Video games require a ton of money, human resources, and time to create – and coalescing those aspects to create something that appeals to the audiences over the long term can be a daunting task. It’s rather commonplace to see live-service projects that had quite the potential turn out to be underwhelming releases, and we will be discussing 15 such failed live-service games in this feature.
Anthem
Following the underwhelming release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, fans were expecting a redemption arc from developer Bioware with Anthem. The game looked really promising with all the markings of a great action-adventure game, but the final product was anything but. A rushed development cycle and poor management from higher-ups meant that much of the game’s creative parts were crushed under the weight of business decisions, and Anthem ultimately became a massive flop. There were plans to revive the game under the Anthem NEXT banner, but those efforts were also canned due to growing costs.
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones was the developer’s effort to translate its adrenaline-pumping naval combat gameplay mechanics into a live service format. The game spent years and years in development hell, surviving multiple changes and differing creative directions before finally releasing just a few days ago. And suffice to say, the reception has been poor. It might be too early to call the verdict on this one, but the chance of Skulls and Bones’ sinking ship reaching the shores of live service success is looking pretty slim at the moment.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
When Rocksteady announced Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, it felt like a natural evolution of the ideas we saw in the Batman: Arkham games. The prospect of playing as the anti-villains and engaging with the game over the long term was pretty tantalizing, but the first look at the uninspired gameplay more or less set the course for what was ultimately going to be a trainwreck. And to not much surprise, Suicide Squad also launched recently, and most fans have already lost interest in the game just a couple of weeks after launch.
Marvel’s Avengers
A live service game that lets you play as some of the most famous superheroes on the planet would be a formula ripe for success, right? Well, that’s what the developer thought when it laid down the blueprint for what would ultimately become Marvel’s Avengers. The live service elements felt shoehorned into the final product, and a lack of engaging endgame portion and grindy progression mechanics didn’t really help either. And to top it all off, the game released in an extremely buggy state making it one of the biggest flops in recent memory. While the developer did make some effort in turning it around into a success with post-launch DLC, it eventually became clear that many of its biggest problems were rooted in the foundational elements of the game and that wasn’t really something they could repair with a finished product.
Knockout City
Knockout City was a really fun multiplayer game with an interesting art direction and unique mechanics, and developer Velan Studios was able to accrue a sizable player base through those aspects. But player interest, unfortunately, waned over time due to a variety of reasons, and the developer started to withdraw support with falling player counts – resulting in a slow death of this once-promising multiplayer IP.
Hyper Scape
Yet another developer trying to capitalize on the battle royale hype train with Hyper Scape, a game that combines fast and fluid movement mechanics with unique features that were specifically catered towards streamers. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with Hyper Scape’s set of mechanics, and it did gain some success on an initial level but the game just wasn’t able to sustain that success in the long run.
Evolve
Evolve was one of the first games in the asymmetrical multiplayer space, and developer Turtle Rock Studios’ title had quite a number of fans waiting with bated breath for its release. It had some fun ideas going for it, but the developer failed to capitalize on the potential with underwhelming DLC content. The idea of killing fantastically designed monsters in a eerie atmosphere certainly was a great idea on paper but the execution left much to be desired.
Foamstars
Foamstars was a decent attempt at cashing on the popularity of Splatoon’s gooey splatterfest mechanics and taking those concepts to a new platform, but a rough execution meant that much of the potential therein was put to waste. Foamstars does have a few good things going for it, but the lack of engaging content and uninteresting progression mechanics give players more than enough reason to not be in it for the long run. Player counts haven’t been the best as of late, and Foamstars is looking to be on a downward spiral just a couple of weeks after launch.
Lawbreakers
Lawbreakers was an interesting attempt at creating a hero-based first-person shooter, and while some of its ideas could be traced back to Overwatch – Lawbreakers was anything but a ripoff. There were plenty of reasons why Lawbreakers never got the love that it deserves which range from poor marketing to uninspired art direction and high skill requirements among others. There was a dedicated group of players who enjoyed what Lawbreakers had to offer, but that group wasn’t nearly enough to sustain the game’s continuous development and maintenance costs – eventually leading to servers being shut down.
Radical Heights
The insane success of Fortnite caused a lot of developers to quickly rush into the battle royale genre and grab a piece of this newly discovered pie, and developer Boss Key Productions’ Radical Heights was one of those shameless attempts. It was a game that could barely pass off as a minimum viable product, and the fact that it lacked any sort of creativity meant that it was dead as soon as it launched.
Paragon
Epic Games tried to capture the lucrative MOBA market with Paragon, but failed to create much impact in the long term. The game managed to earn some faithful players when its early access version was first released in 2016, but complaints regarding its mechanics and quirks weren’t addressed in a feasible manner. There was a very clear distinction between the direction that the developers took with Paragon and what players wanted out of it, and with no common ground achieved – player counts trickled down and developers started to withdraw support, eventually causing servers to shut down.
Red Dead Online
Red Dead Redemption 2 is an undisputed masterpiece, and it continues to stand as a towering achievement for storytelling in video games. It’s pretty sad then that the online component of the game can’t be praised on a similar level, and a lot of that could be blamed on the developer’s inability to drop meaningful content updates to keep players hooked in the long run. The runaway success of Grand Theft Auto 5’s online component meant that RDO was mostly kept on life support, and that eventually led to player counts dropping and it ultimately turned out to be a failure.
Rocket Arena
Rocket Arena was yet another attempt by EA to cash in on the popularity of gaming trends, and the developer tried to take on the team-based mayhem of Overwatch with a few tricks up its own sleeve. Rocket Arena had somewhat of an interesting art style and compelling mechanics, but it also had an equal share of glaring issues ranging from game balance to progression and lack of content among others. Players quickly lost interest in the game soon after its release, causing a premature end to what could have been a promising IP.
Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042 was an ambitious project that tried to turn its multiplayer model into a live service format, but a less-than-stellar execution plan made it one of the biggest failures that the long-running genre has seen to date. A missing single-player campaign, basic communication features, and a general lack of content are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Battlefield 2042’s buffet of problems – and players quickly took note. Sales were obviously much lower than projected numbers, and those who did get into the game didn’t stick around for much longer.
The Culling
The Culling is yet another attempt by a developer to capitalize on the battle royale hype, but developer Xaviant Games clearly put out the game well before it was even ready. It suffered from a bevy of issues ranging from technical inefficiencies to half-baked mechanics and much more. It was a laughing stock of a game, and it continues to serve as an example for developers to not blindly rush towards hot trends.
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