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00:00Dr. Banner, what do I do?
00:02Run.
00:03What?
00:07Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at games that flopped after significant hype,
00:12whether that hype was generated by fans, media and marketing, or the studios themselves.
00:18However, we won't be including games that had poor launches,
00:21but eventually found success through updates and expansions, like No Man's Sky or Fallout 76.
00:27I have read much about the Justice League.
00:30And still, they are larger than I expected.
00:33Those holograms aren't actual size, Shark Man.
00:37Now, before we dive in, we publish new content all week long,
00:40so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:46Evolve
00:56After becoming a multiplayer juggernaut with games in the Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead series,
01:01Turtle Rock Studios went the asymmetric route with Evolve.
01:05There was hype behind the studio, but it was an awesome premise as well.
01:08Four human hunters trying to take down the lone player controlling a gigantic, fearsome monster.
01:24Pre-release coverage from multiple outlets was extremely positive,
01:28and we were all ecstatic to get our hands on it, until we actually did.
01:32Although it sold well initially, Evolve was quickly buried under controversy surrounding the excessive amount of DLC,
01:39which left the base game feeling shallow.
01:41Players abandoned it in droves, and the once promising game turned into a ghost town.
01:46The devs tried to save it by going free-to-play the following year,
01:50and while that did help a bit, the damage was done, and the servers were shut down in 2018.
02:00Mighty No. 9
02:03Here we go.
02:06Here we go.
02:11In 2013, Keiji Inafune, the mind behind Capcom's Mega Man, launched a Kickstarter campaign for a spiritual successor.
02:18It reached the asking price within two days, before going on to generate over $4 million in crowdfunding,
02:25making it one of the most successful gaming Kickstarters at the time.
02:28Clearly, there was a ton of hype, and Inafune even had plans outside of the game,
02:33making deals for an animated series and a feature film that would never come to pass.
02:38When Mighty No. 9 finally launched, after multiple delays,
02:41it was met with mediocre reviews and widespread disappointment.
02:51Gameplay and visuals felt dated, performance on consoles was rocky,
02:55and the story and characters were utterly forgettable.
02:58While official sales numbers were kept private,
03:00it isn't a stretch to assume they were low,
03:03considering the game's public image was completely eviscerated,
03:06and a plethora of digital sales followed.
03:17Daikatana
03:27As one of the creators of Doom and Quake,
03:30it was only natural for legions of FPS players to get excited about John Romero's Daikatana.
03:36Developed by Romero's newly formed Ion Storm after departing id Software,
03:40it had plenty of eyes on it.
03:42Although the game was troubled behind closed doors,
03:45suffering delays due to a change in game engine and multiple staff exits,
03:49its marketing attempted to convince people otherwise.
03:52Somewhat infamously,
03:53a widely spread print ad stated John Romero's about to make you his bitch.
03:58If that's the case,
03:59then where is everybody?
04:01That's a pretty bold claim to make,
04:03and one that would be used to tease Daikatana for years after it failed to deliver.
04:08It was widely panned for its terrible AI companions,
04:11frustrating level design,
04:12and gameplay that fell years behind the competition.
04:15It sold less than a third of what Ion Storm predicted it would,
04:19and is still one of gaming's biggest bombs ever.
04:28The Callisto Protocol
04:37A spiritual successor to Dead Space,
04:40directed by the series creator himself, Glenn Showfield,
04:43how could players not be excited for the Callisto Protocol?
04:47The atmosphere looked incredible in trailers,
04:49and the production values were clearly high.
04:52There was one key element that was left behind in Dead Space, though,
04:56which was the fun combat.
05:05This game leaned almost entirely on a melee dodge loop,
05:09which quickly wore out its welcome.
05:10Not only was it repetitive,
05:12but it also suffered from abysmal performance issues,
05:15particularly on PC.
05:17And it didn't help that the story failed to match the visual spectacle.
05:21So, what players were left with was a boring, technical mess,
05:25but at least it looked nice?
05:27The Callisto Protocol wasn't nearly as successful as publisher Krafton hoped,
05:31and by 2025,
05:33most staff at developer striking distant studios had been laid off.
05:37Either way,
05:39I hope you found some peace.
05:41Duke Nukem Forever
05:52It's basically impossible to make a list like this
05:54and not include Duke Nukem Forever.
05:57The game entered development back in 1997 following Duke Nukem 3D.
06:01Since that game was a huge hit,
06:03there was already a level of excitement when Forever was announced.
06:07Then came one of the longest waits players have ever experienced.
06:11While a development period of 14 years means hype certainly died down,
06:15it ramped back up once the game was about to launch.
06:18America is counting on you.
06:20Many players were still eager to see Duke return,
06:24to finally see this game they'd been waiting over a decade for.
06:28Unfortunately, most, if not all,
06:30were disappointed with how dated its controls, dialogue, and visuals were.
06:34It received poor reviews and sales,
06:37and we haven't gotten a new game since.
06:39The president's dead, but his order is still in effect.
06:42The nuke's on its way.
06:49Marvel's Avengers
06:59You'd be hard-pressed to find a Marvel fan
07:02who wasn't excited for this game when it was announced in 2017.
07:06Despite its eventual reveal causing some unease,
07:08an Avengers game with Crystal Dynamics at the helm,
07:11known then for its strong work on the Tomb Raider series,
07:14sounded like a home run.
07:16Sadly, it was the exact opposite.
07:21This is incredible!
07:23While combat was serviceable,
07:25missions were extremely repetitive and grind-heavy if you wanted the best gear.
