as gaming history tells us it only takes
one failure for a beloved developers
name to be ruined a stubborn one is a
name welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re counting down our picks for the
top 10 games that destroyed a company’s
reputation before we begin we publish
new videos every day so be sure to
subscribe for more great content for
this list we’re specifically looking at
video game developers and publishers who
had the trust and admiration of the
public but lost it all in one fell swoop
we are excluding the likes of no man’s
sky from this list on the grounds that
its creators hello games hadn’t
developed any major games before that
project number 10 haze free radical
design mission is a powerful motivator
but if it’s not tempered with
self-control it can quickly overwhelm
one’s work free radical design creators
of the much-loved timesplitters games
may have learned this a bit too late
with their last project haze released in
2008 the games intent as a
deconstruction of the shooter tropes was
seemingly meant to blend with free
radicals desire to compete with halo but
instead resulted in a really muddled
affair Cape Marvin Bob stop haze had
severe narrative shortcomings and was
plagued by bugs leaving many gamers
dissatisfied with both the game and with
free radical that this was the project
that drove free radical design into
bankruptcy is sadly unsurprising feeling
good buddy you look psyche tell you look
so good I wish I was you number 9
SimCity 2013 more than anything
Electronic Arts wanted the 2013
installment of SimCity to serve as a
soft reboot a way to shine a light on
familiar and beloved gameplay in a new
way unfortunately the game that EA
commissioned from Maxis fell victim to
network outages and save file errors
from the outset due in part to the
always online features that nobody
really wanted
once gamers managed to actually play
SimCity they found the experience to be
both limited in scope and features when
compared to its predecessors as a result
Maxis is standing was tarnished which
may well have been a factor in the
studios shutdown whether it was their
fault or not number 8 Tomb Raider the
Angel of Darkness core design swan song
should be a grand farewell not a
flailing and ultimately fruitless bid
for relevance this was the unfortunate
fate of the Angel of Darkness the last
of the Tomb Raider games developed by
core design its implementation of the
then outdated controls and combat
mechanics was made worse by essential
plot details and game features being cut
from the game Mademoiselle cobby a its
Lara Croft I need your help the backlash
and poor critical reception of the Angel
of Darkness forced publisher I doses
hands in taking core design off the
series the Tomb Raider series eventually
returns to form in the hands of Crystal
Dynamics with Legend in 2006
number seven aliens colonial Marines
gearbox software
rise and shine Marines the Sigma drill
and you aren’t in Kansas anymore as
heartbreaking as Duke Nukem Forever may
have been it doesn’t quite compare to
gearbox software’s so-called passion
project aliens colonial Marines build as
a continuation of the story of 1986 is
masterpiece aliens the game managed to
disgrace everyone involved in its
creation through its unimpressive
visuals dull shooter gameplay and
baffling plot holes worse for gearbox it
came to light that the company had moved
people and resources off of colonial
Marines while still accepting milestone
checks from Sega factor in their
decision to outsource work on colonial
Marines to three other studios and it’s
kind of hard to feel bad for gearbox
this is not a conversation we’re having
look you don’t owe us nothing number six
Mass Effect Andromeda Bioware we’re
marooned 20,000 Souls adrift at sea when
the power runs out stays out
we need to know if that’s safe harbor oh
how the mighty have fallen once
considered among the best in the
business at constructing deep story
different RPGs Bioware came face-to-face
with their own limitations in Mass
Effect Andromeda developed primarily by
Bioware’s Montreal studio the game
released in March of 2017 took criticism
and controversy it’s really going to be
something isn’t it I haven’t even shown
you the best part many of the negative
reviews were centered on issues such as
animation glitches reused plot threads
from the original trilogy inconsistent
writing and uninteresting characters
additionally sales of Andromeda
supposedly fell short of the series’s
standard leaving Bioware Montreal to be
dissolved by Electronic Arts and most of
its employees moved to their EA motiv
studios here’s someone to me number 5
daikatana ion storm with the Don katana
in his possession cog II was able to
travel back through time there were
plenty of signs that ion storms died
katana was falling apart namely the fact
that they switched engines midway
through development so it seemed
tragically understandable that the final
game was an ugly and misguided mess
brought down further by frustrating
difficulty spikes and bizarrely outdated
design decisions
daikatana failed to recoup the
considerable costs of its development
and eroded whatever remained of the
goodwill ion storm and co-founder John
Romero had with the public even to this
day the story of how daikatana
eventually led to ion storms closure
stands as a cautionary tale to all
would-be developers number four to human
Silicon Knights with a development
period that began on the ps1 and
