Yeah, Stadia was the result of Google coming together to make a new platform. There were giant mega press conferences held in preparation for it.
Then, Stadia happened.
Yeah, I think Fallout 76 is a much worse train wreck than Anthem.
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Gaming Fail of the Year 2019
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
Yeah, Stadia was the result of Google coming together to make a new platform. There were giant mega press conferences held in preparation for it.
Then, Stadia happened.
Yeah, I think Fallout 76 is a much worse train wreck than Anthem.
THQ's AMA and Activision-Blizzard suckling China's teat are pretty damn close in my book. Activision-Blizzard might get the slight edge with Bobby K's "possible" connections with certain circles and people that didn't hang themselves (on top of all the other shit tied to him).
Then again, THQ's AMA was on a board that spawned something like 2-3 shooters this year alone? Maybe more?
It's like trying to decide which pile of shit smells the worst.
Then again, THQ's AMA was on a board that spawned something like 2-3 shooters this year alone? Maybe more?
It's like trying to decide which pile of shit smells the worst.
Hard fought battle between Activision Blizzard and THQNordic.
Shoutout to the devs that had homophobic and/or transphobic content in their game, said they would remove it and then backed down from it
Shoutout to the devs that had homophobic and/or transphobic content in their game, said they would remove it and then backed down from it
Its THQ and its not even close.
Anthem is far from the first new IP to fail, those are hard to make. Blizzard was concerned about beingcut off from hundreds of millions of players.
Thq signal boosted a nazi-pedo forum that inspired mass shootings and refused to fire the person responsible.
Shout out to mark.
Anthem is far from the first new IP to fail, those are hard to make. Blizzard was concerned about beingcut off from hundreds of millions of players.
Thq signal boosted a nazi-pedo forum that inspired mass shootings and refused to fire the person responsible.
Shout out to mark.
Activision Blizzard banning that HK dude and denying him his winnings just because he said something not nice about the evil Chinese government. There's nothing else this year that can come close to topping that, at least not in my mind. But maybe I've forgotten something.
Game launches aren't even in the same league as this year's biggest fails. There's enough surrounding game launches to support another thread.
Yep, this is a two horse race between THQ chillin' with Nazis and pedos and Blizzard bending the knee to Winnie the Pooh.
It's because outside of certain circles on enthusiast forms like ERA, nobody knows about it. Hell I visit here daily and even I only have a vague idea of what happened.
For me the biggest fail is definitely Stadia. I mean yeah Anthem was a fail, but Stadia is an actual new platform and it launched with nothing but a whimper. It only made certain news outlets and mostly for all the wrong reasons.
Blizzard and THQ Nordic take the cake in terms of sheer gross actions.
In terms of product quality, Anthem launching as a mockery of loot shooters after all of the hype and marketing is the biggest flub regardless of its sales at launch. Nothing will save that game short of the A Realm Reborn treatment, and I'm not convinced Bioware has it in them to pull that off.
In terms of product quality, Anthem launching as a mockery of loot shooters after all of the hype and marketing is the biggest flub regardless of its sales at launch. Nothing will save that game short of the A Realm Reborn treatment, and I'm not convinced Bioware has it in them to pull that off.
This. I'm not buying another game from them after that whole shit
How is EGS exclusivity anywhere in the same ballpark as THQ Nordic's 8chan adventure and Blizzard's kowtowing to the CCP?
I would go with Fallout 76. It's like falling out of a tree and hitting every branch on the way down.
But Stadia may be the big winner really. What a dud launch with worse performance then Google talked up, and the most underwhelming library around.
But Stadia may be the big winner really. What a dud launch with worse performance then Google talked up, and the most underwhelming library around.
I wish it were THQ Nordic, but it doesn't look like their AMA (and the failure to address why it happened or how comfortable their representatives were during it) hurt them anywhere near as much as it should have.
I think it's the same with Blizzard. They fucked up but I doubt it will make any real difference when the next Diablo hits.
It could still be Stadia, but it's very early to be judging that, and since the official wider public launch is in 2020, we'll get a chance it judge it properly next year anyway.
