios to delist the game and place it back in closed beta. However, the plug was officially pulled in October 2020 when developer Relentless Studios, subsidiary of Amazon Game Studios, said development for the game was ending.

One would think any game could succeed when it has a name like Marcus Lehto (LAY-toh) attached. Lehto was known for co-creating “Halo”, but his newest creation, “Disintegration”, couldn’t even make it to the end of its launch year. Critics cited the game’s potential in how it blended elements of strategy games and first-person shooters, but it wasn’t really enough to keep most people playing. In September 2020, just three months after launch, developer V1 Interactive announced it would be ending support for “Disintegration” on November 17, 2020, admitting that the game did not garner a wide enough audience.

When you look back at history (or a list like this), chasing trends will often result in a game’s failure. Most of our entries here have learned that the hard way, and “Infinite Crisis” is certainly no exception. Players take control of their favorite DC Comics heroes and villains to destroy the enemy team’s power core while destroying turrets and drones. Huh, you know, it sounds an awful lot like “Smite”...and “DotA 2” (word not letters)...and “League of Legends”. Yeah, that’s basically what it was; yet another MOBA game that plays like the others. “Infinite Crisis” quickly drowned in the overcrowded MOBA market, causing servers to shut down less than five months after launch.

Whether or not you’re a fan of “The Walking Dead”, one can see how the franchise has stumbled a bit in its gaming career in recent years. The biggest blemish was the ill-fated title developed by Overkill Software. The first problem was the fact that it was yet another four-player zombie survival game. Yeah, like we don’t have enough of those already. The second and fatal blow was just how frustrating the whole game was in terms of difficulty and technical incompetence. The game performed so poorly that publisher Starbreeze Publishing terminated their contract with Overkill, forcing all development on console ports, updates, and yes, even online support to cease. The game was even delisted from all digital storefronts.

By this point, we’ve seen tons of online games that managed to last only a few months, but here’s where we get to the titles that died young. “Smash+Grab” was a competitive game where players had to grow their own gang to loot, craft weapons, and fight the opposing team. Unfortunately, the game was a victim of circumstance. When it launched in September 2016, rumors were flying around about United Front Games fixing to shut down. Sadly, these rumors were quickly proven true, and upon the studio’s shutdown on October 17, 2016, “Smash+Grab” had its servers closed alongside it. It was only available for three weeks.

Speaking of chasing trends in overcrowded markets, here’s yet another victim. If you’re looking at this footage and thinking: “Hey isn’t this PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds?” Well you’d be half right! as the game’s concept it's practically a carbon copy of PUBG (Pub Jee), only there were only 50 players, no vehicles and more buggier. Not that any of that mattered since players were lucky to even get into a match due to a very low player count. Obviously because Fortnite and PUBG fans … were busy playing Fortnite & PUBG. It was so bad that developer Xaviant pulled the game from online stores and issued refunds to everyone only 8 days after the game launched.

In a last-ditch attempt to make profits, Boss Key Productions shelled out this battle royale game whom just like out previous entries; tried to cash in on the trend with a rushed product. Much to their chagrin, “Radical Heights” would spell the end of Boss Key Productions. The game released on Steam as an Early Access (or, in their words, “X-treme Early Access”), complete with bugs and glitches that made players appalled with this cashgrab attempt. Despite its unique 80’s aesthetic and game show-esque presentation, this was not enough to save the company. Boss Key Productions announced its closure a month after “Radical Heights'' launched.