finished on the Xbox 360 nine years
later to human had the makings of a
well-intentioned flop from the start
at launch critics found it to be highly
ambitious as an action RPG but hampered
by infuriating controls and repetitive
environments however among the general
public had served as the clitoris
indication of Silicon Knights his
downfall a sentiment hammered home by
the universally panned x-men destiny a
few years later whatever successes
Silicon Knights may have had they
couldn’t overcome the public relations
and financial costs of too human
number three Banjo Kazooie
nuts-and-bolts rare third time is most
definitely not the charm with rare banjo
kazooie nuts-and-bolts opted to shift
away from the classic 3d platforming of
the previous games in the series in
order to blend racing and vehicle
customization the decision that drew a
ton of flak from its fans the game’s
snarky comments aimed at past banjo
kazooie titles gave the impression that
rare which is now owned by Microsoft no
longer cared for their original work in
the light of the game not selling
exceptionally well rare was moved to
Kinect game development number two
Sonic the Hedgehog a KA Sonic 2006 Sega
Sonic Team what should have been a
triumphant celebration of the 15th
anniversary of Sega’s Hedgehog mascot
instead resulted in the disaster that
was 2006 s Sonic the Hedgehog the
departure of Yuji naka and mismanagement
of the game’s development led to a
glitch field experience with three
increasingly unpleasant to play
campaigns subpar audio visual design and
laughably poor writing
Sonico six left many with the sense that
the sonic team had lost their way and
that sega had given up on caring about
quality in their games even years later
Sega’s efforts to rework and
reinvigorate the Sonic series still
appear to be driven by a desire to undo
this game’s damage even if he’s an
outdated product of the 90s the blue
blur still deserves better
number one ETD extraterrestrial atari in
corporate for a generation of gaming
enthusiasts this symbolizes all that was
wrong with atari at the time eg the
extra-terrestrial was meant to serve as
a months later tie-in to the Steven
Spielberg movie of the same name with
Atari in charge of the annotation in
order to make it to the shelves in time
for Christmas though Atari instructed
lead designer Howard Scott Warshaw to
make a game in five and a half weeks the
result was a shallow practically
unplayable mess of a game it’s legacy is
tied to the industry crash of 1983 as
well as an urban legend that turned out
to be true that unsold copies were
buried in a giant landfill in New Mexico
do you agree with our picks check out
these other great clips from WatchMojo
and subscribe for new videos every day
one failure for a beloved developers
name to be ruined a stubborn one is a
name welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re counting down our picks for the
top 10 games that destroyed a company’s
reputation before we begin we publish
new videos every day so be sure to
subscribe for more great content for
this list we’re specifically looking at
video game developers and publishers who
had the trust and admiration of the
public but lost it all in one fell swoop
we are excluding the likes of no man’s
sky from this list on the grounds that
its creators hello games hadn’t
developed any major games before that
project number 10 haze free radical
design mission is a powerful motivator
but if it’s not tempered with
self-control it can quickly overwhelm
one’s work free radical design creators
of the much-loved timesplitters games
may have learned this a bit too late
with their last project haze released in
2008 the games intent as a
deconstruction of the shooter tropes was
seemingly meant to blend with free
radicals desire to compete with halo but
instead resulted in a really muddled
affair Cape Marvin Bob stop haze had
severe narrative shortcomings and was
plagued by bugs leaving many gamers
dissatisfied with both the game and with
free radical that this was the project
that drove free radical design into
bankruptcy is sadly unsurprising feeling
good buddy you look psyche tell you look
so good I wish I was you number 9
SimCity 2013 more than anything
Electronic Arts wanted the 2013
installment of SimCity to serve as a
soft reboot a way to shine a light on
familiar and beloved gameplay in a new
way unfortunately the game that EA
commissioned from Maxis fell victim to
network outages and save file errors
from the outset due in part to the
always online features that nobody
really wanted
once gamers managed to actually play
SimCity they found the experience to be
both limited in scope and features when
compared to its predecessors as a result
Maxis is standing was tarnished which
may well have been a factor in the
studios shutdown whether it was their
fault or not number 8 Tomb Raider the
Angel of Darkness core design swan song
should be a grand farewell not a
flailing and ultimately fruitless bid
for relevance this was the unfortunate
fate of the Angel of Darkness the last
of the Tomb Raider games developed by
core design its implementation of the
then outdated controls and combat
mechanics was made worse by essential
plot details and game features being cut
from the game Mademoiselle cobby a its
Lara Croft I need your help the backlash
and poor critical reception of the Angel
of Darkness forced publisher I doses
hands in taking core design off the
series the Tomb Raider series eventually