That means it's Anthem, given its combination of being a highly publicised game that got people hyped for something that didn't exist, somehow managed to maintain a large amount that hype through a beta and an "early access" launch that should have made clear to players that it was nothing like what was promised, and then still sold well enough that it managed to disappoint millions of people. The litany of issues probably don't need to be rehashed, nor do Bioware's rolling failures to address more than a fraction of those issues. All the hopes of its players - that the roadmap would fix things, that there'd be a big rework announced at E3, that there'd be a relaunch when the game hit EA Access. We still don't know what Anthem's future is, but one thing is for sure: if it wasn't an enormous failure, we wouldn't need to ask about its future.
I think it's the same with Blizzard. They fucked up but I doubt it will make any real difference when the next Diablo hits.
It could still be Stadia, but it's very early to be judging that, and since the official wider public launch is in 2020, we'll get a chance it judge it properly next year anyway.
That means it's Anthem, given its combination of being a highly publicised game that got people hyped for something that didn't exist, somehow managed to maintain a large amount that hype through a beta and an "early access" launch that should have made clear to players that it was nothing like what was promised, and then still sold well enough that it managed to disappoint millions of people. The litany of issues probably don't need to be rehashed, nor do Bioware's rolling failures to address more than a fraction of those issues. All the hopes of its players - that the roadmap would fix things, that there'd be a big rework announced at E3, that there'd be a relaunch when the game hit EA Access. We still don't know what Anthem's future is, but one thing is for sure: if it wasn't an enormous failure, we wouldn't need to ask about its future.
This right here. If we wanna talk about 'fails' there's been nothing even remotely on the level of this. Such an incredible failure to read the damn room.
Maybe not equal but I still think paying exclusive for games to be on your storefront only is pretty bad. Obv not what THQ Nordic or Blizzard did but sitll.
Yeah, for me the THQ Nordic 8chan courting ritual was just a massive self own. Blizzard is slowly crawling out of the hole of their own making, though. I've been having a pretty good time with Stadia, so far. It works and it's early. Destiny 2 has been singing, and I've been enjoying my replay of Tomb Raider and Metro Exodus. Best streaming service, yet. But it's also fairly threadbare and not all things to all people. It's a newborn thing.
Stadia. it will have the most wreckage if google cuts their losses.
Anthem is a biggie but EA has other games to take the load and Bioware isn't going anywhere. They'll just double down on Dragon Age and eventually do a very safe and traditional Mass Effect.
EGS exclusivity hasn't hurt any devs (that we know of) yet.
THQN and Blizzard- they are big PR fails, but the section of the gaming community that leads politics as the driving force behind their playing decisions is possibly not as big as ERA thinks.
Anthem is a biggie but EA has other games to take the load and Bioware isn't going anywhere. They'll just double down on Dragon Age and eventually do a very safe and traditional Mass Effect.
EGS exclusivity hasn't hurt any devs (that we know of) yet.
THQN and Blizzard- they are big PR fails, but the section of the gaming community that leads politics as the driving force behind their playing decisions is possibly not as big as ERA thinks.
This is kind of a tough one, because the Blizzard thing is obviously shocking and horrible, but I feel like it's just gonna become standard business practice going forward. People are gonna be putting Crimea in Russia, pretending the Armenian genocide never happened, and of course, capitulating to China. Rainbow 6: Siege had a moment in 2018 where they removed images of skulls and slot machines from various maps to appease China before reversing course. Blizz also skates because a lot of big companies flinched and gave into China at various points. It feels a lot less shocking than the NBA mishandling their China stance.
Anthem was a monumental flop, but again, those happen all the time.
In both cases, Acti-Blizz/EA are somewhat insulated from these isolated, bad decisions through their massive portfolios.
THQ Nordic being a smaller company, definitely "feels" their controversy more. Not only that, but 8chan was so bad they literally got wiped off the internet for (checks notes) hosting multiple instances of home-grown terrorist materials. People like to talk about how bad FB, Twitter, YT, and Reddit are, but no one's gonna fault someone for doing an event on one of those platforms and some shooter livestream/liveblogging on those services. They're just too big tent. THQ had their pick of smaller sites to try and do a more unconventional AMA, Remedy did their research and chose Era as a platform. I dunno, THQ going to 8chan was always more downside than upside. Literally worse than 4chan. If they went on 4chan, that wouldn't have been as bad. Yikes.
