The interesting thing about many of these examples are they still happen and no one does anything about it or learns their lesson. Amazingly people still buy pre-orders and expect a good game. Perhaps it should be reminded of people that buying a preorder can land you in a lot of trouble if you dont get the feedback first. And Beta reviews are NOT reviews of the final game!
Two games I can add to the marketing hype (both of which i liked) Tabula Rasa and Hellgate:London, both had large amounts of advertising, it is a wonder if developers realize an MMO is for the long haul, not the short? I can see many people are hoping Aion's Hype won't end similarly
I agree 100 percent here alot of folks have mentioned more recent failures such as DF,AOC,WAR and these games mostly are prime examples against pre orders. I don't practice pre ordering because there is really no reason to pre order, I assume maybe some find themselves in places where availability is limited but most of us that simply can't be the case I live in Milwaukee,Wi. which is not that large of a place and I don't remember any game selling out not named Grand Theft Auto. As a rule atleast stick to games you have some idea of the way it works because most of the games on the list seemed barely playable which would have been evident to those who tried before they pre ordered.
Companies (and unscrupulous people) now use our rampant fanboism to our own detriment and until we realize this is still a business no matter how much we care they will continue to do so. Avoid games that offer beta access to pre order and other backwards practices like this and we'll avoid a part 2 of this article which we right now as pointed out by us all are very close to.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
What strikes me most about these games is just the realisation that we gamers for the most part are a gullible lot.Almost all of these "epic fail" lists also had the most rabid fanbois in their forums. My own horror story would still be Anarchy online. I really wanted to love that game and see it do well, then when they announced the launch it was as if Funcom totally ignored the real players and fans of that game . I remember one heated argument with someone who basically said we should buy the game even though it was not ready because we needed to support the small game companies. My response was simply that no sorry, I won't buy a broken car out of pity for poor,poor GM nor woul;d I buy and pay a subscription fee for a broken game.
Needless to say, that thread got deleted, as did quite a few other threads because Funcom didn't want any criticism to spoil the European launch of the game ( of course their shitty game didn't need help, it spoke for itself).
I still remember any and all criticism ( and this was during beta mind you) was always met with this very choir of the same kool aid drinkers. I think they had this mantra going about how Funcom had a "super sekret" version of the client ready for launch that none of the beta testers had ever seen that was all fixed and ready to burn.Oh does any of this sound familiar to you AoC beta testers?
I know that SOE screwed the pooch on SWG, but seriously if any company deserves a razzy it has to be Funcom. They've just never learned. Both of their games got great publicity from the start, they did a great jobh with all the videos and hyping up the communities, and in the end the launches and finished products were huge dissapointments, and both times Funcom's response seemed to be that " why golly folks, we just didn't anticipate all these sunbcribers and problems!"...
And can we please stop with the talk of how SWG was this wonderful game that got screwed up later.Am I the only one who remembers all the broken proffessions and half assed unfinished skill trees? The huge laundry list of things that were still broken when I finally cancelled my sub 6 months later was just mind boggling. I still can't figure out how Raph Koster ( the most overrated game designer around ) and crew managed to take an IP like Star Wars and make a boring generic feeling sci fi game that amounted to crafting in space. It's like they all sat down and decided to show us how little they actually learned from Ultime Online.
I was that game's target audience. I loved computer games and rpgs and sci fi and especially loved Star Wars at the time .They couldda been the biggest mmo ever, they should've been what WoW is now. But SOE, Raph and crew screwed the pooch royally.And I'm not just going to lay blame at SOE's feet, sorry. The designers wrote buggy code, they're the ones who left unfinished professions/skill trees like Comandos in.
Damn! Okay, I take it back, SW:G was the most infuriating mmo ever, just writing this has me getting pissed off all over again LOL.I need a cigarette, like right now!
For the huge dissapointment and feedback from players who actually played, Darkfall should have definitely hit the top 5 somewhere, perhaps even number 2 at least!