returns to form in the hands of Crystal
Dynamics with Legend in 2006
number seven aliens colonial Marines
gearbox software
rise and shine Marines the Sigma drill
and you aren’t in Kansas anymore as
heartbreaking as Duke Nukem Forever may
have been it doesn’t quite compare to
gearbox software’s so-called passion
project aliens colonial Marines build as
a continuation of the story of 1986 is
masterpiece aliens the game managed to
disgrace everyone involved in its
creation through its unimpressive
visuals dull shooter gameplay and
baffling plot holes worse for gearbox it
came to light that the company had moved
people and resources off of colonial
Marines while still accepting milestone
checks from Sega factor in their
decision to outsource work on colonial
Marines to three other studios and it’s
kind of hard to feel bad for gearbox
this is not a conversation we’re having
look you don’t owe us nothing number six
Mass Effect Andromeda Bioware we’re
marooned 20,000 Souls adrift at sea when
the power runs out stays out
we need to know if that’s safe harbor oh
how the mighty have fallen once
considered among the best in the
business at constructing deep story
different RPGs Bioware came face-to-face
with their own limitations in Mass
Effect Andromeda developed primarily by
Bioware’s Montreal studio the game
released in March of 2017 took criticism
and controversy it’s really going to be
something isn’t it I haven’t even shown
you the best part many of the negative
reviews were centered on issues such as
animation glitches reused plot threads
from the original trilogy inconsistent
writing and uninteresting characters
additionally sales of Andromeda
supposedly fell short of the series’s
standard leaving Bioware Montreal to be
dissolved by Electronic Arts and most of
its employees moved to their EA motiv
studios here’s someone to me number 5
daikatana ion storm with the Don katana
in his possession cog II was able to
travel back through time there were
plenty of signs that ion storms died
katana was falling apart namely the fact
that they switched engines midway
through development so it seemed
tragically understandable that the final
game was an ugly and misguided mess
brought down further by frustrating
difficulty spikes and bizarrely outdated
design decisions
daikatana failed to recoup the
considerable costs of its development
and eroded whatever remained of the
goodwill ion storm and co-founder John
Romero had with the public even to this
day the story of how daikatana
eventually led to ion storms closure
stands as a cautionary tale to all
would-be developers number four to human
Silicon Knights with a development
period that began on the ps1 and
finished on the Xbox 360 nine years
later to human had the makings of a
well-intentioned flop from the start
at launch critics found it to be highly
ambitious as an action RPG but hampered
by infuriating controls and repetitive
environments however among the general
public had served as the clitoris
indication of Silicon Knights his
downfall a sentiment hammered home by
the universally panned x-men destiny a
few years later whatever successes
Silicon Knights may have had they
couldn’t overcome the public relations
and financial costs of too human
number three Banjo Kazooie
nuts-and-bolts rare third time is most
definitely not the charm with rare banjo
kazooie nuts-and-bolts opted to shift
away from the classic 3d platforming of
the previous games in the series in
order to blend racing and vehicle
customization the decision that drew a
ton of flak from its fans the game’s
snarky comments aimed at past banjo
kazooie titles gave the impression that
rare which is now owned by Microsoft no
longer cared for their original work in
the light of the game not selling
exceptionally well rare was moved to
Kinect game development number two
Sonic the Hedgehog a KA Sonic 2006 Sega
Sonic Team what should have been a
triumphant celebration of the 15th
anniversary of Sega’s Hedgehog mascot
instead resulted in the disaster that
was 2006 s Sonic the Hedgehog the
departure of Yuji naka and mismanagement
of the game’s development led to a
glitch field experience with three
increasingly unpleasant to play
campaigns subpar audio visual design and
laughably poor writing
Sonico six left many with the sense that
the sonic team had lost their way and
that sega had given up on caring about
quality in their games even years later
Sega’s efforts to rework and
reinvigorate the Sonic series still
appear to be driven by a desire to undo
this game’s damage even if he’s an
outdated product of the 90s the blue
blur still deserves better
number one ETD extraterrestrial atari in
corporate for a generation of gaming
enthusiasts this symbolizes all that was
wrong with atari at the time eg the
extra-terrestrial was meant to serve as
a months later tie-in to the Steven
Spielberg movie of the same name with
Atari in charge of the annotation in
order to make it to the shelves in time
for Christmas though Atari instructed
lead designer Howard Scott Warshaw to
make a game in five and a half weeks the
result was a shallow practically
unplayable mess of a game it’s legacy is
tied to the industry crash of 1983 as
well as an urban legend that turned out
to be true that unsold copies were
buried in a giant landfill in New Mexico
do you agree with our picks check out
these other great clips from WatchMojo
and subscribe for new videos every day
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