Talk:List of commercial failures in video games

Guitar Hero Live and various 2023 titles

Guitar Hero Live - The seventh and final mainline Guitar Hero game that released in 2015, later shutdown in 2018. Despite positive reviews, the game had underwhelming sales by Activision's standards. Many FreeStyleGames employees were laid off and the studio was later sold to Ubisoft in 2017.

Redfall - A first-person looter shooter with live service elements released in 2023. The game was universally panned due to game breaking bugs, live-service design, bad enemy AI, and various performance issues. Phil Spencer even apologised for how bad the game was at launch. All future free updates and the Hero DLC were canceled following the closure of Arkane Austin, the developers behind Redfall with refunds given to people who purchased the Hero DLC or Bite Back Edition. The game also has less than 100 players online in Steam.

Minecraft Legends - A real-time action-strategy game and spin-off of Minecraft released in 2023. Despite average reviews and having the Minecraft IP attached to it, the game sold poorly with many players refunding the game. The game also stopped receiving free updates and support in January 2024. Similar to Redfall, Legends has abysmal player counts.

The Day Before - An extraction shooter, formerly advertised as an MMO released in 2023 on Steam Early Access after years of anticipation and skepticism of its legitimacy. The game was universally panned, and the developers were accused of scamming due to trailers and promotional materiel differing greatly from the final product. According to Fntastic, the game failed financially, leading to their closure. All players were also refunded. Edelgardvonhresvelg (talk) 00:22, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

You need sources for all of these. The Day Before is already at the List of video games notable for negative reception. Redfall may likely go there too. GH Live likely wasn't a commercial failure, just didn't sell as well as they hoped. Similarly with Microsoft Legends. --Masem (t) 03:43, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

So, I can list Guitar Hero Live and Minecraft Legends provided that they have sources that label them as failures, but The Day Before and Redfall cannot be listed here due to The Day Before already being listed there and that Redfall is likely to be listed there as well? I am certain that Guitar Hero Live was a failure due to the layoffs and sale of FreeStyleGames along with the fact that there has not been a new Guitar Hero game in nearly a decade. In terms of Minecraft Legends, the other Minecraft spin-offs such as Story Mode, Earth, and Dungeons lasted more than a year while Legends died 9 months after its release. Edelgardvonhresvelg (talk) 23:44, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Other games to include

From [1] would include Artifact, Crucible, possibly LawBreakers and possibly Anthem. (The others on this link are covered here or at the negative reception pagfe) — Masem (t) 12:05, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

Xbox Series S and Series X

Don't forget to add Xbox Series S and Series X as Commercial Failure Hardware 94.41.222.135 (talk) 17:26, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

They were not commercial failures. Speed Limit 50 (talk) 19:02, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

They have very low sales though. 2600:4041:528B:ED00:A0CE:FD3:C04F:672D (talk) 18:20, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

Low sales is not the sale as a commercial failure. For example, the OG Xbox is known to have been a net negative for MS, but they considered that a long-term loss leader for getting their feet into the console market, so its not a commercial failure. Based on comments made by MS of late, they dont see the console as the most critical part of their gaming strategy, so low sales may not have been a commercial failure. Masem (t) 18:35, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

Add MultiVersus to this list?

As per IGN, WB Games stated that the game "significantly underperformed", leading to a $100 million loss. But I wanted to bring this to a discussion first before adding it to the list. MannysMyName (talk) 04:10, 19 February 2025 (UTC)

Word now out that Player First Games is being shut down with a few other studios, so likely yes. [2] Masem (t) 19:24, 25 February 2025 (UTC)