I think that War Hammer should have been at the top of the list as it had sooooooooo many issues that were never addressed. The sad thing is this game had so much promise and Mythic blew it!!!
for me the most infuriating case is Mythica - it was MMORPG in development by MS Games and it was imho game, which had potential to be as succesful as later was WoW, since it was bringing really great features and was not aiming only for "hardcore" players. It had greatest community I ever met in MMORPG and great and communicative developers. Not only pictures and all info looked amazing, but also videos from gameplay, tho game was only in alpha stage. But then one day, without any previoous warning, development was stoped. Some wise guy in MS decided, that they will instead of supporting their own subsidiary's game support Vanguard and some anime mmorpg, which name i dont remember, since it was at the end never released. So, tho inlike some other people here on forum I kind of like Vanguard, tho i dont play it, I am kind of glad (sorry guys, nothing personal), that it was not succesful, because it give me hope that THAT STUPID IDIOT IN MS MAYBE GOT FIRED AT THE END. GRRRRRR.
Hey CaesarsGhost, long time since I came across that name.
I plunged money into The Chronicle and we were offered refunds at various times. I did request one near the end, but by that time I think you had been shown the door/resigned (still not sure what happened there). Very soon after everything just vanished. Don't recall it clearly, but could have easily been a matter of days. From what I gather they treated you almost as badly as they did us. I really felt for you when the position of everything became clear.
After you went it was impossible to contact anyone and they really did a good job of keeping the community apart the best they could. I did manage to keep in contact with a handful of people and as far as I am aware none of them received a refund.
Feel bad that you took out a loan to pay folks back - don't think I would have accepted a refund from you at all if I knew that (hypothetical in the end anyway).
Excellent shout on The Chronicle Jon Wood - a truly disguisting experience that was. I would have put it higher on the list, maybe even #1 - at least the Mourning folks got a coaster out of it. Mourning definitely wins by brute numbers though, there couldn't have been more than 100 people who threw money at The Chronicle? There were about 30 active forums members, so maybe even that is optimistic.
Oh how we thought we had snared a hidden niche before anyone else arrived. If it has taught me anything it is that I'm just as stupid as I believe the rest of humanity is.
Star Wars Galaxy...............sigh.Its been close if not 10 yrs and people are still pissed off,still refusing to buy SOE products and dare i say it grit thiere teeth as they buy a star wars dvd. Put SOE on anything and that game or company will automatically lose out on 250,000 possible gamers followed by another 750,000 friends of thieres. 1,000,000 potential subscribers gone with a simple font. And its number 5? What are you daft??Dense?? Devoid of literary comprehension?
Asked by anyone the common response would have been swg.there was no research into this article he/she just pulled up thiere credit card bills and pulled this list out of thiere arse.
Fuck sony!
fuck swg!
And fuck all you crooked bitches making shit and calling it a game!!!
Great, now ive pissed off the wife again. Maybe ill burn that collectors edition at my next FUCKIN BBQ!!!!!!!!!!!!
I keep thinking that publishers and developers would get a clue and see from previous experiences of others that making radical, game-changing transformations of your games usually results in an immediate and sustained reduction in your paying user base...
AC and PlanetSide are my particular two anger-inducers...Both totally changed after a year or so, both completely losing most of the very mechanics and aesthetics that attracted the average player in the first place....
The magic simplification and the housing portals all over and a lot of other things made AC a different, MUCH more shallow game..
And the Bending and the related additions and changes (BFRs) cost PlanetSide likely more than half thier paying users over the next few months...and those have never returned......
But, for SOME reason...It's still happening with most succesful games...The developers just seem DRIVEN to change things so major and gamechanging that they lose whatever the aspects were that attracted thier main players in the first place..And *I* have no answers...
But every time I see people on game forums demanding all these changes and new stuff, I speak against it..Because the players have no business building the game....They have no IDEA what's fun, and will just give themselves a "win" buitton...Which is NO fun.
It should be clear by now, though, that developers should avoid major gameplay changes after release...New toys, if balanced, new areas, fine..But leave the mechanics and gameplay alone....
I can't believe no one has mentioned Horizons. I worked for the company during launch and it was freaking horrible to be an employee at that point!
I'm surprised by this as well David Bowman was literally ran out of the Industry on a rail, but he has always gotten a pass in the media....even when he was hiding under his desk after the launch of Horizons news sites refused to call him out on it.
Mind Boggling
Bowman was a VERY smooth operator. He is the type that could be charming as hell, while slipping a dagger in to your back. Dave Allen(original developer of Horizons) learned that the hard way. Most of the news sites only ever saw his charming side. He was also a master of spin, self promotion and propaganda. If you track his history back, you will see that Horizons is far from the first game he managed to run in to the ground.
Bowman ruined everything he touched, as far as I can see...He was even involved in the "simplification" of AC back in the day, before Horizons...
