Top 10 Bad Games That Sold Millions
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VOICE OVER: Kasey Thompson
Some games manage to rake in massive sales despite their questionable quality. Join us as we explore gaming's most surprising commercial successes that left players scratching their heads. From ambitious launch titles to motion control mishaps, these games prove that marketing and timing can sometimes matter more than quality. Our list includes launch titles like Ryse and Knack, motion control experiments like Wii Music and Kinect Adventures, and even some major franchise entries that didn't live up to expectations. Which of these million-sellers do you think least deserved its success?
10 Worst Games to Sell a Million Copies
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the all-time worst games that have sold over a million copies.
“Ryse: Son of Rome” (2013)
A hotly anticipated launch title for the Xbox One, “Ryse: Son of Rome” had some of the best graphics we’d ever seen at the time; well, what do you expect from Crytek? Even today, the graphics are still remarkable, especially for 2013, arguably rivalling the original version of “The Last of Us” on the PS3. Unfortunately, graphics were all “Ryse” had. With poorly implemented Kinect voice commands and an overall unimaginative story, “Ryse: Son of Rome” was promptly forgotten. And yet, because of its position as a launch title for the brand-new Xbox One, it still managed to sell an estimated 1.3 million copies. However, this was still far below the expectation of 5 million.
“Dead Rising 4” (2016)
More from Microsoft, this time, they screwed up a highly anticipated sequel to the “Dead Rising” franchise. “Dead Rising 3” was mediocre compared to its predecessors – despite making use of the Xbox One’s power to render more zombies than we’d ever seen before on-screen – so, they decided to bring back Frank West for “Dead Rising 4”. It was also, inexplicably, a Christmas game, set in the rebuilt mall from the first game but drowning in yuletide cheer and old Christmas songs. It managed to move roughly 1.28 million copies, though that was less than Microsoft and Capcom hoped and about half the sales of “Dead Rising 3”. We wonder how many people also bought the DLC necessary to see the true ending of the game…
“Knack” (2013)
It’s not just Microsoft releasing bad launch titles, though. In November 2013, Sony and Japan Studio gave us “Knack”, one of the first PS4 exclusive games. If you bought a PS4 at launch it may have even come with the game – which perhaps contributes to its high sales figures. It’s definitely not THAT bad, and maybe if they had the chance to make a sequel and develop the concept more, that sequel would have been better received! Except, they did do that, and “Knack II” was even more lackluster. It’s outrageous that “Knack” managed to get a sequel while “Days Gone” didn’t, although maybe those 2 million copies sold had something to do with it.
“Wii Music” (2008)
Despite being a flagship Wii title making extensive use of the motion controls, “Wii Music” couldn’t reach the lofty heights of “Wii Sports”, “Wii Fit”, or even “Wii Play”. It sold significantly less than those games, which all reached an audience of tens and millions during those early, heady days of motion controls – but it still, somehow, managed to sell 2.65 million copies worldwide. Conceptually, it made sense at the time: a simple rhythm game that didn’t require the extra peripherals of “Guitar Hero”. Unfortunately, people already HAD those peripherals, and Nintendo didn’t want to licence any music, so you were left playing the “Zelda” theme or public domain Victorian songs like “My Grandfather’s Clock”.
“Enter the Matrix” (2003)
The year was 2003, a year famous for seeing the release of not one, but two “Matrix” movies. “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” followed up 1999’s genre-defining sci-fi epic to a somewhat mixed response. At the same time, though, Shiny Entertainment was hard at work on a tie-in video game, “Enter the Matrix”, which was itself written and directed by the Wachowskis. The game is fine, and you can certainly have a fun time playing it today – especially if you enjoy the Wachowskis’ trademark style – but other critics have said that “Enter the Matrix” is worse than people wanted to admit. Regardless, it ended up selling 5 million copies, such was the power of the movie tie-in game in the PS2 era.
“Link’s Crossbow Training” (2007)
Some would argue that this was barely a game at all, but not Nintendo, who did release it as a standalone title in order to promote the Wii Zapper, which was the console’s gun peripheral. Flipping assets from “Twilight Princess”, the whole novelty IS the peripheral, though it wasn’t long before you could get far better shooters that used it. But, as is often the case with motion controls, it was physically difficult to play, but could be beaten in under an hour if you were good enough. Despite all that, it eventually sold a total of 5.79 million copies, though it’s not clear how many of those people actually wanted to play it versus just wanted the Zapper.
