10 Failures PlayStation WANTS You to Forget About

10 Failures PlayStation WANTS You to Forget About

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 10 failed games that Sony hopes you’ll forget about.

“Concord” (2024)

Let’s just get this one out of the way. Hopefully by now, you’ll have heard most of what happened with “Concord”. A hero shooter that floundered in development for seven years before Sony got involved, dumped four hundred million dollars into the game and acquisition of developer Firewalk Studios, believed “Concord” would be “the next ‘Star Wars’”, and the game bombed. Nothing about “Concord” distinguished itself from other hero shooters, and the gameplay felt slow and awkward between most of the characters. Sales were so abysmal that Sony gave up on it and removed the game from sale merely eleven days after launch. And now, “Concord” only exists as a limited edition PS5 controller and that one decent episode on Amazon’s “Secret Level” series.

“Xtreme” series (1995-99)

In the early years of PlayStation, first-party developers were throwing everything they could at the wall to see what stuck. Surprisingly, Sony tried several times to cut their own slice of the sports gaming pie throughout the PS1’s lifespan. Unfortunately, the “Xtreme” series never took off. “ESPN Extreme Games”, aka “1Xtreme” as it would be rebranded as after the ESPN license expired, saw the most critical praise, which wasn’t much. Reviews were mixed, but Sony pushed ahead with “2Xtreme”, a sequel that saw a drastic decline in quality with its oppressive AI, messy menu navigation, and samey level design. “3Xtreme”, the final game in the series, did even worse. Eventually, Sony gave up on the series and hasn’t bothered revisiting extreme sports as a whole since. At the time of this video, “2Xtreme” is the only entry in the series that is commercially available on PS5 and PS4.

“Destruction AllStars” (2021)

Speaking of sports games or games with a sporty attitude about it, “Destruction AllStars” tried to make demolition derby more appealing with a cast of colorful combatants, showboats, and…ugh, “influencers”. Unfortunately, not any one of the characters are likable in any way and come off obnoxious with their lackluster trash talk. Think if WWE wrestlers were told they couldn’t curse or say anything alluding to harm in any way, shape, or form. As for the gameplay, the map selection was unbearably lean with only a few to choose from, story campaigns were locked behind paywalls, and the scoring system was too convoluted for a game about smashing cars. Despite an attempt to renew interest with a slight revamp, no one was biting. With the game’s social media not posting anything since October 2022, “Destruction AllStars” has quickly faded into obscurity and will only ever be remembered as a stain on the PS5, if it ever is remembered.

“Motor Toon Grand Prix” (1994)

Before “Gran Turismo”, Polyphony Digital worked on this arcade racer that was only ever released in Japan. North America did receive the sequel in 1996, but “Motor Toon Grand Prix 2” was just the original game with better visuals. While we can forgive this being Polyphony’s first game, it was one of the roughest racing games thrown together even for its time. The cartoon aesthetic was nice and all, but the power-up system was basic and sometimes unexplainable, the level design was a bit haphazard, and the replay value was kind of non-existent. After the two games, Polyphony would create the “Gran Turismo” series, and neither they nor Sony have shown any interest in resurrecting “Motor Toon” let alone preserve the short-lived series. At least “Astro Bot” remembers.

“Lair” (2007)

Though Sony may not believe it, there is appeal in a video game that lets you fly your own dragon and engage in fantastical warfare. “Lair” looked like that fantasy could come true, but Sony themselves ruined any chances the game had. Developer Factor 5 already had a ton of trouble putting the game together before Sony came in and told them they needed to incorporate the motion-based Sixaxis controls of the DualShock 3. What resulted was a fantasy game that felt horrible to play and ultimately put Factor 5 in a compromising position. After launch, Sony ceased working with Factor 5. The studio never recovered and closed its doors in 2011.

“Erica” (2019)

In their post-”Singstar” life, London Studio was not known for much else until 2019 when they put out “Blood & Truth” for PlayStation VR. However, this was not the studio’s final game. Roughly three months later, interactive movie game “Erica” released on PlayStation 4. London Studio had co-developed the game with another studio known as Flavourworks while Sony Interactive Entertainment published it on PS4. “Erica” made no waves in the press as review scores came back lukewarm and underwhelming. Sony themselves have ever said a word about the game in general outside of maybe a social media post or two, though we recommend you check it out for yourselves if you’re itching for something new in the genre.

“Kill Strain” (2016)

While many voice their disdain for Sony pushing for live service games, almost none will remember the early attempts during the PS4 years. “Kill Strain” was among the first and was arguably the most embarrassing on account of how cobbled together it seemed. With a PvPvE format, players were tasked with protecting their base while fighting the other team of players while also fighting off an AI team of mutants. Yeah, it was far too chaotic for a competitive shooter, and it didn’t take long for players to drop it. In April 2017, less than a year after launch, Sony Europe announced the game would shut down in December 2017. Not one soul voiced their outrage over this, and Sony will likely never bring this IP back ever again.

“MAG” (2010)

At the time of its release, “MAG” was a revolution in online gaming. It was tough for most games to squeeze in a large amount of players unless you had monumental amounts of cash like “World of Warcraft” had. As for online shooters, most games were only throwing in sixteen to twenty-four players. “MAG” threw a whopping two hundred fifty-six players into a single game for some truly explosive matches between thirty-two teams of eight players. Unfortunately, it was not meant to last. Sony announced “MAG’s” servers would close in January 2014. No reason was given as to why the decision was made, though one can probably assume “Call of Duty” kept drowning out competition like “MAG” with its annual releases, thus causing low player numbers. This would be one of the final attempts Sony would make in creating their own blockbuster FPS game before then-president Shuhei Yoshida and other Sony executives decided it was time to focus on what the publisher was good at: narrative-driven single-player games.

“The Order: 1886” (2015)

With the PlayStation 4 having exited its first year with great success, Sony was ready to get the hype rolling with “The Order: 1886”. Folks were enamored with how realistic the game looked at the time, but how did it play? Well, not great. The intense focus on making the game “cinematic” often got in the way of players nailing shots, and the short length left many wondering what they were even getting hyped for in the first place. “The Order: 1886” wound up being widely regarded as one of the biggest disappointments in 2015. While developer Ready At Dawn was ready to start working on a sequel (like the ending implied), Sony was less than satisfied and moved on without them. To this day, “The Order: 1886” remains an unfinished story, forever left to be nothing more than that one game “Astro Bot” likes to reference every now and again.

“Blasto” (1998)

Of any IP Sony has ever introduced, no game has ever been ignored so explicitly often as “Blasto”. This was a third-person shooter developed by Sony’s internal staff and featured comedian Phil Hartman as the voice of the titular protagonist. Reviews were not kind, to say the least, and only die-hard PS1 players gave it the time of day, few singing any kind of praise about it. And Sony has said nothing about the game since its release. There has never been a remake, no remaster, not any re-release of any kind nor something as small as an Easter egg in a bigger IP. “Blasto” has been rotting away in the PlayStation catacombs, and despite the rise of third-person shooters in recent years, Sony seems to have no interest in reintroducing the heroic spaceman.

Have you played any of these games for yourself? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!