But, yeah, Horizons is a perfect example of a David Bowman enterprise.....I was there through closed and open beta, did the free month of release, then never looked back...But, I got an invitation for a free month or something ayear ago..So I did it...
It STILL takes literally 5 MINUTES to log into the game...Stuff warps around rather than moves in any normal way, and the game is as broken and incomplete as it was, what, 6 or 7 YEARS ago?!?
I can't believe no one has mentioned Horizons. I worked for the company during launch and it was freaking horrible to be an employee at that point!
I'm surprised by this as well David Bowman was literally ran out of the Industry on a rail, but he has always gotten a pass in the media....even when he was hiding under his desk after the launch of Horizons news sites refused to call him out on it.
Mind Boggling
Bowman was a VERY smooth operator. He is the type that could be charming as hell, while slipping a dagger in to your back. Dave Allen(original developer of Horizons) learned that the hard way. Most of the news sites only ever saw his charming side. He was also a master of spin, self promotion and propaganda. If you track his history back, you will see that Horizons is far from the first game he managed to run in to the ground.
Bowman ruined everything he touched, as far as I can see...He was even involved in the "simplification" of AC back in the day, before Horizons...
But, yeah, Horizons is a perfect example of a David Bowman enterprise.....I was there through closed and open beta, did the free month of release, then never looked back...But, I got an invitation for a free month or something ayear ago..So I did it...
It STILL takes literally 5 MINUTES to log into the game...Stuff warps around rather than moves in any normal way, and the game is as broken and incomplete as it was, what, 6 or 7 YEARS ago?!?
I went back when they finally fixed the Vista problem. I must say that stability, FPS and graphics problems have been MUCH improved on my system. But the graphics are MUCH too dated, and I'm more a combat than crafting type. I wish them all the best though.
1, No desire to put the same company on the list twice. 2, There was never a single large event in EQ that generated anger, it was absolutely every single thing the company did.
Well, I do recall the Shadows Of Luclin expansion was a major fiasco that stands out in my mind. I still get chills down my spine every spring cleaning if I happen to come across the SoL box. I guess the initials should have given me an idea of what would happen.
CO - slowly making it's way up my list of being Infuriating - lag / rubberbanding / wonky launcher, one minute it works the next it doesn't, literally.
D&L - Thank god I never bought it. I had marked it down to be picked up when it came out but just forgot about it due to a heavy work load in RL at the time.
Comments
I agree 100 percent here alot of folks have mentioned more recent failures such as DF,AOC,WAR and these games mostly are prime examples against pre orders. I don't practice pre ordering because there is really no reason to pre order, I assume maybe some find themselves in places where availability is limited but most of us that simply can't be the case I live in Milwaukee,Wi. which is not that large of a place and I don't remember any game selling out not named Grand Theft Auto. As a rule atleast stick to games you have some idea of the way it works because most of the games on the list seemed barely playable which would have been evident to those who tried before they pre ordered.
Companies (and unscrupulous people) now use our rampant fanboism to our own detriment and until we realize this is still a business no matter how much we care they will continue to do so. Avoid games that offer beta access to pre order and other backwards practices like this and we'll avoid a part 2 of this article which we right now as pointed out by us all are very close to.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
What strikes me most about these games is just the realisation that we gamers for the most part are a gullible lot.Almost all of these "epic fail" lists also had the most rabid fanbois in their forums. My own horror story would still be Anarchy online. I really wanted to love that game and see it do well, then when they announced the launch it was as if Funcom totally ignored the real players and fans of that game . I remember one heated argument with someone who basically said we should buy the game even though it was not ready because we needed to support the small game companies. My response was simply that no sorry, I won't buy a broken car out of pity for poor,poor GM nor woul;d I buy and pay a subscription fee for a broken game.
Needless to say, that thread got deleted, as did quite a few other threads because Funcom didn't want any criticism to spoil the European launch of the game ( of course their shitty game didn't need help, it spoke for itself).
I still remember any and all criticism ( and this was during beta mind you) was always met with this very choir of the same kool aid drinkers. I think they had this mantra going about how Funcom had a "super sekret" version of the client ready for launch that none of the beta testers had ever seen that was all fixed and ready to burn.Oh does any of this sound familiar to you AoC beta testers?
