10 Times a Studio COMPLETELY RUINED a Game

10 Times a Studio COMPLETELY Ruined a Game

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are looking at studios that absolutely dropped the ball, and sometimes when catching should have been easy as pie. These are 10 Times a Studio COMPLETELY Ruined a Game. Let’s go!

“Mighty No. 9” (2016)

Back in 2013, Keiji Inafune tried to recapture some magic with "Mighty No. 9", a Kickstarter pitch that basically said, “hey, remember "Mega Man"? What if we did that again?” Fans showed up in force, blasting past the funding goal like it was a tutorial level. Expectations? Through the roof. Then came the delays… and more delays… and more delays. By the time it finally launched in 2016, the hype had aged like milk, and Keiji had taken all the hype and done nothing with it. What players got felt undercooked, odd design choices, rough visuals, and not much to sink your teeth into. The fallout was pretty rough too, with development studio Comcept getting absorbed by Level-5, while Keiji more or less stepped out of the spotlight.

“Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5” (2015)

"Massive Tiny comeback” doesn’t even begin to cover what "Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5" was supposed to be. It was marketed like the return of a legend, but if you looked closely, it felt more like Activision panicking. Turns out… yeah, they kind of were. The game was rushed out before the Tony Hawk license expired, and it really shows. Instead of the smooth, addictive skating the series was known for, players got bugs, clunky controls, empty-feeling levels, and visuals that looked weirdly outdated. It just didn’t have that magic. The reception was brutal, and the fallout hit hard, developer Robomodo shut down not long after. The cost to renew the license probably would have been worth it, but hey, hindsight is 360 kickflip.

“Daikatana” (2000)

In the ‘90s, John Romero was basically gaming’s version of a rockstar, huge personality, huge success, and coming off hits like "Doom" with John Carmack. So when he launched his own studio, Ion Storm, expectations were sky-high. Then came "Daikatana" … and yeah, that’s where things fell apart. They decided to release an over confident ad campaign that stated “John Romero's about to make you his b**ch”, which is far too strong a claim to make on insecure gamers like myself. You better come with you’re A Game if you wanna call me “your b**ch”. By the time it was released in 2000, it already felt outdated, with clunky gameplay and visuals that couldn’t keep up.

“Haze” (2008)

Free Radical Design had built a solid reputation with the "TimeSplitters" games, fast, chaotic shooters that picked up a real cult following. So when they started hyping up "Haze" as a big step forward (basically their shot at taking on the giants of the genre), expectations shot up pretty quickly. Then the game launched in 2008, and exploded before leaving the atmosphere. Instead of competing with the heavy hitters, it got compared to them, and not in a good way. Between technical issues and gameplay that didn’t quite click, it struggled to make an impact. The fallout was rough, and not long after, the studio collapsed.

“SimCity” (2013)

2013’s "SimCity" reboot is one of those games where the foundation is actually solid, but everything around it completely falls apart. At its core, the city-building is fun and genuinely engaging, until the game itself stops you from playing it. EA’s decision to make it always-online backfired immediately. Servers were a mess at launch, locking players out of a game they’d already paid for. And even when you did get in, there was a real chance your progress would just vanish. Not ideal. EA didn’t exactly help themselves either, brushing off refund requests and doubling down on the online requirement. The backlash hurt sales, the series got shelved, and developer Maxis Emeryville eventually shut down.

“Shenmue III” (2019)

The original "Shenmue" games built up a serious cult following, but they also left fans hanging with one of the longest cliffhangers in gaming. For years, people were begging for a continuation, and somehow, against all odds, it actually happened. Do you think it went well? Wouldn’t be on this list if it did. Yu Suzuki took to Kickstarter in 2015 and raised over $6 million to bring "Shenmue III" to life. The hype? Massive. The result? NOOOT good. Instead of feeling like a modern revival, it played like a time capsule, and to really twist the knife, it ended on another cliffhanger. Suzuki’s still interested in continuing the story, but you know what? F**k you Suzuki.

“Forspoken” (2023)

"Forspoken" looked like it was gearing up to be a huge deal, Square Enix, flashy trailers, big promises, and a brand-new studio behind it in Luminous Productions. I got hyped from the first gameplay trailer. When it finally dropped in early 2023, it did deliver on one thing: the movement. Zipping around the world felt fast and smooth, like you were constantly in a highlight reel. I guess that’s why they pushed it so much… We should have known. Outside of that movement, things got a bit rough. The pacing dragged, the overall polish wasn’t quite there, and it just didn’t click the way people hoped. The reception ended up being pretty lukewarm, and not long after, the studio was folded back into Square Enix.

“Anthem” (2019)

"Anthem" was supposed to be a massive win for BioWare, a flashy, always-online shooter where you’d fly around in mech suits and feel like a superhero. It sounded like an unbeatable recipe for brilliance. But still, it launched feeling like a half-finished idea. Like our previous entry, the flying and traversal was genuinely great. Everything else sucked. Missions got repetitive fast, the world felt empty. Electronic Arts tried to salvage it with updates, even planning a major overhaul, but eventually pulled the plug. What was meant to be a long-term live service ended up as a cautionary tale instead.

“The Lord of The Rings: Gollum” (2023)

"The Lord of the Rings: Gollum" somehow managed to turn one of the biggest IPs on the planet into a full-on disaster. Daedalic Entertainment, a studio known for smaller, well-liked adventure games, suddenly tried to jump into a much bigger, AAA-style project, and I don’t think they were ready. When the game launched, it was hit with criticism from basically every direction: clunky stealth, constant bugs, rough visuals, and just an overall feeling that it wasn’t ready for release. Behind the scenes didn’t sound much better either, with reports of a messy development cycle. Sales tanked, a sequel got scrapped, and Daedalic pulled back from development entirely not long after. A cautionary tale from a studio that aimed way too high.

“Concord” (2024)

This game was meant to be Sony’s big swing at the hero-shooter space, a long-term live service with franchise potential, built by Firewalk Studios. And that name might make your ears prick up, and it’s probably because of how much hate they’ve received. Development had been going on for years, so expectations were pretty high. Then it finally got shown off, and the reaction was basically a collective shrug. A lot of people compared it to a generic space crew vibe, like something trying a bit too hard to be the next big thing without really standing out. When it launched in 2024, things didn’t improve. Player numbers just weren’t there, and within a couple of weeks, it was over. Sony pulled the plug, shut down the studio, and quietly moved on. Not exactly the legacy they were aiming for.