“Kinect Adventures!” (2010)
Seeing the runaway success or the Wii, Microsoft and Sony eventually jumped on the trend. While the PS Move was like a more powerful Wii utilising the better hardware of the PS3, Xbox forewent controllers entirely, and gave us the Kinect. Even at the time, people were sceptical about the Kinect, and those cynics were proven right. But if you were optimistic enough to buy a Kinect, you’ll have likely gotten this game bundled with it, explaining how it managed to move an astonishing 24 million copies. Even more miraculously, that makes it the best-selling game to release on the Xbox 360, which had a massive library of games. Yes, including “Halo”, “COD”, AND “GTA V”.
“Call of Duty: Vanguard” (2021)
Speaking of “Call of Duty”, all of them sell in huge numbers, but NOT all of them are popular. 2023’s “Modern Warfare III” remains the worst-received, but we don’t know exactly how many copies it’s sold. But we DO know that “Vanguard” sold a monumental 30 million across all of its platforms, putting it right alongside monster hits like “Borderlands 2” and “Cyberpunk 2077”. Despite that, much criticism was levied at its story, and it was yet another miss from Sledgehammer – who really needed a win after the last game they led development on, “WWII”, became one of the franchise’s most forgotten releases. “Vanguard” was not that win, and despite tens of millions of players, Activision viewed it as a commercial failure.
“Overwatch” (2016)
It’s one of the few games to have publicly declared that it made over a billion dollars, up there with greats like “GTA V” and “Red Dead Redemption II”. To this day, firing up your copy of “Overwatch” and jumping into a match is a ton of fun – or, it would be, were it possible. We don’t know how much of that billion dollars came from sales of the game and how much came from pervasive microtransactions, but one thing’s for sure: a LOT of people bought “Overwatch” with their hard-earned cash, and they didn’t get refunds when “Overwatch 2” erased the original game and made it free-to-play. But hey, at least we’ve got “Marvel Rivals” now instead.
“Ark: Survival Evolved” (2017)
There’s still a huge playerbase enjoying “Ark: Survival Evolved” and its many expansions to this day, and in fairness, there’s a lot to love about “Ark”. But there’s also a lot NOT to love, like the grindiness of its gameplay and how long you’d spend gathering crafting materials. Though the survival elements and original pitch about genuine dinosaurs set it apart from its closest competitor, “Monster Hunter”, when you’re competing with “Monster Hunter” in the first place, you’d better make a 10/10 game. “Ark” just isn’t that, and yet somehow, it remains the fourth best-selling game EVER, with 76 million copies out there.
Let us know which awful games you wish you’d never spent money on.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the all-time worst games that have sold over a million copies.
“Ryse: Son of Rome” (2013)
A hotly anticipated launch title for the Xbox One, “Ryse: Son of Rome” had some of the best graphics we’d ever seen at the time; well, what do you expect from Crytek? Even today, the graphics are still remarkable, especially for 2013, arguably rivalling the original version of “The Last of Us” on the PS3. Unfortunately, graphics were all “Ryse” had. With poorly implemented Kinect voice commands and an overall unimaginative story, “Ryse: Son of Rome” was promptly forgotten. And yet, because of its position as a launch title for the brand-new Xbox One, it still managed to sell an estimated 1.3 million copies. However, this was still far below the expectation of 5 million.
“Dead Rising 4” (2016)
More from Microsoft, this time, they screwed up a highly anticipated sequel to the “Dead Rising” franchise. “Dead Rising 3” was mediocre compared to its predecessors – despite making use of the Xbox One’s power to render more zombies than we’d ever seen before on-screen – so, they decided to bring back Frank West for “Dead Rising 4”. It was also, inexplicably, a Christmas game, set in the rebuilt mall from the first game but drowning in yuletide cheer and old Christmas songs. It managed to move roughly 1.28 million copies, though that was less than Microsoft and Capcom hoped and about half the sales of “Dead Rising 3”. We wonder how many people also bought the DLC necessary to see the true ending of the game…
“Knack” (2013)
It’s not just Microsoft releasing bad launch titles, though. In November 2013, Sony and Japan Studio gave us “Knack”, one of the first PS4 exclusive games. If you bought a PS4 at launch it may have even come with the game – which perhaps contributes to its high sales figures. It’s definitely not THAT bad, and maybe if they had the chance to make a sequel and develop the concept more, that sequel would have been better received! Except, they did do that, and “Knack II” was even more lackluster. It’s outrageous that “Knack” managed to get a sequel while “Days Gone” didn’t, although maybe those 2 million copies sold had something to do with it.
