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[Messofanego]

Gamergate, because it has been the most embarrassing and depressing event in videogame history that I've ever been witness to. Ironically, it wasn't about letting gamers be gamers and brought even more politics to people who play games. It was all about imaginary persecution complexes and insecurities leading to terrorizing innocents.

At a point, it's just fucking videogames.

 

[FStop7]

As much as I hate the parade of fundamentally broken games we were subjected to this year, I think it has to be Gamergate because we're talking about peoples' actual lives being fucked up by a bunch of MRA assholes.

 

[Naughty_Doge]

Yep, gamergate. No broken game comes close. It's the single most disgusting and embarrassing thing to happen to the gaming community.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Gamergate is an embarrassment.

After that I gotta go with broken games and the era of day one patches of at least 1 gig and I put Ubisoft as the flagship of this new era.

 

[Captainbojanglesiii]

Gamergate or The Master Chief Collection all day

I'm going with Gamergate as a close winner. That whole situation is just terrible.



Ubisoft at least had some good games, The Master Chief Collection is just broken.

 

[Malreyn]

Gamergate

 

[JayhawkerStL]

If it is anything but Gamergate, then this vote would be a fail.

 

[Novocaine]

Gamergate is by far the biggest fail this year.

 

[infinit777]

Gamersgate

followed by Ubisoft

 

[gugeifer]

Polygon side of Gamergate fuss and continuing descent into madness.

Also SE and their fantastic FFVII remake for PS4.

 

[bill.cosby]

Gamergate was just so vile, it needs to be #1 with a bullet in this thread. For posterity. As if people in the future needed further reason to be ashamed of our society.

 

[PAULINK]

The master chief collection also gets my vote, for them to release it in such a state was unacceptable. I get how ambitious this project was for them but it was not ready for prime time. I remember trying to get on every day for a week and just feeling gutted.

 

[CorySchmitz]

Nothing comes close to Gamergate imo. Broken games suck but Gamergate is/was an embarrassment.

 

[Qwark]

Personally, I'd say the FF7 psych out, never before have I been so filled with hope and then so crushed seconds later.

Objectively, it's gotta be gamergate, that stuff was messed up.

 

[DSix]

The Gamergate vs Sarkesians war.

Was horribly embarrassing from both side, retard zealots everywhere. Trying to force everyone for or against them. Whereas I hate everyone equally.

 

[3rdamention]

Halo MCC gets my vote. Biggest gaming mess of the year... of many years, actually.

This, really cannot disagree... Especially because this is Microsoft's flagship game...

 

[electroshockwave]

Gamergate
Just no contest here.

RUNNER UP
Launch day review embargos
I think the publishers of Destiny and AC: Unity definitely did these to cash in on preorders before any actual reviews or word of mouth could be spread to dissuade people from purchasing based on hype. Just incredibly shady and I think consumers and journalists should speak up about it when it occurs, it would be terrible for this to become a wider trend. Honourable mention to SEGA for just not giving out review copies for Sonic Boom.

 

[Riesenfass]

Ubisoft having every game this fall being broken in some way has to win. I mean, cancelling DLC for season pass owners and then offering them their choice of other broken games instead of a refund is so insane it seems like it is a dream and not reality.

Runner up: Driveclub's terrible launch. Delayed close to a year and still launching with broken online, which didn't get fixed for over a month, is inexcusable.

 

[kamorra]

Assassins Creed Unity

 

[Paskil]

Gamergate. Everything else pales in comparison.

 

[gngf123]

Gamergate

In pretty much any other year it would have been the broken games.

 

[TomShoe]

Gamergate.

The only social movement in which 99% of the participants had no idea what was going on.

 

[Blackquill]

Can someone give me a clear definition of the Gamergate and why it sucks ? I know it's about journalism and ethics but I have not understand the concept.

 

[Junior Mint]

Gamergate

Runner ups:

Destiny
Halo MCC
Driveclub
Ubisoft
Polygon officially becoming the worst mainstream gaming site

 

[Tele_Viper]

It's been one of the worst years in gaming in the 3 decades i've been an enthusiast.

And Gamergate was the worst of the worst.

 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

I don't really know anything about Gamergate, so I'm gonna say Sonic Boom. It looked terrible from the get-go, but I didn't expect it to be worse than Sonic '06 bad.

 

[Fbh]

Ubisoft.
They are trying really hard to be the EA of this gen

Destiny might have been dissapointing, but at least it worked great since launch (at least for me)

Polygon

Nah.
It's hard to fail when everyone already knows you are a joke

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Gamergate is not just the L of the year, its the L of the current fucking century.

 

[electroshockwave]

The Gamergate vs Sarkesians war.

Was horribly embarrassing from both side, retard zealots everywhere. Trying to force everyone for or against them. Whereas I hate everyone equally.

So you hate people pushing for better representation of women in gaming as much as you hate people harassing and sending death and rape threats to women?

 

[Gurish]

My vote goes to Ubisoft, what a horrible year they had, their reputation is worse than that of EA at the moment, in fact it's as bad as EA's worst years.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Gamergate.

It lead to the harassment of innocent people.
It lead to important voices quitting gaming.
It was sold on false premises to many supporters who never actually knew what they were arguing for.
It poisoned the well for any future discussion about actually important issues in games journalism.
It severely harmed the image of the industry, perhaps beyond repair.

Just an all-around shit show.

 

[Acquiescence]

Ubisoft.

It feels like it's been an endless stream of PR disasters and broken games with them this year. That's an undeniably hyperbolic thing to say, but the point is that it feels like it.

