Video games releasing in broken, buggy and even unplayable conditions happens far more often than it should. Behind the scenes, these situations are incredibly complicated and can originate from a variety of problems: development team issues, publisher pressure to meet tight deadlines and constantly rising costs that come with video game creation. It is even more disappointing and frustrating when a highly anticipated game, already delayed once or twice, still arrives in a fractured state. Despite many of these games receiving several patches and updates post-release, the damage to the game itself and the developer’s reputation is already done – and the latter isn’t always easily remedied. Here are five games that were “broken” upon release.
“No Man’s Sky” (2016)
“No Man’s Sky” was a game that made many promises to players from the get-go and failed to deliver on most of them. Hello Games’ action-adventure survival game wasn’t just going to be open world; it was a neverending open universe – procedurally generated with over 18 quintillion procedurally generated planets to explore.
“No Man’s Sky” drew a lot of attention from the gaming world which, in turn, generated a massive amount of excitement and anticipation at the prospect of a game with infinite opportunities like this.
Upon launch, the game lacked a wide variety of features that were promised and marketed to be in the game upon release – most notably its multiplayer capabilities.
Audiences and reviewers alike heavily criticized the game, the development team and the route it took for its PR strategy. Review pages were flooded with overwhelmingly negative ratings while people bashed the game on social media and its own subreddit.
Over the years, “No Man’s Sky” received and still receives dozens of updates, consisting of new content, game modes, features and stories – all for free. This sort of consistent attention and continuous improvements to better the game has led many players to revisit “No Man’s Sky” and accept it for what it is now: a great game.
Not every “failed” game can be redeemed and subsequently embraced by players who once hated it in the way “No Man’s Sky” was.
“Cyberpunk 2077” (2020)
Initially announced in 2012, “Cyberpunk 2077” garnered an insane amount of hype leading up to its initial release in 2020. CD Projekt Red’s first non-Witcher related release, “Cyberpunk 2077” was winning awards years before making its way into player’s hands.
And, when it finally did, the results can only be described as disastrous.
The issues with “Cyberpunk 2077” were primarily technical ones: performance issues as well as lots and lots of bugs. The game was deemed utterly unplayable across multiple platforms in the condition it launched in.
The majority of players abandoned the game entirely and CD Projekt Red’s reputation as a developer will probably never be the same as it was prior to the release of “Cyberpunk 2077.” The game was so broken, in fact, that it had to be pulled from the PlayStation Store and Sony offered refunds for all digital purchases of “Cyberpunk 2077.” Even GameStop, notorious for its refund policies, accepted already opened physical copies of the game for full refunds.
Though, “Cyberpunk 2077” has experienced a bit of a slow revival over the years, while receiving swaths of patches and fixes – leaving the game in a much better state than it was at launch. With its first expansion, “Phantom Liberty” arriving this September, an unnamed sequel announced last year and the well-received “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners” anime, “Cyberpunk 2077” is not a lost cause for CD Projekt Red and the studio obviously still has some big plans in works for the game.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach” (2021)
With its recent “Ruin” DLC, Steel Wool Studios has clearly not forgotten about the first free-roam installment in the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” franchise. Though the development team has tried to remedy some of the many bugs and game-breaking glitches that plagued “Security Breach” at launch, the game is still riddled with them. Many YouTubers and other video game commentators have crafted “glitch compilations” of “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach,” with many of those videos ranging from only a few minutes to almost an hour in length.
On the other hand, the aforementioned free DLC is a more polished experience at release than the initial base game was.
With its film adaptation hitting theaters in October later this year and regardless of the highs and lows of this nearly decade old franchise, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” does not seem to be leaving the public eye anytime soon.
“Final Fantasy XIV” (2010)
One of the largest and most-loved MMORPGs around the world that consistently brings in millions of players was once so poorly received that it was shut down entirely. Key figures at Square Enix released statements explaining their apologies and how “Final Fantasy XIV” caused immense damage to both the franchise and the studio. Critics and audiences alike faulted the game for its user interface, general performance and overall gameplay. Eventually, after several scattered updates, the team behind the game came to the conclusion that the only way to fix the problems with “Final Fantasy XIV” was to rebuild it completely from the ground up. Its servers officially closed over two years after the initial launch.
The 2.0 patch of “Final Fantasy XIV” – complete with the subtitle “A Realm Reborn” – released in 2013, nearly a year after the first version’s closure. The game earned a positive reception the second time around and has received multiple expansions with more planned for the future.
With a community of millions around the globe, “Final Fantasy XIV” is probably the most successful redemption story on this list.
“Fallout 76” (2018)
Bethesda Game Studios’ first foray into online multiplayer games, “Fallout 76,” was met with criticism over technical problems, unappealing gameplay, an empty overworld and the studio’s reaction to numerous exploits. Additionally, Bethesda faced controversy in the real world due to merchandise promised with special editions of the game not being accurate to what was advertised to those who purchased it.
Despite the problematic launch, “Fallout 76” has received patches and updates over the years – including its first major expansion, “Wastelanders,” in 2020.
This expansion did lead to improved reactions from critics and audiences, though many still reviewed it negatively over the initial condition of “Fallout 76” two years earlier. Many reviewers claim that the game is definitely worth giving a shot now – especially for long-standing fans of the “Fallout” franchise – with all of the work done on the game since its rocky release.
Video games being “broken” upon arrival occurs all too often and can cause irreparable damage to the game, developers and publishers. However, many of these teams continue working on the game even in the face of the title’s ruined reputation in the gaming community. And, oftentimes, the games can be worth a revisit or second chance years down the line.
Featured Image Courtesy of Forbes.
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