I know that SOE screwed the pooch on SWG, but seriously if any company deserves a razzy it has to be Funcom. They've just never learned. Both of their games got great publicity from the start, they did a great jobh with all the videos and hyping up the communities, and in the end the launches and finished products were huge dissapointments, and both times Funcom's response seemed to be that " why golly folks, we just didn't anticipate all these sunbcribers and problems!"...
And can we please stop with the talk of how SWG was this wonderful game that got screwed up later.Am I the only one who remembers all the broken proffessions and half assed unfinished skill trees? The huge laundry list of things that were still broken when I finally cancelled my sub 6 months later was just mind boggling. I still can't figure out how Raph Koster ( the most overrated game designer around ) and crew managed to take an IP like Star Wars and make a boring generic feeling sci fi game that amounted to crafting in space. It's like they all sat down and decided to show us how little they actually learned from Ultime Online.
I was that game's target audience. I loved computer games and rpgs and sci fi and especially loved Star Wars at the time .They couldda been the biggest mmo ever, they should've been what WoW is now. But SOE, Raph and crew screwed the pooch royally.And I'm not just going to lay blame at SOE's feet, sorry. The designers wrote buggy code, they're the ones who left unfinished professions/skill trees like Comandos in.
Damn! Okay, I take it back, SW:G was the most infuriating mmo ever, just writing this has me getting pissed off all over again LOL.I need a cigarette, like right now!
For the huge dissapointment and feedback from players who actually played, Darkfall should have definitely hit the top 5 somewhere, perhaps even number 2 at least!
I think that War Hammer should have been at the top of the list as it had sooooooooo many issues that were never addressed. The sad thing is this game had so much promise and Mythic blew it!!!
http://blog.mmosmacktalk.com/
for me the most infuriating case is Mythica - it was MMORPG in development by MS Games and it was imho game, which had potential to be as succesful as later was WoW, since it was bringing really great features and was not aiming only for "hardcore" players. It had greatest community I ever met in MMORPG and great and communicative developers. Not only pictures and all info looked amazing, but also videos from gameplay, tho game was only in alpha stage. But then one day, without any previoous warning, development was stoped. Some wise guy in MS decided, that they will instead of supporting their own subsidiary's game support Vanguard and some anime mmorpg, which name i dont remember, since it was at the end never released. So, tho inlike some other people here on forum I kind of like Vanguard, tho i dont play it, I am kind of glad (sorry guys, nothing personal), that it was not succesful, because it give me hope that THAT STUPID IDIOT IN MS MAYBE GOT FIRED AT THE END. GRRRRRR.
ben
and for those who never heard of mythica - tak a look at this:
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/mythica/5809p1.html
Hellgate: London. . .
never again will I pay for a lifetime subscription. Never got the money's worth.
well, i think that lifetime subscription of lotro was trade of the lifetime
Hey CaesarsGhost, long time since I came across that name.
I plunged money into The Chronicle and we were offered refunds at various times. I did request one near the end, but by that time I think you had been shown the door/resigned (still not sure what happened there). Very soon after everything just vanished. Don't recall it clearly, but could have easily been a matter of days. From what I gather they treated you almost as badly as they did us. I really felt for you when the position of everything became clear.
After you went it was impossible to contact anyone and they really did a good job of keeping the community apart the best they could. I did manage to keep in contact with a handful of people and as far as I am aware none of them received a refund.
Feel bad that you took out a loan to pay folks back - don't think I would have accepted a refund from you at all if I knew that (hypothetical in the end anyway).
Excellent shout on The Chronicle Jon Wood - a truly disguisting experience that was. I would have put it higher on the list, maybe even #1 - at least the Mourning folks got a coaster out of it. Mourning definitely wins by brute numbers though, there couldn't have been more than 100 people who threw money at The Chronicle? There were about 30 active forums members, so maybe even that is optimistic.
Oh how we thought we had snared a hidden niche before anyone else arrived. If it has taught me anything it is that I'm just as stupid as I believe the rest of humanity is.
Star Wars Galaxy...............sigh.Its been close if not 10 yrs and people are still pissed off,still refusing to buy SOE products and dare i say it grit thiere teeth as they buy a star wars dvd. Put SOE on anything and that game or company will automatically lose out on 250,000 possible gamers followed by another 750,000 friends of thieres. 1,000,000 potential subscribers gone with a simple font. And its number 5? What are you daft??Dense?? Devoid of literary comprehension?
Asked by anyone the common response would have been swg.there was no research into this article he/she just pulled up thiere credit card bills and pulled this list out of thiere arse.
