Gaming - News
Games That Flopped Almost Immediately
By ROBERT CARNEVALE
Battleborn
“Battleborn,” Gearbox Software’s foray into the hero shooter genre, was considered dead on arrival because it was released on May 3, 2016, just under a month before the release of the highly anticipated “Overwatch.” “Battleborn” couldn’t stand on its own in the oversaturated hero shooter market, and even going free-to-play couldn’t keep it from being shut down.
LawBreakers
Much like “Battleborn,” “Lawbreakers” was effectively dead on arrival because it was yet another hero shooter that couldn’t hold a candle to the dominance of “Overwatch.” If that wasn’t bad enough, Lawbreakers also had to contend with the wildly popular “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” which occupied a large part of the potential “LawBreakers” player base.
Metal Gear Survive
The instant death of Konami’s “Metal Gear Survive” was celebrated by fans of the “Metal Gear” series because of the bad business Konami had partaken in, including charging $10 for a save slot. Konami had recycled “Metal Gear Solid 5” into a generic zombie co-op fighter that stripped away everything series creator Hideo Kojima had done to make it legendary.
Knack 2
“Knack,” a character known for his granular composition and incapability to launch an interesting franchise, debuted in 2013 as a PS4 launch title, which helped it sell better than it likely would have. The second game, “Knack 2,” didn’t have this luxury, and thus, slipped completely under the radar as an excruciatingly mediocre action-platformer.
Sonic Boom
Fueled by mild platforming and mindless button-mashing combat, “Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric” is shallow, blandly repetitive, occasionally infuriating, and just far too uninspired for a title carrying the “Sonic” name brand. “Sonic Boom” managed to be the worst-selling game in Sonic’s entire history, between “Rise of Lyric” on the Wii U and “Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal” on the 3DS.
