From broken promises to billion-dollar disasters, here are the biggest video game flops of recent years — the titles that had gamers asking “who approved this?”
The gaming industry is no stranger to hype. Trailers drop, the internet explodes, and wallets open faster than a loot box on Christmas morning. But sometimes — just sometimes — a game launches and the only thing louder than the marketing budget is the sound of players demanding refunds. Whether it’s poor execution, unrealistic ambitions, or just straight-up ignoring what fans actually wanted, these titles didn’t just miss the mark — they missed the entire target range. Here are the biggest video game flops that had the gaming community collectively facepalming.
1. Highguard
Let’s kick things off with Highguard — a game that had one of the most chaotic pre-launch stories in recent memory, and somehow still managed to disappoint anyway. Developed by Wildlight Entertainment — a studio staffed by veterans of Apex Legends and Titanfall — the original plan was actually to shadow-drop Highguard quietly, letting the game speak for itself just like Apex did back in the day. A solid plan. A sensible plan. And then Geoff Keighley got involved.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | January 26, 2026 |
| Genre | Hero Shooter / PvP / First Person Shooter |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | Yes |
| Developer | Wildlight Entertainment |
| Publisher | Wildlight Entertainment |
2. Concord
Oh, Concord. Where do we even begin? Sony’s answer to the hero shooter market arrived in 2024 looking like it had studied every single competitor and still somehow learned nothing. In a world where Overwatch exists, where Marvel Rivals was breathing down everyone’s necks, and where free-to-play is basically the genre’s native language — Concord launched as a $40 premium title. Predictably, the servers were emptier than a stadium hosting a chess tournament. Sony pulled the plug just two weeks after launch, making it one of the fastest and most expensive shutdowns in gaming history. It wasn’t just a flop — it was a masterclass in misreading the room.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 23, 2024 |
| Genre | Hero Shooter |
| Platforms | PS5, PC |
| Co-op | Yes |
| Developer | Firewalk Studios |
| Publisher | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
3. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
Nobody asked for a Gollum game. Seriously — go back and check the petitions, the Reddit threads, the fan letters. Zero. Zilch. And yet, here we are. Daedalic Entertainment looked at the rich, sprawling, story-dense world of Middle-earth and thought, “You know who should star in this? The creepy cave guy who talks to himself.” The final product was a janky, visually underwhelming stealth-platformer that felt like it was made on a budget usually reserved for mobile tie-ins. Critics and players were merciless, and the reviews were so bad that Daedalic actually apologized publicly after launch. A rare move — and a completely warranted one.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 25, 2023 |
| Genre | Action-Adventure / Stealth |
| Platforms | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | No |
| Developer | Daedalic Entertainment |
| Publisher | Nacon |
4. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Rocksteady — the studio that gave us two of the greatest superhero games ever made in the Batman Arkham series — somehow looked at their legacy and decided to blow it up like the Suicide Squad blows up everything else. Kill the Justice League arrived as a live-service looter shooter that nobody in the fanbase wanted, featuring beloved DC heroes as bullet sponge enemies, and a tone so aggressively quippy it made your teeth hurt. The game’s rocky launch, thin content, and stubborn live-service model drove players away quickly. It was heartbreaking, honestly — like watching a master chef serve instant noodles at a Michelin-star restaurant.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 2, 2024 |
| Genre | Action / Live-Service Looter Shooter |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | Yes (up to 4 players) |
| Developer | Rocksteady Studios |
| Publisher | Warner Bros. Games |
5. Saints Row (2022)
The original Saints Row games were gloriously unhinged — a chaotic, over-the-top sandbox that reveled in its own absurdity. So when the 2022 reboot arrived trying to be edgy and fresh but somehow felt blander than unsalted crackers, fans were not amused. The new cast of characters had all the personality of a corporate team-building exercise, the open world felt lifeless, and the game launched in a genuinely broken state with bugs that would make even Bethesda blush. It was a reboot that managed to strip away everything people loved about the franchise while adding nothing new worth keeping. A tragic own goal.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 24, 2022 |
| Genre | Action-Adventure / Open World |
| Platforms | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | Yes (2 players) |
| Developer | Volition |
| Publisher | Deep Silver |
6. Star Wars Outlaws