“Wii Music” (2008)
Despite being a flagship Wii title making extensive use of the motion controls, “Wii Music” couldn’t reach the lofty heights of “Wii Sports”, “Wii Fit”, or even “Wii Play”. It sold significantly less than those games, which all reached an audience of tens and millions during those early, heady days of motion controls – but it still, somehow, managed to sell 2.65 million copies worldwide. Conceptually, it made sense at the time: a simple rhythm game that didn’t require the extra peripherals of “Guitar Hero”. Unfortunately, people already HAD those peripherals, and Nintendo didn’t want to licence any music, so you were left playing the “Zelda” theme or public domain Victorian songs like “My Grandfather’s Clock”.
“Enter the Matrix” (2003)
The year was 2003, a year famous for seeing the release of not one, but two “Matrix” movies. “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” followed up 1999’s genre-defining sci-fi epic to a somewhat mixed response. At the same time, though, Shiny Entertainment was hard at work on a tie-in video game, “Enter the Matrix”, which was itself written and directed by the Wachowskis. The game is fine, and you can certainly have a fun time playing it today – especially if you enjoy the Wachowskis’ trademark style – but other critics have said that “Enter the Matrix” is worse than people wanted to admit. Regardless, it ended up selling 5 million copies, such was the power of the movie tie-in game in the PS2 era.
“Link’s Crossbow Training” (2007)
Some would argue that this was barely a game at all, but not Nintendo, who did release it as a standalone title in order to promote the Wii Zapper, which was the console’s gun peripheral. Flipping assets from “Twilight Princess”, the whole novelty IS the peripheral, though it wasn’t long before you could get far better shooters that used it. But, as is often the case with motion controls, it was physically difficult to play, but could be beaten in under an hour if you were good enough. Despite all that, it eventually sold a total of 5.79 million copies, though it’s not clear how many of those people actually wanted to play it versus just wanted the Zapper.
“Kinect Adventures!” (2010)
Seeing the runaway success or the Wii, Microsoft and Sony eventually jumped on the trend. While the PS Move was like a more powerful Wii utilising the better hardware of the PS3, Xbox forewent controllers entirely, and gave us the Kinect. Even at the time, people were sceptical about the Kinect, and those cynics were proven right. But if you were optimistic enough to buy a Kinect, you’ll have likely gotten this game bundled with it, explaining how it managed to move an astonishing 24 million copies. Even more miraculously, that makes it the best-selling game to release on the Xbox 360, which had a massive library of games. Yes, including “Halo”, “COD”, AND “GTA V”.
“Call of Duty: Vanguard” (2021)
Speaking of “Call of Duty”, all of them sell in huge numbers, but NOT all of them are popular. 2023’s “Modern Warfare III” remains the worst-received, but we don’t know exactly how many copies it’s sold. But we DO know that “Vanguard” sold a monumental 30 million across all of its platforms, putting it right alongside monster hits like “Borderlands 2” and “Cyberpunk 2077”. Despite that, much criticism was levied at its story, and it was yet another miss from Sledgehammer – who really needed a win after the last game they led development on, “WWII”, became one of the franchise’s most forgotten releases. “Vanguard” was not that win, and despite tens of millions of players, Activision viewed it as a commercial failure.
“Overwatch” (2016)
It’s one of the few games to have publicly declared that it made over a billion dollars, up there with greats like “GTA V” and “Red Dead Redemption II”. To this day, firing up your copy of “Overwatch” and jumping into a match is a ton of fun – or, it would be, were it possible. We don’t know how much of that billion dollars came from sales of the game and how much came from pervasive microtransactions, but one thing’s for sure: a LOT of people bought “Overwatch” with their hard-earned cash, and they didn’t get refunds when “Overwatch 2” erased the original game and made it free-to-play. But hey, at least we’ve got “Marvel Rivals” now instead.
“Ark: Survival Evolved” (2017)
There’s still a huge playerbase enjoying “Ark: Survival Evolved” and its many expansions to this day, and in fairness, there’s a lot to love about “Ark”. But there’s also a lot NOT to love, like the grindiness of its gameplay and how long you’d spend gathering crafting materials. Though the survival elements and original pitch about genuine dinosaurs set it apart from its closest competitor, “Monster Hunter”, when you’re competing with “Monster Hunter” in the first place, you’d better make a 10/10 game. “Ark” just isn’t that, and yet somehow, it remains the fourth best-selling game EVER, with 76 million copies out there.
Let us know which awful games you wish you’d never spent money on.
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