The gaming industry can be volatile, confusing, and immensely amazing. With that being said, the gaming industry seems to constantly reinvent itself, sometimes good and sometimes bad. For that reason, there have been some amazing games that have broken records with their launches, but those games have also come with record-breaking disasters that are impossible to forget.
Below, we’ve listed some of the most memorable game launches and disasters to hit the gaming space. From games that launched with millions of players in days, or games that launched with hardly a thousand, to game-breaking bugs and glitches that provided equal parts disaster to the success.
High-Profile Games That Flopped Hard on Steam
Not every video game is a success story, and despite the potential of these AAA games, they’re mainly remembered for being hardcore flops.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Despite $500 Million in 3 Days and the Best Digital Sales in Franchise History, Black Ops 4’s Servers Couldn’t Handle the Competition
- Released
-
October 12, 2018
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
2018 was a strange time in the industry, with the rising popularity of Fortnite demanding more live-service games compete in the market. Call of Duty‘s answer was Black Ops 4, a game that delivered over half a billion dollars of sales in its first 3 days, and had the highest day 1 digital sales for any Call of Duty title (at the time). However, disaster would soon strike with a demand to compete against the growing popularity of Fortnite, Black Ops 4‘s Blackout mode saw a Battle Royale with promise, but one that devoured the resources from Multiplayer and Zombies alike.
The disasters for Black Ops 4 hit as soon as players opened the game for the first time. Not only was this Call of Duty title completely lacking a Campaign, but it was also impacted by server-wide issues that would crash people’s games, especially in the Zombies mode, which has become a pillar of its core audience. The inability to play a bug-free mode and budget cuts to Zombies made the game unfulfilled as players switched out to Fortnite and other experiences.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Hitting $1 Billion in Sales in 3 Days is a Triumph, Marred Slightly by GTA Online’s Disastrous Launch
- Released
-
September 17, 2013
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
-
Rockstar North
Rockstar Games never seems to disappoint, and while the industry is holding its breath for the titanic sweep that will be Grand Theft Auto 6 in late 2026 (that is, if the game doesn’t get delayed again), it’s a good time to look back on the immense success that hit Grand Theft Auto 5, both critically and commercially. Upon release, GTA 5 quickly hit the top spots for the best games of all time, which amassed over $1 billion in just 3 days back in 2013.
GTA 5 remains the 2nd highest-selling video game of all time, but it’s hard to forget that 2 weeks after launch, GTA Online arrived to the excitement of millions. Yet, bloated servers, immensely slow load times, and even wiped progress that forced players to experience the tutorial over and over again, made GTA Online‘s launch more frustrating than GTA 6‘s delays.
No Man’s Sky
The Biggest Steam Launch of 2016 Suffered False Promises That Have Since Been Delivered Beyond Expectations
- Released
-
August 9, 2016
- ESRB
-
T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
No Man’s Sky had promised so much from its conception to its release. The build-up and the hype surrounding a virtual universe that would be explorable without end, with countless galaxies procedurally generated that no player base, no matter how big, could ever discover, was one that swept the internet up in a storm of demand and excitement. So much so that 2016’s biggest Steam game was indeed No Man’s Sky.
No Man’s Sky was a labor of passion and love, but also one where the developers were swept up in false promises. No Man’s Sky promised to be about space exploration and adventure, but the launch was nothing more than a barren wasteland of random planets and creatures. No co-op, no customization, no reason to explore. This disaster caused an uproar in the gaming community, but Hello Games has dedicated a decade to surpassing expectations with a steady stream of free expansions and updates that have turned No Man’s Sky into a true beauty and fun.
7 Games That Let You Engineer Wild Contraptions The Developers Never Planned For
Gamers’ creative talents know no bounds.
Cyberpunk 2077
Selling 13.7 Million Copies in a Month and Breaking Steam Charts Was No Cause for Celebration When the Game Was So Very Broken
- Released
-
December 10, 2020
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
Cyberpunk 2077 was and is one of the greatest games of all time, but it took a while to get there. First announced in May 2012, CD Projekt RED had kept it on the slow cooker while they worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, only to be met with a grand scale of success that would bolster expectations for their next title. With an early announcement and constant delays, Cyberpunk 2077 was pushed out into a global launch before the dish was finished cooking, which led to a disaster like no other.
Cyberpunk 2077 was praised for what it was, even through its faults. With over 1,000,000 concurrent players on Steam and over 13 million units sold in December 2020, it seemed that CD Projekt RED’s gamble paid off for their numbers, but not for their gamers. The game was plagued with so many bugs and issues across PC, PS4, and Xbox One that it was practically unplayable. CD Projekt RED’s apology tour was long and hard, but it paid off by 2023, when Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and the Phantom Liberty expansion launched to let everyone experience what this game would have been if it had been allowed to release when it was ready. A lesson most games have since learned from.
Diablo 3
The Fastest-Selling PC Game Meant That Blizzard Didn’t Predict the Heavy Server Load
- Released
-
September 3, 2013
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
Diablo 3 was the long-awaited sequel to Diablo 2, which many argue is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Action RPG of all time. With 12 years of waiting finally over, Diablo 3 would burst onto the scene in an explosive hellfire. As the fastest-selling PC game by 2012 that sold 3.5 million units in just 24 hours, it seemed that success was on the up for Diablo 3. That was, until those millions of players tried to actually get into the game they paid for.