In theory, Star Wars Outlaws should have been a slam dunk — an open-world Star Wars game where you play as a scoundrel pulling off heists across the galaxy? Sign us up! In practice, the game arrived with stealth mechanics that felt pulled from 2012, AI so unpredictable it bordered on performance art, and a progression system that seemed specifically designed to frustrate. It wasn’t a disaster on the level of some entries on this list, but for a AAA Star Wars title with Ubisoft’s full weight behind it, “mediocre” is arguably its own category of failure. The galaxy far, far away deserved better than this.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | August 30, 2024 |
| Genre | Action-Adventure / Open World |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | No |
| Developer | Massive Entertainment |
| Publisher | Ubisoft |
7. Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones holds the rare distinction of being one of the longest-developed disappointments in gaming history — over a decade in production, a reported $200 million budget, and the Ubisoft brass literally calling it a “AAAA” game (yes, four A’s). What players actually received was a shallow naval combat game that felt like it borrowed the least interesting parts of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and removed all the fun bits — you know, like actually walking around and being a pirate. The on-land content was practically nonexistent, and the live-service hooks felt desperate. A decade of development for this? The pirates deserve a refund.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 16, 2024 |
| Genre | Action / Naval Combat / Pirates |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | Yes |
| Developer | Ubisoft Singapore |
| Publisher | Ubisoft |
8. Redfall
Arkane Studios — the creative geniuses behind Dishonored and Prey — somehow shipped Redfall, a game so thoroughly broken at launch that it felt like a prank. An always-online, open-world co-op shooter about vampires sounds like a recipe for fun, but what arrived was an AI-broken, performance-tanked, charm-free experience that had reviewers questioning the laws of physics. How do you make a game about vampires boring? Redfall found a way. Xbox defenders tried to keep the faith, but even the most loyal fans had to admit this was a stumble of monumental proportions for a studio with Arkane’s pedigree. A genuine tragedy for everyone who loved what they were capable of.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 2, 2023 |
| Genre | Action / Co-op Shooter |
| Platforms | Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | Yes (up to 4 players) |
| Developer | Arkane Austin |
| Publisher | Bethesda Softworks |
9. Battlefield 2042
EA and DICE looked at Battlefield — a franchise beloved for its massive, chaotic, team-based warfare — and decided what it really needed was specialists with grappling hooks, zero single-player content, no scoreboard, and maps so enormous they made players feel genuinely lonely. Battlefield 2042 launched in such a catastrophic state that it became a meme almost instantly. Bots filled lobbies, bugs were everywhere, and the community revolted hard enough that DICE spent the next year and a half patching it into something resembling a real game. It eventually got better — but the damage to the franchise’s reputation was already done, and the player base never fully recovered.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | November 19, 2021 |
| Genre | First-Person Shooter, Military, PvP, Action |
| Platforms | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | Yes |
| Developer | DICE |
| Publisher | Electronic Arts |
10. Starfield
Starfield might be the most fascinating entry on this list because it wasn’t broken — it was just aggressively, stubbornly boring. Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years arrived promising the universe and delivered a game where the most common activity was staring at loading screens between empty planets. The exploration — the entire soul of a space RPG — was gutted by procedurally generated nothing, fast travel walls, and a main story with all the personality of a corporate memo. Hardcore Bethesda fans found things to love, but mainstream audiences bounced off hard. When your “space exploration game” makes people miss having legs, something has gone wrong.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | September 6, 2023 |
| Genre | Action RPG / Space / Exploration / Sci-Fi |
| Platforms | Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | No |
| Developer | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Publisher | Bethesda Softworks |
11. MindsEye
At last, MindsEye — a game that arrived from Build A Rocket Boy, the studio founded by former GTA producer Leslie Benzies, carrying enormous expectations and not nearly enough game to back them up. Pitched as a cinematic action-thriller with a bold narrative, MindsEye landed with a thud, criticized for its short runtime, lifeless open world, and technical issues that undercut whatever storytelling ambitions it had. The potential was visible but the execution just wasn’t there yet. Shortly after launch, IO Interactive Partners, publishers of the game, officially parted ways with Build A Rocket Boy, leaving the studio to taking the fall alone.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Release Date | June 10, 2025 |
| Genre | Action-Adventure |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC |
| Co-op | No |
| Developer | Build A Rocket Boy |
| Publisher | IO Interactive Partners (at launch) |
