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[Chuck Berry]

Since most games launch unfinished or busted nowadays, it got me thinking about the earliest game I can remember being a giant clusterfuck at launch. I'm talking levels of removing it from stores, online or otherwise because it was such a mess. Unprecedented levels. Hoping you guys can answer some of the questions regarding them too.

Spitballing here,

Cyberpunk I'd say is the most recent as Sony yanked it off PSN because it was such a shitshow. Public apologies galore. Did MS remove it as well at the time?

The Halo Master Chief Collection in 2014. Launch was the death of 1000 cuts with the matchmaking issues. So much so that they gave away free Gold and Halo ODST. Is 343i still fixing stuff or did they throw in the towel like they did with the rest of the franchise?

SimCity in 2013. The always online connectivity and downright busted save system. Amazon took it off their stores at the time. How did Steam respond?

Diablo 3 in 2012. The auction house I remember being the biggest offender. How much of an overhaul was made on this one? Was online paused for a time while it was fixed?

Before then? I'm drawing a blank. Half Life 2 keeps coming to mind because of the hacker that stole the source code delaying the release for a year. Christ when was the last time actual source code was taken for an upcoming heavy hitter? That was in 2003 though...

There had to have been a couple real horror shows between 2003 and 2012.

Of course the 80s and 90s were perfect

 

[Banjo64]

No Man’s Sky. Big billing from Sony. Sean Murray is a big liar. It wasn’t even ‘not hitting the mark’, it was just flat out lies.

 

[Bernoulli]

Cyberpunk 2077 and trying to hide the mess

 

[Chuck Berry]

No Man’s Sky. Big billing from Sony. Sean Murray is a big liar. It wasn’t even ‘not hitting the mark’, it was just flat out lies.

FUCK. Cant believe I forgot this one.

Remember those E3 trailers...

 

[Zheph]

Diablo 3 for me because it was much more anticipated then NMS

 

[Davevil]

always the right answer

 

[R6Rider]

Cyberpunk easily. No Man's Sky as the runner up.

 

[Banjo64]

FUCK. Cant believe I forgot this one.

Remember those E3 trailers...

This video still makes me laugh:



Re: the MCC, they completely fixed matchmaking on Xbox 3 or 4 years after launch, because they were launching the collection on Steam. It’s brilliant now, but 343i ensured there would never be a high population.

 

[BoxFresh123]

Not sure how big this registers but on a personal note No Mercy on the N64. All the first release cartridges would just randomly delete your data.

I didn't realise they did a recall at the time so I just had a faulty No Mercy cartridge for ever constantly deleting everything I did. Fun

 

[Hudo]

SimCity in 2013. The always online connectivity and downright busted save system. Amazon took it off their stores at the time. How did Steam respond?

I know people will try to fuck me up for this but I still think that Sim City 2013 is a better city sim than fucking Cities: Skylines, which is a competent (and better) city-building sandbox. But not a good city sim.

Edit: But yeah, still my disappointment of 2013.

 

[nkarafo]

For me, this is the best video about NMS, it covers both the disastrous launch and the big come back.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Of course the 80s and 90s were perfect

 

[Chuck Berry]

The game was so good they donated them to landfills.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

Diablo 3 for me because it was much more anticipated then NMS

Of games I've actually purchased at launch, this is easily the one for me.

It had everything. Server problems, pay 2 win, awful drop rates, almost every inferno enemy required kiting to kill which made melee characters useless, etc.

They started with the auction house first and designed the game around it.

 

[Mr Hyde]

PC release of Arkham Knight stirred up quite the shitshow. I don't know if it got pulled from storefronts but Warner and Rocksteady fucked up big time and iirc it took a lot of time to fix the game. The drama that ensued felt unprecedented at the time, but it might just be me.

 

[Chuck Berry]

PC release of Arkham Knight stirred up quite the shitshow. I don't know if it got pulled from storefronts but Warner and Rocksteady fucked up big time and iirc it took a lot of time to fix the game. The drama that ensued felt unprecedented at the time, but it might just be me.

It was a definitely pretty big deal. 2015.

 

[adamsapple]

Yeah, the one launch that damn near killed the entire gaming industry.

As bad as Cyberpunk 2077 or other recent examples were at launch, nothing comes close to E.T.

 

[feynoob]

Aliens: Colonial Marines
It was killed by a code error, which was found way too late.

Aliens killed by spelling mistake in 2013 Colonial Marines game

A typo in the code of a poorly reviewed game from 2013 is being blamed for one of its biggest problems.

www.google.com

 

[DryvBy]

No Man’s Sky. Big billing from Sony. Sean Murray is a big liar. It wasn’t even ‘not hitting the mark’, it was just flat out lies.

 

[havoc00]

No Man’s Sky. Big billing from Sony. Sean Murray is a big liar. It wasn’t even ‘not hitting the mark’, it was just flat out lies.

Sean Murray is Mr Liar

 

[Chuck Berry]

Yeah, the one launch that damn near killed the entire gaming industry.

