You can't win 'em all. A phrase that's been used countless times to justify the injustices in life, and it's true. Sometimes, things just don't pan out. However, while some people may be disappointed by missing the bus, or running out of gas despite the fact that "you had enough to make it to the station" it changes when it comes to media.
The success of a game is dependent on whether studios will continue to keep their doors open, or if they're in the triple-A sphere, get a sequel. However, sometimes games don't do well. These games, however, did so badly, that they were virtually obsolete almost as soon as they were released to the public. Do you remember any of them?
6 Battleborn
Who remembers Battleborn? A valid answer is, not a lot of people. Gearbox's hero shooter was set to release in 2016, however, just before the release of Battleborn, another hero shooter was announced, Overwatch.
Effectively, the release of Overwatch, alongside the public comparing the two games' similar gameplay styles, cause the title to start losing sales shortly after release. After its first anniversary, the game only had 100 people playing in off-hours. With Overwatch overwhelming Battleborn, the game eventually shut down in January of 2021, being instantly forgotten.
5 Back 4 Blood
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Turtle Rock Studios, most well known for their work on the original two Left 4 Dead games, decided to go back to the formula and change it up for their most recent game. Titled, Back 4 Blood, it takes a similar concept to Left 4 Dead, with players running through a level and fighting the undead along the way. Including, some of the best enemy AI ever constructed.
However, their attempts to expand on the idea caused players to think it was cluttered, with the addition of weapon attachments, multiple characters, and cards. The game seemed to lose the X-Factor that the original Left 4 Dead had when it launched, and the title was sent into obscurity only a few months after it was released.
4 Lawbreakers
Developed by Cliff Bleszinski's Boss Key Productions, the 5v5 FPS title Lawbreakers with the tagline "gravity-defying combat" pit players against one another in an attempt to innovate on the multiplayer fps genre. However, the game was unable to build a fanbase.
Despite being put on all major platforms, Lawbreakers, which launched in 2017, ended up going the way of the dodo in the following year, without much fight from whatever fans remained of the title.
3 Anthem
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Bioware is the company most well known for being behind Mass Effect. However, they once tried to make a live service title. Enter the game, Anthem. Bioware's new game put players in the future, being able to use mech suits to fly around and take on enemies.
The game was highly criticized for its intense grind and frequent issues. The game slowly dwindled in popularity, with Anthem eventually losing support in 2021.
2 The Culling 2
The Culling is a battle royale title, and was once one of the most popular battle royales on steam, before the release of Fortnite. Soon enough, with the rise in popularity of the battle royale genre, thanks to Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, the developer Xavient decided to make a sequel to the game, only to have it blow up in their face.
Due to the unfinished nature of the game, the title died as soon as it launched and then was immediately delisted. The game would find new life on Xbox One, under the name The Culling: Origins. However, this is another game that ended up being dead on arrival due to its free-to-play model locking players behind one match a day. Being a battle royale title, dying extremely early would mean that the game was locked off for the rest of the day if players met their fate upon starting a game.
1 Artifact
Valve's first foray into the card game sphere was their title Artifact. Taking notes from games like Dota 2, the game's playing field has three lanes, with players being able to put their cards in all three lanes to guard their towers. The game also put the trading card function of the game into a whole new realm with all digital cards being able to be purchased or sold on the Steam marketplace.
Many players weren't that interested in the game, stating that they felt that Valve was abandoning their older series like Half-Life and Team Fortress 2 to make a card game. On top of this many players thought that the game was very much "Pay-to-win" as purchasing better cards from the marketplace meant that players could have an outstanding deck for the right price. This caused the game to dwindle in popularity. With the game being considered the black sheep of the Valve lineup, Valve attempted to gain more interest in the game with the announcement of Artifact 2.0. However, the unpopularity of the game became a defining factor, and Valve ended up scrapping Artifact 2.0 and making the original game free to play.
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