Blizzard didn’t expect the demand for Diablo 3 to be so high, and many players back in 2012 would spend hours, if not days, waiting to get into the game. Unfamiliar design flaws that hurt the game for long-time fans of the series, and server issues that quite literally made the game unplayable, caused quite the negative stir that has since been resolved.
Battlefield 2042
Despite 4 Million Sales in 2 Months, Rough Design Choices, and COVID Development Led to Thousands of Negative Reviews and Refunds
- Released
-
November 19, 2021
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Publisher(s)
-
Electronic Arts
Battlefield has always been competing with Call of Duty, and while the recent release of Battlefield 6 proves that there’s still fight in this dog from DICE and EA, hope was somewhat lost after the reveal and release of Battlefield 2042, a title that dipped a toe into the future of what could be possible with the franchise, with the good and the bad. Battlefield 2042 saw over 4 million sales in 2 months, but that figure also includes the abundance of those who sought refunds and those who were included in the 10-hour free trial.
Whether it was due to mismanagement or development during the COVID-19 pandemic, Battlefield 2042 was met with mostly negative reception due to an abundance of bugs and a severe lack of features that were staples of previous Battlefield games, which all mounted to a disastrous launch that had Battlefield 2042 led by DICE entirely, with other projects abandoned to maintain a sinking ship.
Fallout 76
Fallout Goes Live-Service and Multiplayer At the Cost of Sanity, Servers, and Fun, With 1.4 Million Units Sold in 2 Months
- Released
-
November 14, 2018
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
Bethesda Game Studios have always been known for their single-player titles, and their incredible IPs with Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. If there are two things to know about being a fan of Bethesda’s games, it’s that you have to expect glitches and a long wait for their next release. However, Fallout 76 attempted to change what Bethesda was known for by providing the Fallout experience with a multiplayer one.
Unfortunately, Fallout 76 broke records for being one of the most negatively received Bethesda games, and for good reason. The game was practically empty, and with hardly anything to do or purpose to exist within the game, Fallout 76 looked as if it would be an even more barren wasteland. With development issues, an absurd amount of glitches across its gameplay and servers, there would be a long road ahead to fix Fallout 76, which is thankfully in a much more enjoyable spot.
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017)
Immense Success for Star Wars and DICE, Plagued by EA’s Signature Microtransaction Greed
- Released
-
November 17, 2017
- ESRB
-
T for Teen: Violence
- Publisher(s)
-
Electronic Arts
There was a time when Star Wars captivated the world, and it’s an IP that everyone recognizes, and what players from 2017 would be immensely hyped for. Battlefront has always been a nostalgic franchise, so when EA announced a sequel to the reboot of the beloved series from developers of DICE from Battlefield, players were ecstatic to see more of what they loved, especially since 2015’s Battlefront only had content from the Original Trilogy.
Spanning across the Originals, Prequels, and Sequels, Battlefront 2 (2017) looked to be a celebration of all things Star Wars. Unfortunately, this excitement died rather fast when players launched the game to see content locked behind Credits and Loot Boxes. If you wanted better Star Cards, weapons, or even new Heroes, then you had to pay for them in a game that you already paid full price for. The greed for microtransactions and gambling of loot boxes really hurt Battlefront 2‘s successful launch, but a complete change to this system saw a massive resurgence that has players yearn for an eventual Battlefront 3.
Overwatch 2
35 Million Players in Just One Month Were Stopped Short Due to Server Issues and DDoS Attacks
- Released
-
August 10, 2023
- ESRB
-
T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence
Overwatch changed the scene in the gaming industry when it first launched in 2016. The gameplay was fresh and exciting, and each match was more addictive than the last as players managed to master new heroes, each brimming with personality and style. When Overwatch 2 was announced back in 2019, fans were skeptical, considering the game would essentially be the same but with a “2” attached to the end. However, the promise of PvE content was a reason for many to pay attention.
What finally aided Overwatch 2‘s launch outside the constant delays was how it would launch as a free-to-play title to help bolster its numbers. This gamble paid off, and Overwatch 2 reached all-time highs with its concurrent players, even if the promise of a PvE mode was completely scrapped. A failed PvE mode didn’t help, but what certainly didn’t help more was an unfortunate attack on Blizzard, which was plagued by server issues, DDoS attacks, incomprehensible server queue times, and missing items from returning players’ inventories.
Concord
A Launch That Didn’t Even Peak at 700 on Steam, Paired with a Potential Budget of $400 Million, Shows the Harsh Death of Live-Service Hero Shooters
- Released
-
August 23, 2024
- ESRB
-
t
- Developer(s)
-
Firewalk Studios
- Publisher(s)
-
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Not all record-breaking launches are a good thing, and that’s especially the fascinating case of Concord. Concord was set to be PlayStation’s latest franchise, complete with an abundance of colorful and intergalactic characters, locations, and other sci-fi concepts that could bleed into further uniqueness. However, this was not the case, as being a live-service hero shooter in 2024 was a death sentence that shows the changing tastes of gamers worldwide.
Concord‘s launch was a historic disaster, in which the game failed to hit an all-time peak of 700 players on Steam, and the game barely lasted 12 days before Sony pulled the plug, taking Concord offline after barely selling 25,000 units on a game that costs an estimated $400,000,000 to make. While the gameplay and passion might be there, the audience certainly was not.
10 M-Rated Games That Can Be Called Masterpieces
Rated M for Mature, these video games have become cultural icons among the gaming community and have been immortalised as masterpieces.