As bad as Cyberpunk 2077 or other recent examples were at launch, nothing comes close to E.T.

The thing is though, ET wasnt broken when it released. It was just an utter shit game. NMS, Diablo, 2077... I wouldnt call them shit games (but Im sure plenty here would lol)

 

[cash_longfellow]

NMS…but I also rank it as one of the best comeback stories and I applaud the devs for not abandoning it, and for making it what it is today. Wish more devs would take notes. 2077 is another one, but I still don’t think the game is great, but how they fixed it is worth some credit.

 

[The Stig]

Wasnt Street Fighter V super barebones at launch?

 

[Guilty_AI]

Yeah, the one launch that damn near killed the entire gaming industry.

As bad as Cyberpunk 2077 or other recent examples were at launch, nothing comes close to E.T.

I do genuinelly think we're getting closer to a ET situation (though it wouldn't be as bad given the current size of the industry). There are many parallels that can be made with the modern market.

 

[Palabragrís]

Not a game, but the release of the Xbox One is legendary for how bad and damaging it was (and is still today).

 

[kiphalfton]

Anthem crashed and burned.

Before that it was Mass Effect Andromeda.

Honestly not real sure how bioware hasn't been shuttered by EA. Pandemic was way better and even still they got kicked to the curb.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Hands down Sean Murray BS'ing at everything pre-launch. I'm surprised he didn't say NMS cured cancer too.

 

[Ogbert]

An obvious answer, but Cyberpunk really was a shitshow.

Personally, Dishonored 2 was hideous. That frame rate.

 

[Mobilemofo]

Mercenaries; world in flames . (That I can remember) promotion of it was ace, had that mad "oh no, you didn't!!' song. Was dead catchy. Cut to reality, and you had enemies glitches into rocks, enemies hidden actually in trees so you couldn't kill em. Game was quite average. I fell for it because of the song mixed with the nicely done trailer. Never again.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Cyberpunk 2077 is easily and I mean easily the worst offender.
Batman Arkham Knight was the worst one before that.


The most recent shitshow was Jedi Survivor

 

[Guilty_AI]

Surprised no one mentioned Driv3r yet

 

[Chuck Berry]

Surprised no one mentioned Driv3r yet

What was the problem with it?

 

[Guilty_AI]

What was the problem with it?

Same as the others. Massive hype, broken unfinished game, huge letdown. There was even a "Driv3rgate".

 

[Luigi Mario]

 

[Luigi Mario]

 

[Luigi Mario]

 

[Dynasty8]

Most people forgetting FFXIV.

Game was in such a poor state that it forced Square to take it offline, fixed and re-released.

 

[Hendrick's]

Definitely Spore.

 

[German Hops]

 

[Melfice7]

eFootball 22.

It's much better now albeit still being just the dream team mode (fut)

 

[Drizzlehell]

The way Microids handled the remake of XIII could easily rival Rockstar's GTA Definitive Trilogy. They didn't even bother fixing the fucking thing for like 2 years until they finally hired some other studio to bring it to a playable state.

The only difference is that nobody cares about XIII, so that's why it didn't make the news.

 

[Chuck Berry]

The way Microids handled the remake of XIII could easily rival Rockstar's GTA Definitive Trilogy. They didn't even bother fixing the fucking thing for like 2 years until they finally hired some other studio to bring it to a playable state.

The only difference is that nobody cares about XIII, so that's why it didn't make the news.

Even the people that took over didnt do a good job with it. It still had issues. Microids published and theyre behind that Flashback reboot. Zero hope. Another classic thats about to be butchered.

And I loved XIII

Edit: Nvm its Flashback 2. Still concerning.

 

[danklord]

Ultima IX: Ascension

They had to send out replacement install cds to people who bought on launch it because it was so broken.

 

[Guerilla Munch]

Nothing comes close to the Master Chief Collection launch. The ultimate compendium of Microsoft's flagship and it straight up didn't work. And it wasn't just broken for a day or two, it took years to become fully functional.

 

[LazyParrot]

The original FF14 launch. So bad they literally killed the game and made a new one from scratch.

 

[Last Hearth]

Yeah, the one launch that damn near killed the entire gaming industry.

As bad as Cyberpunk 2077 or other recent examples were at launch, nothing comes close to E.T.

They actually manufactured more ET cartridges than the entire install base of the Atari 2600.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Nothing will beat No Man’s Sky’s launch, imo. It felt really close to fraud. Especially the aspect that they said it was a co-op game, when it was far from that.

That said, the game is great these days, but that team had to work very hard to earn back some goodwill.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Mass Effect Andromeda.

You go from one of the blockbuster franchises that literally defined RPGs for an entire generation to utter crap.

 

[FoxMcChief]

This video still makes me laugh:



Re: the MCC, they completely fixed matchmaking on Xbox 3 or 4 years after launch, because they were launching the collection on Steam. It’s brilliant now, but 343i ensured there would never be a high population.

How have I never seen that video. It’s incredibly accurate.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Yooo John Marston thanks for the Gold dude!