Fuck sony!
fuck swg!
And fuck all you crooked bitches making shit and calling it a game!!!
Great, now ive pissed off the wife again. Maybe ill burn that collectors edition at my next FUCKIN BBQ!!!!!!!!!!!!
I keep thinking that publishers and developers would get a clue and see from previous experiences of others that making radical, game-changing transformations of your games usually results in an immediate and sustained reduction in your paying user base...
AC and PlanetSide are my particular two anger-inducers...Both totally changed after a year or so, both completely losing most of the very mechanics and aesthetics that attracted the average player in the first place....
The magic simplification and the housing portals all over and a lot of other things made AC a different, MUCH more shallow game..
And the Bending and the related additions and changes (BFRs) cost PlanetSide likely more than half thier paying users over the next few months...and those have never returned......
But, for SOME reason...It's still happening with most succesful games...The developers just seem DRIVEN to change things so major and gamechanging that they lose whatever the aspects were that attracted thier main players in the first place..And *I* have no answers...
But every time I see people on game forums demanding all these changes and new stuff, I speak against it..Because the players have no business building the game....They have no IDEA what's fun, and will just give themselves a "win" buitton...Which is NO fun.
It should be clear by now, though, that developers should avoid major gameplay changes after release...New toys, if balanced, new areas, fine..But leave the mechanics and gameplay alone....
Aye!
D&L should definitely be the number 1.
It has been the most annoying hoax that has been around, angrily defended by fanbois until the final end.
I'm surprised by this as well David Bowman was literally ran out of the Industry on a rail, but he has always gotten a pass in the media....even when he was hiding under his desk after the launch of Horizons news sites refused to call him out on it.
Mind Boggling
Bowman was a VERY smooth operator. He is the type that could be charming as hell, while slipping a dagger in to your back. Dave Allen(original developer of Horizons) learned that the hard way. Most of the news sites only ever saw his charming side. He was also a master of spin, self promotion and propaganda. If you track his history back, you will see that Horizons is far from the first game he managed to run in to the ground.
Bowman ruined everything he touched, as far as I can see...He was even involved in the "simplification" of AC back in the day, before Horizons...
But, yeah, Horizons is a perfect example of a David Bowman enterprise.....I was there through closed and open beta, did the free month of release, then never looked back...But, I got an invitation for a free month or something ayear ago..So I did it...
It STILL takes literally 5 MINUTES to log into the game...Stuff warps around rather than moves in any normal way, and the game is as broken and incomplete as it was, what, 6 or 7 YEARS ago?!?
Were there really that many people that even knew about Mourning, let alone cared about it?
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
I'm surprised by this as well David Bowman was literally ran out of the Industry on a rail, but he has always gotten a pass in the media....even when he was hiding under his desk after the launch of Horizons news sites refused to call him out on it.
Mind Boggling
Bowman was a VERY smooth operator. He is the type that could be charming as hell, while slipping a dagger in to your back. Dave Allen(original developer of Horizons) learned that the hard way. Most of the news sites only ever saw his charming side. He was also a master of spin, self promotion and propaganda. If you track his history back, you will see that Horizons is far from the first game he managed to run in to the ground.
Bowman ruined everything he touched, as far as I can see...He was even involved in the "simplification" of AC back in the day, before Horizons...
But, yeah, Horizons is a perfect example of a David Bowman enterprise.....I was there through closed and open beta, did the free month of release, then never looked back...But, I got an invitation for a free month or something ayear ago..So I did it...
It STILL takes literally 5 MINUTES to log into the game...Stuff warps around rather than moves in any normal way, and the game is as broken and incomplete as it was, what, 6 or 7 YEARS ago?!?
I went back when they finally fixed the Vista problem. I must say that stability, FPS and graphics problems have been MUCH improved on my system. But the graphics are MUCH too dated, and I'm more a combat than crafting type. I wish them all the best though.
Well, I do recall the Shadows Of Luclin expansion was a major fiasco that stands out in my mind. I still get chills down my spine every spring cleaning if I happen to come across the SoL box. I guess the initials should have given me an idea of what would happen.
CO - slowly making it's way up my list of being Infuriating - lag / rubberbanding / wonky launcher, one minute it works the next it doesn't, literally.
D&L - Thank god I never bought it. I had marked it down to be picked up when it came out but just forgot about it due to a heavy work load in RL at the time.