History OvershadowedByControversy / VideoGames

%% * Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has recently seen their popularity tanking when they began engaging in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where they were found using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art for ''Cytus II'' songs as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and they published a response brazenly denying the usage of ai-generated artwork in their jackets[[note]]said letter is also allegedly ai-generated[[/note]], essentially eschewing all of their artistic talents in favor of cheaply-generated assets and refusing to take the blame. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.
* Rockstar Games, a subsidy of Creator/TakeTwoInteractive (who also own 2K Games and Visual Concepts), practically builds their business around this trope:

* Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has recently seen their popularity tanking when they began engaging in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where they were found using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art for ''Cytus II'' songs as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and they published a response brazenly denying the usage of ai-generated artwork in their jackets[[note]]said letter is also allegedly ai-generated[[/note]], essentially eschewing all of their artistic talents in favor of cheaply-generated assets and refusing to take the blame. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.

* Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has recently seen their popularity tanking when they began engaging in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where they are exposed for using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art for ''Cytus II'' songs as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and they published a response brazenly denying the usage of ai-generated artwork in their jackets[[note]]said letter is also allegedly ai-generated[[/note]], essentially eschewing all of their artistic talents in favor of cheaply-generated assets and refusing to take the blame. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.

* ''VideoGame/TheDayBefore'': The game is vastly well known in the gaming community for accusations of it being a fake game and a scam. It is a survival MMO where players try to scavenge for resources in a zombie apocalypse, and it quickly shot up to becoming the most wishlisted game on Steam, but many people grew wary of perceived asset flips and a reluctance from the studio to release actual gameplay. The reaction grew more negative when a gameplay clip was released and criticized for a barren world and utilizing a character that resembled way too much of Ellie from ''The Last Of Us'' and a messy situation with the game's copyright that delayed the game further. Sadly, the fears had all been confirmed true with the full release in December 2023 - not only was the game a bug-infested mess, but many features promised in the clips were not included at all. The backlash was so overwhelming that the game was delisted from Steam only four days after the launch, dragging the developing studio down with it.

* Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has recently seen their popularity tanking when they began engaging in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where they are exposed for using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art for ''Cytus II'' songs as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and they published a response (apparently also ai-generated) denying the usage of ai-generated artwork in their jackets, essentially eschewing all of their artistic talents in favor of cheaply-generated assets and refusing to take the blame. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.

* Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has recently seen their popularity tanking when they began engaging in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where people found out they had been using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art for ''Cytus II'' songs as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and published an apology letter that's also apparently generated using [=ChatGPT=]. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.

* Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has seen their popularity tanked in recent days wgen they began engage in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where people found out they had been using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art for ''Cytus II'' songs as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and published an apology letter that's also apparently generated using [=ChatGPT=]. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.

* Rayark, a Taiwanese Rhythm Game company that is once known for masterpieces like ''VideoGame/{{Deemo}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Voez}}'', as well their stellar art and story direction has seen their popularity tanked in recent days wgen they began engage in increasingly predatory and deceptive monetization tactics, the most notorious of these occuring in ''VideoGame/CytusII'' where multiple character stories are locked behind paywalls, songs being advertised as free only for them to be locked behind ''paid characters'' and the inclusion of a Gacha system called CAPSO where there is a chance of pulling literally nothing, all on top of being a paid app on its own like other Rayark rhythm games. This is not helped when one of the in-house artists got the game BannedInChina when he left over a song with a "FREE HONG KONG" morse code in ''Cytus II'' and resigning a month after, and a mid-2022 NFT scandal where they are purportedly behind the [=NFTs=] for the ''Deemo'' anime adaptation (although people later found out they weren't behind them and [=NFTs=] are in fact, illegal in Taiwan). Perhaps the most bizzare of these occured during May 2023 where people found out they had been using Stable Diffusion, an AI image-generation software whose usage is heavily frowned upon and highly controversial in art communities, to generate jacket art as they (allegedly) fired all of their in-house graphic artists and published an apology letter than is also allegedly made using [=ChatGPT=]. Nowadays discussion of Rayark in the Rhythm Game community is less about their games, but more about their increasingly for-profit and sleazy business practices that put off many former fans and even their own staff.

* ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'', aside from its years spent in DevelopmentHell, picked up controversy over its advertising campaign which [[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt advertised John Romero's name more than it did the game itself]], most infamously starting with a claim that "Creator/JohnRomero's about to make you his bitch. Suck it down." The game has mostly been forgotten aside from the aforementioned campaign and the negative press [[CreatorKiller that brought Romero's development career down with it]].
* ''VideoGame/TheDayBefore'': The game is vastly well known in the gaming community for accusations of it being a fake game and a scam. It is a survival MMO where players try to scavenge for resources in a zombie apocalypse, and it quickly shot up to becoming the most wishlisted game on Steam, but many people grew wary of perceived asset flips and a reluctance from the studio to release actual gameplay. The reaction grew more negative when a gameplay clip was released and criticized for a barren world and utilizing a character that resembled way too much of Ellie from ''The Last Of Us'' and a messy situation with the game's copyright that delayed the game further.

