The 10 biggest flops in video games (3/3)

Honorable Mentions

Lower-profile games that still flopped.

Advent Rising (Xbox, Windows)
Another bad break for Majesco, Advent Rising was, in some ways, the failed younger sibling of Bioware's 2007 RPG Mass Effect. Both games are part of a planned trilogy, share an epic galaxy-altering plot, and a massive media campaign. Though buzz is riding high for Mass Effect, Advent Rising fared far worse. Its big-budget design and ambitious storyline (penned by Ender's Game writer Orson Scott Card) sounded good on paper; sadly, technical bugs and uneven game design left Advent floundering in sales. Despite the Hollywood look and feel, gamers ultimately couldn't have cared less about Advent Rising. And that planned trilogy? Hastily scrapped once Majesco re-configured itself as a casual games publisher, though the original creators are still open to concluding the story.

Viva Pinata (2006, Xbox 360)
Rare's foray into the casual market has a lot to love: gorgeous graphics, cuddly characters, and potentially addictive Sims-like gameplay. The problem is, hardly anyone played it. Sales numbers aren't widely available -- though widely assumed to be several hundred thousand copies -- and even Microsoft's Shane Kim admitted that the game wasn't a major seller. Still, he stressed that Microsoft is investing in the series "for the long haul." Why the sluggish sales? It seems that the Xbox 360's asking price is still too high for a game that would likely appeal to pre-teens and older, casual players. Developer Rare has also said that there will be no downloadable content for Viva Pinata, a sure sign that the company has bigger fish to fry. Here's hoping that Viva Pinata: Party Animals pushes this struggling series to critical mass.


Are we missing anything? Sound off in the comments.

Comments [19]

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slickjames

Advent rising is one of the most underated games ever it was a great game the only thing I would say was wrong with it was the targeting besides that everything was great. It had a great story and graphics and to me the coolest powers of any game ever. It's sad how a piece of crap like the GTA series gets such high scores from mags even though there's like a million things wrong with it gameplay wise but a great game like advent rising gets low scores and sales.

slickjames

shenmue suck so bad I can't belive people really like that game I bought it and played it for a day and took it right back. I can honestly say it was the most boring game I ever played I mean I come home from work wanted to relax playing games and what was my mission in the game go to work. Next to GTA it's the most overrated game ever.

TYR0N313

Shenmue was an excellent game. I remember playing hours on end every day over the summer. As for other flops, despite loving the game, Killzone on PS2 was a flop compared to what they tried to do. The "Halo Killer" just didn't live up, as much as I wish it did, it has a lot of issues. The game Seaman for Dreamcast was also a flop with all its AI hype if i remember correctly

ChrisWanker

Might as well add Little Big Planet to the Honorable Mentions! It's going to go down the same path as Viva La Pinata.

jellomanrules

I completely disagree with the super mario sunshine one! Sunshine is an incredible game and many of my friends have it as well as myself. It was one of the first adventure games I ever beat!

vorgoth13

Very cool idea. I have an idea #1 biggest Presidential Flop: George W. Bush(

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