Top 10 Botched Console Launches
Top 10 Botched Console Launches
Top 10 FAILED Video Game Launches
Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 botched console launches. For this list, we’re looking at the worst console launches in video game history. This doesn’t always mean the consoles themselves were failures, just that their launches were handled poorly. Let us know in the comments which one made you choose to save your money.
#10: PlayStation 3
The Best-Selling Game On Every PlayStation Console
As of 2020, the PlayStation 2 firmly remains the best-selling console ever made. Fuelled by the idea that players would go along with whatever Sony decided to do with the follow-up because of the PS2’s success, Sony put together a baffling line-up of consoles when the PS3 was announced. With the high-end PS3 coming in at an obscene $599 it was no wonder Sony faced a lot of backlash – adjusted for inflation, that’s almost double the cost of the digital-only PS5. Luckily, they actually listened to people and cut the price, though they did have to strip the PS3 of popular features like backward compatibility to accomplish this.
#9: Xbox One
Xbox One Vs PS4! Which is the Best Console?
In the early years of the 2010s, it seemed Microsoft completely lost sight of what players wanted from a brand new Xbox. Instead of focusing on the only thing that really matters in a console launch, the games themselves, Microsoft wanted the Xbox One to be your one-stop media center, putting an emphasis on how many streaming services and TV channels you could watch on your console. Even worse was the fact the Xbox One was initially supposed to be constantly connected to the internet and wasn’t going to be able to play used games. These features were thankfully dropped but the Xbox One never gained back the ground it lost to the PS4.
#8: PlayStation Vita
Nintendo 3DS VS Playstation Vita REDUX
The PSP was a smash hit, building a decent audience in a handheld market previously dominated by Nintendo. But by the time the PS Vita launched in 2012, the landscape had changed; smartphones were more powerful and more widely available than they were when the PSP came out, meaning that there was no longer a market for what the Vita had to offer – and unlike the 3DS, the Vita just didn’t have the support or games needed to carry it. There are quite a few great games, but it was clear Sony didn’t quite know what the Vita should be. If you bought one at launch, it’s probably been gathering dust ever since.
#7: Ouya
An incredibly ambitious device, the Ouya was funded entirely by a Kickstarter campaign that received $8.5 million from willing backers. This tiny, cuboid console ran Android games on your TV, but despite a lot of excitement around it pre-launch, it just never took off. So few people actually bought the console that just two years later the entire company was sold to Razer, and eventually, the entire platform was shut down. Though it did have some fun games in among the shovelware, the console was dead on arrival. But at least its low price meant you didn’t feel too ripped off.
#6: Xbox Series X and Series S
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A messy pre-order system meant very few people were able to get their hands on a Series X or even a less-powerful Series S upon release. But considering the new Xbox had absolutely no exclusive titles at launch, and even its most anticipated exclusives are also available on PC, you weren’t missing out much by not getting one. Only time will tell if the consoles are successful, but the terrible launch has been mitigated only by the fact fewer people wanted Xboxes this time. Although, even people who were able to get one found the Series X had issues, with reports coming in that “Black Ops Cold War” had even bricked some consoles.
#5: Sega Saturn
Top 10 Sega Saturn Games
The Saturn had a pretty solid launch in Japan, but things went wrong for Sega when it came to the North American release. Rather than stick to the release date they originally intended, they decided to announce at the very first E3 in 1995 that the Saturn was coming out in a matter of days – much to the frustration of the retailers who had to sell it. They did this to try and get an edge over the PS1 by releasing the Saturn sooner, but unfortunately for them, the Saturn’s launch price was $100 higher than Sony’s – and the PS1 outsold them anyway.
#4: PlayStation 5
Top 20 Worst PlayStation Games of All Time
Demand has been insanely high for the PlayStation 5, but what could have been an incredibly successful launch has been hampered by the fact even Sony’s most dedicated fans have not been able to get their hands on the console. With Sony claiming in late November that absolutely every PS5 manufactured had already been sold, this left plenty of people with no new console. And with must-play exclusives like “Demon’s Souls”, this has hit particularly hard. But perhaps worse than anything Sony itself has done is the scalpers, buying up PS5 stock and selling it on for extremely inflated prices – some have even been selling pictures of PS5s for thousands of dollars.
#3: Google Stadia
Top 10 Reasons Why Google Stadia Failed
Designed to stream games from Google’s servers, Stadia was supposed to be a way into gaming if you couldn’t afford a PC or home console. Except, Stadia also relied on high-speed internet to get a performance anything close to gaming natively and also emphasized 4K 60fps gameplay, for all those people with giant, 4K displays, high-speed internet, but who don’t play video games. The market for Stadia just didn’t exist, and on top of that, you didn’t get access to triple-A releases for the price of a subscription, you had to buy them as well, often for full-price despite the fact games like “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” had been out for ages already.
#2: Atari Jaguar
Top 10 Atari FAILS
Atari today is a shadow of its former self, once a giant in the games industry. Atari eventually stopped making consoles, and the final nail in the coffin was the Jaguar. There was a lot of potential in the console itself, but its baffling controller meant that playing any game on it was a struggle. In an effort to rescue the Jaguar, Atari released the CD add-on in 1995, but both the original console and the CD were discontinued in 1996. Despite coming in at a lower price than its competitors, there just weren’t any games for the Jaguar that anybody wanted to play – and to be honest, there weren’t any games people didn’t want to play, either.
#1: Virtual Boy
Nintendo DOES NOT Need The Virtual Console
Even today, there are very few VR games good enough to convince people to pick up a costly VR headset – awesome as “Half-Life: Alyx” (Alex) is. But though VR is expensive now, at least it works. In the 90s, this wasn’t the case; the technology for VR just wasn’t there yet when Nintendo released the Virtual Boy. It was expensive, had almost no games, was extremely uncomfortable to wear, and worst of all, every single game was in black and red. It’s a sure-fire way to do permanent damage to your eyes, and with no reason to buy it except for the gimmick, nobody did. Top 10 Botched Console Launches