* ''Domina'' was a gladiator sim that enjoyed a modest amount of success due to its intricate combat system and easy to learn, hard to master gameplay. However, nowadays its known almost entirely for its lead developer's sudden and downright ''baffling'' descent into hardcore alt-right beliefs, with him going on extended and increasingly unhinged political rants on his Twitter account and ''the game's patch notes''. Eventually, these rants became so unhinged, toxic and aggresively hostile that the developer was banned from his own Steam forum, and ''Domina'' itself would be pulled from Steam entirely shortly afterwards.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomComeDeliverance'' is a CultClassic RPG well known for being an incredibly realistic and grounded take on a medeival setting and culture. However, it is ''also'' widely known for the antics of lead developer Daniel Vavra, including his outspoken conservative political beliefs, his highly aggressive and confrontational attitude towards critics, and his alleged ties to at least one hate group.

* ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' for the Atari 2600 is mostly associated with its reputation as "the worst video game of all time", being the TropeCodifier for TheProblemWithLicensedGames, and for its contribution to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 to the extent that it is frequently MisBlamed as being single-handedly responsible for the crash[[note]]It was not; the video game market was saturated with poor-quality titles in the early 1980s such as the slipshod porn game ''Custer's Revenge'', and ''E.T.'' was merely the breaking point[[/note]]. Atari, the dominant gaming company at the time, gave programmer Howard Scott Warshaw an impossibly tight schedule to develop the game from start to finish in just ''six weeks'' [[ChristmasRushed for a Christmas release]] (most video games back then still took three to six months to develop from scratch). The result was a tedious, repetitive, unenjoyable mess, and Atari's [[ThisIsGoingToBeHuge reckless assumption that the game would be a massive hit]] from the success of the [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Spielberg]] [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial movie]] led to them producing over four million copies, of which only about one and a half million were sold; to make matters worse, most of ''those'' were returned for a refund. The disappointing release—exacerbated by the similarly infamous Atari 2600 PortingDisaster of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' earlier that same year—resulted in Atari losing its reputation, and the rest is history. While the game has been somewhat VindicatedByHistory from the 2000s onward, with people coming forward to argue that Warshaw did a pretty good job with what little time he had (the game is surprisingly GameBreakingBug-free) and that the game is more "extremely disappointing" than "worst video game ever made", any discussion about ''E.T.'' is still almost guaranteed to mention its contribution to the 1983 Video Game Crash.

* The UsefulNotes/OculusQuest 2 VR Headset is generally considered pretty good from a technical perspective, but it has been heavily criticized for its Website/{{Facebook}} integration: the headset cannot be used unless you log in with a valid Facebook account. If you have been banned from Facebook for any reason, don't want to create an account due to privacy concerns, or are too young to have an account (and Facebook has measures to prevent people from creating an account with false information, so using a SockPuppet is not possible), the headset is completely useless. While the headset still managed to become a best-seller, it's hard to find any discussion of it that doesn't mention the Facebook requirement as a major issue.

* The UsefulNotes/Atari2600 port of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' is known for being the TropeCodifier for PortingDisaster due to [[ChristmasRushed being very rushed]], with its flickering ghosts being its most common complaint. However, it's also infamous for Creator/{{Atari}} manufacturing more cartridges than there were Atari 2600s on the market at the time[[note]]By March 1982, Atari had sold approximately 10 million consoles, but they manufactured approximately 12 million copies of ''Pac-Man''[[/note]], believing that—since the original UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame was (and still is) a huge critical and commercial success—people would order more Atari 2600s just to play ''Pac-Man'' at home. While the game was initially a commercial success, selling 7 million copies, word quickly got out that it was a terrible port of the original arcade game. Very soon, many copies were refunded, and Atari became distrusted by gamers. In short, Atari's botched port and the backlash that ensued was a significant contributor to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, which the port has become forever associated with.

* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, despite having some solid exclusives down the line such as ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Metal Gear Solid 4]]'' and ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'', is still remembered for its infamous 2006 reveal, with the announcement of the "[[MemeticMutation 599 US Dollars]]" launch price. With this being the most expensive launch price of a console in almost a decade, few would end up rushing to pick one up, and Sony's arrogant statements making clear how justified they thought the pricetag was did no favors. Not even being a comparatively cheap UsefulNotes/BluRay player at the time was enough to convince people, and what ''certainly'' didn't help was the 2008 Great Recession that was just around the corner, which stunted the adoption of HD home media as many people during that era could not afford [=HDTVs=] which were required to truly take advantage of Blu-Ray's improved picture quality. It also allowed Nintendo to effortlessly upstage Sony with the Wii's $250 launch price, and for Microsoft to regain their footing after the [=RROD=] debacle. The disastrous launch of the [=PS3=] that was in no small part a result of the conference left Sony with little choice but to drop its price, several times, in order to get people to start buying the system. This presentation helped ensure that the [=PS3=] stayed in dead last among their competition in the 7th console generation for a long time, despite dominating the industry for the past two generations and their solid recovery efforts that barely put its sales ahead of the Xbox 360 years later. Watch the presentation in its entirety [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtB4pbojEfk here]].

* ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'', for the majority of its developmental cycle, was extremely hyped and awaited due to it looking like a worthy successor to ''Franchise/MegaMan''. The project was headed by series co-creator Keiji Inafune, and was held up as a sign of what crowdfunding could achieve. However, as time when on, the game's reputation got increasingly bogged down by further crowdfunding attempts for extra features, as well as a series of delays.[[note]]The game's planned release date was April 2015; it came out in ''June 2016'', and only for some of the promised platforms at the time.[[/note]] The nail in the coffin was the ''VideoGame/RedAsh'' Kickstarter, which started before ''Mighty No. 9'' was even released and had some shady practices involved, and a TotallyRadical ad for ''Mighty No. 9'' containing the phrase "make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night", which insulted most of the game's fanbase. In particular, it was revealed that the game was already funded, and the Kickstarter was merely to increase its scope; it failed by a decent amount. By the time the game was finally released, to negative reviews, a good chunk of backers wanted their money back and were more interested in the TroubledProduction than the game itself, and it became a symbol of how ''not'' to make a game via crowdfunding.

* Creator/BlizzardEntertainment has seen its once-stellar reputation take a nosedive in the late 2010s and early 2020s following several controversial incidents. While there were prior incidents like the botched launch of ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''[[note]]At launch, the game suffered from DemandOverload, and its always-online [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement DRM]] meant many gamers couldn't play it at all[[/note]] and negative audience reaction to the announcement of the [[MobilePhoneGame mobile]]-[[NoPortForYou exclusive]] ''Diablo Immortal'' at [=BlizzCon=] 2018[[note]]The event is rather noteworthy as the first time in [=BlizzCon=] history that an announcement was met with vocal negativity. Much of the backlash was because the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]]-centric crowd had paid $200 each to attend with expectations of seeing a new mainline ''Diablo'' installment, or at least a remaster of ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo I]]'' or ''[[VideoGame/DiabloII II]]''. Their reactions weren't helped by ''Diablo Immortal'' being announced at the very end of the convention as TheClimax, or by the exasperated response by Blizzard employees who [[DidntSeeThatComing had not anticipated such a negative reception]] i.e. "[[MemeticMutation Do you guys not have phones?]]"[[/note]], Blizzard became the center of international controversy following the Blitzchung controversy in which Blizzard suspended the ''[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft Hearthstone]]'' [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming e-sports]] player Ng "Blitzchung" Wai Chung for a year and stripped him of his winnings after he voiced support for the 2019 Hong Kong protests during an interview. This response spurred furious protests from not only Blizzard's audience, but also from fans of other video games, Blizzard's own employees, the general public and politicians, all accusing the company of engaging in censorship to appease the Chinese government and Blizzard's Chinese investors so their games [[BannedInChina wouldn't be banned]].[[note]]While some believed "Blitzchung" should be punished for making a political speech during a non-political interview (which is against Blizzard's guidelines), even they thought his punishment was disproportionately harsh and more about appeasing China, especially since several professional ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' players received lighter punishments for racism and sexism.[[/note]] 2020 also saw a similar controversy with the one at 2018 with their release of ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: Reforged'', which is considered one of the worst video game remake attempts of all time with unfulfilled promises from the trailers and extremely damaging for Blizzard; since they were known as one of the kings of the RealTimeStrategy genre with ''Warcraft'', their attempt to revive the genre plummeted it deeper into the grave and made it harder for fans to forget their previous two controversies. However, the nadir of Blizzard's controversies came in the middle of 2021[[note]]Right after people thought they calmed down since ''Warcraft III: Reforged'', which was at the beginning of 2020, they had one year and a half reprieve and Blizzard did try to restore their reputation with ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} 2'', ''VideoGame/{{Diablo IV}}'' and trying to do better in remakes with ''VideoGame/DiabloII: Resurrected'', which was going smoothly until those were shattered with the events as described soon[[/note]] when news reports and lawsuits revealed that Blizzard had terrible working conditions with some employees receiving starvation wages and male employees regularly sexually harassing female employees[[note]]Both the financial and sexual discrimination have existed at the company for many years[[/note]], with one harassed woman eventually committing suicide. Even worse was that the company's leadership was aware of harassment yet chose to either downplay incidents at best, or to actively defend sexual harassers and retaliate against victims of harassment at worst. These reports led to Blizzard employees staging strikes, sponsors pulling out from Blizzard's eSports tournaments and both the state of California and federal government investigating Blizzard for workplace violations. Given Blizzard's inclusive image and sterling reputation, as noted by the common quote "Blizzard can do no wrong", the company experienced a greater fall from grace than most, only rivaling Creator/{{Konami}} in disgrace. This gigantic controversy eventually caused their stock to plummet low enough for Creator/{{Microsoft}} to buy out parent company Creator/ActivisionBlizzard, marking the end of the company as an independent titan of gaming. Despite ''all'' of this, however, ''VideoGame/DiabloIV'' proved to be the best-selling game the company had ever made up to that point, resulting in cynical commentators pointing out that all of the trouble and controversy apparently meant nothing if the company made a game people ''wanted''.