 

[Deified Data]

Hard to argue GG was a failure, assuming their goals were to cause a cultural shift in the community (which it has), gain attention to their "cause" (which it has), and alienate women from the hobby (...) A travesty to be sure, a complete trainwreck, but probably not as big a failure as Ubisoft.

Edit: Unless FOTY basically means shit that sucked this year, in which case I'd agree without reservation.

 

[adj_noun]

I vote Gamergate.

 

[Grexeno]

Can someone give me a clear definition of the Gamergate and why it sucks ? I know it's about journalism and ethics but I have not understand the concept.

Gamergate sucks because it is absolutely not about "ethics in journalism" and is instead a concentrated attack of hate against women in the games industry, with "ethics in journalism" being the almost doublespeak-esque excuse put forward.

 

[Savantcore]

For anyone wondering about Gamergate, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Remember, these people represent video games to the rest of the world.

 

[JudgmentJay]

Ubisoft. Broken games and bad PR galore.

 

[TheBioLover]

Gamergate gets my vote. Never thought I'd say that.

 

[Tenumi]

Gamergate.

To be honest, I feel dirty having them win anything because its acknowledgement of their existence. Vile, disgusting creatures they are.

 

[Bizzquik]

Ubisoft, for the sheer quantity of self-inflicted foot-shooting.

[1] Watch_Dogs releases with significant graphical downgrading from its E3 2012 premiere, only to have the code found buried deep in its PC release. The public accuses the company of building hype through blatant dishonesty, and further alienated PC gamers when the code was found - the beginning of its 2014 drive for forced platform parity, it seems.

[2] Assassin's Creed: Unity is like a crash course on how to fail Marketing 101. Whether its dishonestly trying to pitch forced platform parity as a good thing, releasing the title as a bug-filled mess, or completely overdoing things with in-game required companion apps....this launch will be legendary.

[3] The Crew team won't give reviewers access to the game until after it launches, citing a need for it to be experienced as a quasi racing-MMO. Hot on the heels of the Unity launch, this only adds to the perception that Ubisoft is tone-deaf in dealing with the public in a forthright manner.

 

[Symax]

So you hate people pushing for better representation of women in gaming as much as you hate people harassing and sending death and rape threats to women?

Well both parties involved are fanatics.

 

[Harmen]

Without a doubt gamergate.

 

[electroshockwave]

Well both parties involved are fanatics.

Yeah, both sides are as bad as each other.

DERPITYDOO

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Halo MCC
I can't fathom anything beating it.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

There is no other answer but Gamergate. The sheer depth of stupidity, hatred, cowardice, and wounded bystanders (both human and legit causes) was astounding.

1) Gamergate

2) Ubisoft Ubisofting it.

I may add a 3rd if I can think of one good enough to hang with these two.

 

[Blackquill]

Gamergate sucks because it is absolutely not about "ethics in journalism" and is instead a concentrated attack of hate against women in the games industry, with "ethics in journalism" being the almost doublespeak-esque excuse put forward.

Oh great, more sexism in video game community, it's not like we haven't had enough... I guess my vote goes also for the Gamergate.

 

[Amir0x]

Fucking GAMERGATE.


Started as a harassment campaign, made many innocent people in the industry afraid to do what they love, still has less than zero clue what "ethics in videogame journalism" mean. Every single goal they had - other than extensive harassment of "SJWs" - has resulted in failure. The advertisers they supposedly got pulled are back. The sites they hate the most have had record clicks in some cases. Diversity continues to increase. Virtually every prominent developer that has gone on the record has come out against it, including Blizzard. Twitter has new harassment enforcement approach in place due to it.

So, let's review.

1. Failure due inability to meet fake goals (no significant ethics violations found; no real industry changes as a result)

2. Failure due to cluelessness regarding what it is their fake goals are even supposed to actually be about (it's not fucking objectivity in game reviews, asshats. Do you know what objectivity means, morons? It's also not 'lack of political content I disagree with in reviews.' Fuck off.)

3. Failure due to inability to meet its actual goals (games are getting more diverse, anti-harassment policies everywhere, raised prominence of all its main targets - Anita, Brianna, Zoe, etc)

4. Failure due to inability to even execute its authentically horrible goals properly (accidentally doxxing its own GG supporters, doxxing Felicia Day, getting tricked by endless pranks like Anita Sarkeesian working on Mirror's Edge)

5. Failure due to being a hate group that refuses to just admit it

6. Failure due to being co-opted by far right lunatics looking for its latest conduit for the ongoing culture wars. (And who are looking to make a quick buck off gullible gamers)



How is this NOT the biggest fail of the year?




HONORABLE MENTION: Ubisoft and the past year and a half of unending fuck ups, from talking about wanting to change $60 consumers to $300 consumers with microtransactions, to buggy release failure after release failure, to their pathetic PR, to their middle finger to consumers everywhere. No more game purchases from you, Ubi.

 

[StreetsAhead]

GamerGate, without a doubt.

From its dubious beginnings stemming from the blog of a jilted ex-boyfriend, to the harassment of industry figures including rape threats and death threats, to anger over journalism covering issues of race, feminism, and representation in games, to targeting people like Anita (not a journalist) under the dubious guise of promoting ethics in games journalism, and to the overall desire to silence certain voices, this thing has been an embarrassing mess. It's also put gaming in the public eye in a negative light and driven some people from the industry.

It just been a huge, messy ball of embarrassment for 'gaming'.

 

[moai]

gamergate. doesnt even come close to unfinished games.

 

[Camp Lo]

Toss up between Destiny and Gamergate.

And since I haven't bothered to even try to understand Gamergate, Destiny gets the nod from me.