Even though it's counter-intuitive for an award like this, I do get tired of seeing EA and their ilk on the tops of lists all the time, it feels important to "recognise" smaller companies for "awards."
Looking back ten years from now, seeing "EA made a bad game" isn't that interesting. Seeing "THQ Nordic does AMA on 8chan," is interesting, because ten years from now young people are probably saying, "wait, what's 8chan" if not "what's an AMA," and possibly, "what's THQ Nordic?" So for historical context, having such an unusual event as the Gaming FotY is something I'd like to see.
1: THQ Nordic's AMA on 8chan
2: Blizzard's China eSports scandal
3: Anthem
I feel like there are probably 50 other "fails" that had to do with streamers and/or the FGC.
edit: not even going to count Stadia, because Alphabet/Google seems to operate on a principle of most of their projects failing if it allows them to have a few hits.
Anthem was a monumental flop, but again, those happen all the time.
In both cases, Acti-Blizz/EA are somewhat insulated from these isolated, bad decisions through their massive portfolios.
THQ Nordic being a smaller company, definitely "feels" their controversy more. Not only that, but 8chan was so bad they literally got wiped off the internet for (checks notes) hosting multiple instances of home-grown terrorist materials. People like to talk about how bad FB, Twitter, YT, and Reddit are, but no one's gonna fault someone for doing an event on one of those platforms and some shooter livestream/liveblogging on those services. They're just too big tent. THQ had their pick of smaller sites to try and do a more unconventional AMA, Remedy did their research and chose Era as a platform. I dunno, THQ going to 8chan was always more downside than upside. Literally worse than 4chan. If they went on 4chan, that wouldn't have been as bad. Yikes.
Even though it's counter-intuitive for an award like this, I do get tired of seeing EA and their ilk on the tops of lists all the time, it feels important to "recognise" smaller companies for "awards."
Looking back ten years from now, seeing "EA made a bad game" isn't that interesting. Seeing "THQ Nordic does AMA on 8chan," is interesting, because ten years from now young people are probably saying, "wait, what's 8chan" if not "what's an AMA," and possibly, "what's THQ Nordic?" So for historical context, having such an unusual event as the Gaming FotY is something I'd like to see.
1: THQ Nordic's AMA on 8chan
2: Blizzard's China eSports scandal
3: Anthem
I feel like there are probably 50 other "fails" that had to do with streamers and/or the FGC.
edit: not even going to count Stadia, because Alphabet/Google seems to operate on a principle of most of their projects failing if it allows them to have a few hits.
I'm still voting for Fallout 76. I think truly immoral behavior belongs in different discussion same as EA winning worst company against companies that use child labor.
And Fallout 76 was such a fail it was the biggest last year, this year, and if Howard and Bethesda keep it up it could fail it's way next year into a three peat.
And Fallout 76 was such a fail it was the biggest last year, this year, and if Howard and Bethesda keep it up it could fail it's way next year into a three peat.
Blizzard was the biggest facepalm for me.
Micro-fail: weird-ass WB Montreal Batman marketing campaign.
Micro-fail: weird-ass WB Montreal Batman marketing campaign.
I'm still convinced they knew exactly what they were doing and who the people congregating on 8chan were. Obviously not the entire business entity, but the specific people involved, absolutely.
My forever blind optimism has alway pinned it on a failure to research the community and not do due diligence but, if you're right, that'd obviously be far worse. Awful.
The person hosting the AMA knew what they were doing, he responded to alot of disgusting comments on the forum and on twitter.
The person is still employed at THQ
Anthem because it could kill bioware indefinitely
But gaming culture in general fail?
Blizzard handling if Blitz
But gaming culture in general fail?
Blizzard handling if Blitz
THQ Nordic promoting a bunch of paedophiles and Nazis Vs Blizzard kowtowing to an authoritarian regime in the middle of crushing dissent and Muslims Vs The continued industry-wide exploitation and abuse of labour.
Yikes.
I think I'll give it to Blizzard. Fuck Blizzard, Free Hong Kong.
Also Anthem, Stadia and Death Stranding suck out loud, but they don't hang in this company.
Yikes.
I think I'll give it to Blizzard. Fuck Blizzard, Free Hong Kong.
Also Anthem, Stadia and Death Stranding suck out loud, but they don't hang in this company.