07:29However, the bigger issue was the live service structure.
07:33Any kind of enjoyment offered was sunk under the mountainous weight of microtransactions.
07:38Falling well below sales expectations,
07:40Square Enix would eventually abandon publishing duties,
07:43throwing Crystal Dynamics under the bus in the process.
07:46The developer was forced to halt support in 2023 after releasing a few planned expansions,
07:51and it was delisted shortly after.
07:54Yeah, that works.
07:56Anthem
08:03Despite a lackluster Mass Effect Andromeda,
08:06the BioWare still commanded respect when Anthem was released in 2019,
08:10and much of it would quickly dissolve soon after.
08:13Internal problems surrounded the game from the start.
08:16A lack of direction within the developer and mounting pressure from publisher EA
08:21caused the studio to try and sell the public on a game that was far from complete.
08:26Most of us wouldn't know that until much later, though.
08:28E3 coverage and trailers looked pretty promising,
08:32and EA-insured Anthem was almost inescapable leading up to launch.
08:35I can't look at it.
08:37It's a mess.
08:38And there's no right.
08:39There's no organist.
08:40Only stars.
08:41Grass.
08:42Where are you?
08:43Of course, all of the internal issues led to a pretty shallow game.
08:47The story was fragmented and forgettable,
08:49the endgame loop was virtually non-existent,
08:52and the campaign was short and unremarkable.
08:54Even loot drops were unbalanced.
08:57While the studio planned to restructure and revive it,
09:00those plans were killed following review by EA in 2021.
09:03The game had already failed to meet sales expectations,
09:06and its servers were eventually shut down in early 2026.
09:16Skull and Bones
09:18The wind favors the fearless.
09:20Let us chase it.
09:21Among the scattered survivors, one must surely know the way to St. Anne.
09:26Freeman's lap, guide us.
09:27Revealed at E3 2017,
09:29Ubisoft spent close to a decade trying to get players excited about Skull and Bones.
09:34But it was all for naught.
09:36It began as DLC for 2013's Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag,
09:40before becoming its own game.
09:42It went through a multitude of changes over the course of its development,
09:45as Ubisoft reportedly couldn't decide on what it wanted,
09:48nor could it cancel the project,
09:50since the Singapore studio working on it had received government funding.
10:00The live service elements felt dirty and unnecessary,
10:03especially since the game launched at full price.
10:06Ubisoft still showed it off any chance it got,
10:09with CEO Yves Guillemot even trying to convince us
10:11it was the industry's first quadruple-A game.
10:14While not many bought into it,
10:16this was a supreme case of a publisher over-hyping a game.
10:19Player counts were dismal from the start,
10:22and the promised ongoing content updates did little to stem the bleeding.
10:26It reportedly cost Ubisoft $200 million to develop,
10:30an amount it clearly did not make back.
10:33The mom needs to get it back!
10:40Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League
10:42I was just about to do that!
10:53What makes this one hurt
10:54is knowing how good it could have turned out
10:56under different circumstances.
10:57Rocksteady Studios redefined superhero games
11:00with the Batman Arkham series.
11:02Hype Source number one.
11:03Following the Suicide Squad
11:05attempting to take out a Brainiac-controlled Justice League
11:08with co-op,
11:09well, that's Hype Source number two.
11:10There was also a promising cast,
11:12including the likes of Nolan North as Superman
11:14and Kevin Conroy reprising his iconic role of Batman,
11:18Hype Source number three.
11:20But as more information about the game came out,
11:22more and more players started to worry.
11:32The gameplay itself was more akin to a looter shooter,
11:36which made each of the four playable characters feel more or less the same.
11:40The live service elements felt shoehorned in only to make more money,
11:43which felt distasteful,
11:44and the writing treated beloved characters especially poorly.
11:48We can still hear the fanboys decrying Batman's fate in particular.
11:51Warner Bros. Games was very candid about how big a failure it was,
11:56costing the studio $200 million in losses.
12:00This has one-way ticket written all over it.
12:03If you love games,
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12:08Just launched for purchase at TerribleInfluence.com.
12:11Terrible Influence is a satirical board game about the dark side of fame
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12:18Boom, I can make an apology video.
12:21Oh, you so would.
12:22Click on the link in the description to check out the game
12:24and be the first to play Terrible Influence.
12:28Concord.
12:30Dad, just blinded.
12:36While we wouldn't say there was a level of overhype
12:39when it comes to the public,
12:40we know for a fact that Sony overhyped itself on Concord.
12:44The hero shooter was reportedly in development for eight years at Firewalk Studios
12:48and was set to become PlayStation's next big multiplayer hit.
12:53Yet, it was criticized from every angle.
13:01Levels were incredibly dull,
13:03as were the bland character designs,
13:05making it hard to connect with any of them.
13:07And gameplay was as standard hero shooter as you can get.
13:11With a $40 price tag, there wasn't a single reason to play this
13:15when games like Apex Legends and Overwatch
13:17were already available as free to play.
13:20Later reports would claim toxic positivity
13:22caused a lot of developer feedback to get ignored,
13:25which makes sense given the final product.
13:27Concord peaked on Steam at only 700 players,
13:31servers were shut down two weeks later with full refunds given,
13:34and Sony closed Firewalk later that year.
13:37But this will likely remain one of PlayStation's biggest failures
13:41for years to come.
13:48Did you play any of these bombs?
13:51Know of any others that flopped after trying to generate hype?
13:54Let us know in the comments,
13:55and we'll see you next time.
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