Top 10 Monumental Video Game Failures of 2024

WatchMojo

Sadly, there have been a lot of video games this year that have failed to find an audience. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the worst performing video games of 2024, no matter how good or bad their reviews were.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the worst-performing video

00:08games of 2024, no matter how good or bad their reviews were.

00:17Number 10.

00:18Tales of Kanzera – Zao

00:25It hurts to put a game like Tales of Kanzera on a list like this.

00:28It was clearly made with a lot of heart and explores Bantu culture and mythology, something

00:33rarely seen in video games.

00:34That, of course, just makes its failure harder to swallow.

00:43As a Metroidvania, it was already launching in a crowded genre in the indie game space,

00:48yet still gained decent reviews.

00:50Even at a lower price point, it didn't reach the sales numbers that developer Surgeon Studios

00:54was hoping for.

00:55Just three months after launch, news broke that a little over a dozen employees were

00:58being laid off.

00:59Considering the studio's LinkedIn page listed 11 to 50 employees prior, that's a sizable

01:04chunk.

01:13Number 9.

01:14Senua's Saga – Hellblade II

01:192017's Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice was a huge leap forward in video game visuals

01:27and sound design.

01:28It earned plenty of awards, and a sequel was announced in 2019.

01:31By that point, developer Ninja Theory had been acquired by Microsoft, making the sequel

01:35exclusive to the Xbox Series X and S. Its budget and manpower were significantly increased,

01:40But by the time it was finally released, not many seemed to care.

01:56The exclusivity to one of Microsoft's weakest-performing consoles didn't help, nor did its 7-8 hour

02:01playtime at a $50 price tag.

02:04According to Cercana, an analytics firm in the US, it only reached 21st in sales on Xbox

02:08consoles the month it was released.

02:11That same month on Game Pass, it only ranked 12th in overall player count.

02:23Number 8.

02:24Dustborn

02:31Set in an alternate reality US in 2030, Dustborn follows a band touring the country with the

02:36lead character Pax, able to turn her words into attacks.

02:39It only garnered middling reviews from most outlets, who felt combat grew tiring and that

02:43there wasn't enough story to fill the full playtime.

02:46While sales numbers have been made available, it had an abysmal launch on Steam, where it

02:49peaked at 83 concurrent players.

02:59For a $30 game, that is shockingly low.

03:01It's worth noting that its performance was also affected by players who didn't care for

03:04its extremely left-leaning politics, and developer Red Thread Games reportedly received

03:09a ton of online harassment for it.

03:11Regardless of political views though, Dustborn has been anything but a hit.

03:20Number 7.

03:21Alone In The Dark

03:35Once a major player in the creation of the survival horror genre, Alone in the Dark

03:38has failed to come back several times.

03:40Those hoping the latest attempt would breathe life back into it were sadly mistaken.

03:44Released in March of 2024, it was a remake of the original starring David Harbour and

03:48Jodie Comer, investigating a missing person case before descending into an eldritch nightmare.

04:00Although its atmosphere was delectably dark, just about everything else received a mixed

04:04reception from critics.

04:05Apparently, sales were even worse.

04:07It sold poorly in the eyes of publisher THQ Nordic's parent company, Embracer Group.

04:12And in June of 2024, those poor sales led to the closure of developer Pieces Interactive.

04:23Number 6.

04:24Star Wars Outlaws

04:37Ubisoft has been on a downward spiral over the last few years, one that even the Star

04:41Wars brand couldn't help with.

04:42Released in late August, Outlaws scored in the mid-70s across all platforms, with a lot

04:46of gameplay elements deemed decent, but dated.

04:49However, player reactions have been far lower and sales have been slow.

04:58This has caused JP Morgan to cut its projected sales numbers through March of 2025 by 2 million,

05:03which in turn caused Ubisoft's share price to drop to its lowest point in 10 years.

05:07It clearly isn't the big hit Ubisoft was predicting, as Outlaws also received the biggest

05:11marketing campaign in the company's history.

05:19Number 5.

05:20Foam Stars

05:28In February of 2024, ToyLogic and Square Enix brought us a Splatoon-like multiplayer game

05:33called Foam Stars, and almost immediately afterwards, nearly everyone forgot about it.

05:37While the game wasn't terrible, it was a pretty shallow experience that failed to stand on

05:41its own.

05:42Although it was free for PS Plus subscribers at launch, the player count had dropped by

05:45an astounding 95% just two months after launch.

05:55The fact that Helldivers 2 launched around the same time certainly hurt its chances.

05:59The game has continued to receive content updates, but that has still failed to bring

06:03more players in, with Foam Stars moving to a free-to-play model in October of 2024.

06:14Number 4.

06:15Borderlands

06:21We know it's a movie based on a video game rather than a video game itself, but the failure

06:24of Borderlands is simply too big to ignore.

06:27From the very first casting choice, fans seemed to be against it.

06:30Reshoots and trailers didn't seem promising, but then the movie was released and everyone's

06:34worst fears were confirmed.

06:37At 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was slammed for nearly every aspect, with some even referring

06:47to it as worse than the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie from the 90s.

06:50It wasn't only a critical bomb, but a financial one.

06:53With an estimated budget of $110 to $120 million, it only brought in $31 million worldwide.

07:04Number 3.

07:05Skull & Bones

07:13Another Ubisoft bomb, Skull & Bones spent 10 years in development and released to little

07:17fanfare.

07:18Inspired by the ship battles of Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag, it reportedly cost $200

07:23million to make across the decade-long period.

07:25Other than arriving far too late, there are multiple features players simply weren't

07:29interested in.

07:30The $70 price tag, the live-service elements, the fact that it was less of a game than what

07:37inspired it, and that Ubisoft referred to it as a quadruple-A game all played apart.

07:42It has since gone on to receive huge discounts across physical and digital stores.

07:46Ubisoft hasn't revealed sales numbers, but they cannot be good.

07:57Number 2.

07:58Suicide Squad – Kill The Justice League

08:08A team-based Suicide Squad game from the studio behind the Arkham series should have been

08:12a resounding success.

08:13However, a mountain of live-service elements no one wanted ensured that it wasn't.

08:17Before release, many players could tell Warner Bros. was attempting to chase trends.

08:33Gameplay was monotonous and bland, and both the reviews and sales reflected that.

08:37While Warner Bros. never revealed how many copies were sold, it did state the game had

08:40led to a $200 million loss for the company.

08:43Even worse, developer Rocksteady was also hit with layoffs, with the performance of

08:47Kill The Justice League cited as the direct cause.

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09:17Number 1.

09:18Concord

09:24If you've kept up on news of Concord, you're probably not surprised to find it in the number

09:28one spot.

09:29The first-person hero shooter spent around eight years in development.

09:32That means, by the time it was released, everything about it was outdated in comparison to other

09:36games in its genre, many of which are free-to-play.

09:46Worse than being outdated, Concord only gathered a miniscule player base, while reviews noted

09:51that nothing about it stood out, or was even that good.

09:54Although developer Firewalk Studios planned to support it through free updates with new

09:57characters and maps, it wasn't given the chance to.

10:00The player count was so low that Sony took it offline only two weeks after release, and

10:04all players were given refunds.

10:12Know any other video games that bombed in 2024?

10:15Share your thoughts in the comments.

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