** Prior to their acquisition by Take-Two Rockstar North (the team behind ''Grand Theft Auto'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''[[note]]Which has somehow mostly avoided this trope despite being best described as ''Grand Theft Horse''[[/note]]) started off life as a company called DMA Design[[note]]'''D'''oesn't '''M'''ean '''A'''nything[[/note]], who created the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} game ''VideoGame/{{Uniracers}}''. This game is most famous for getting recalled after Creator/{{Pixar}} won a lawsuit claiming the CGI unicycle in the game was stolen from one of Pixar's animated shorts.

* Video game music composer Music/TommyTallarico was known for much of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s for his works as a composer on popular games (most notably ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'') and the ''Video Games Live'' concerts. While his tenure as co-host of the television show ''Electric Playground'' and reaction to online critics generated controversy, he was still primarily known as a talented musician. Cracks in his reputation deepened when Tallarico took over the UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} brand and began work on a new video game system called the Platform/IntellivisionAmico. Tommy's [[TakeThatCritics highly abrassive attitude toward people critical of the Amico]] [[note]]including slander towards the Platform/NintendoSwitch and collectively calling detractors of the console "gaming racists"[[/note]] and habit of making grandiose promises about the Amico hardware and software pipeline that had a pattern of not materializing garnered him a growing number of detractors. This led to these detractors digging into his history, uncovering a pattern of misappropriating credits from people who worked under him and lying about his personal accomplishments and involvement in projects his name was attached to. This truly hit the mainstream when popular [=YouTuber=] WebVideo/HBomberguy released a video discussing Tallarico's lawsuit with the developers of ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' and his checkered history, introducing the controversy to a much larger audience. These days, Tommy Tallarico's reputation as a liar and a fraud has overtook his reputation as a composer, with many commentators throwing the validity of his entire career into doubt.

** Fortunately, Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}} took quick action against Okalo Union, by implementing a new feature that warns players before accepting market trades for items for games they never played, deleting ''Abstractism'' from UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and banning Okalo Union, and requiring approval to change the name and icon of a game (some other games that used a similar trick changed their names and icons to that of popular Valve games to make their fake items more convincing). The fraudulent item trades were also reversed.

* ''Battlecruiser 3000 A.D.'' is a space flight simulator that went through a long, TroubledProduction before being released for [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows MS-DOS]] in 1996, to a cold reception for being an [[ObviousBeta incomplete, bug-ridden mess]]. Furthermore, the game's lead developer, Derek Smart, made several ambitious promises that he ultimately failed to deliver on (though he claimed that [[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive Take-Two]] released the game too early), and reacted to criticism with vitriol, to the point of contributing to one of the longest {{Flame War}}s in UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}} history. As a result, the game's development and Smart's unprofessional behavior have become more known than the game itself.

* ''Cubic Ninja'' is a simple UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS game where you tilt the 3DS to control the main character. If you've ever heard of it, it's probably because of its involvement in Ninjhax, an exploit in the 3DS hardware that helps it boot up homebrew software, and the rush to buy copies of the game after the reveal of the exploit.

* It is impossible to bring up ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' without mentioning the highly buggy state the game launched in and the nigh-unplayable {{Porting Disaster}}s on the base UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 model and UsefulNotes/XboxOne, after being massively hyped since its announcement in 2012, as well as higher-ups enforcing months of crunch culture on the developers [[LyingCreator after promising that they would never do so]]. While Creator/CDProjekt briefly recalled digital releases of the game and started releasing patches to fix the bugs, the matter got big enough to lead to lawsuits from both customers and shareholders accusing the company of lying about the state of the game before its release and for false advertising.

* ''VideoGame/{{Devotion}}'', a horror game by Taiwanese developers Red Candle Games, received massively positive reviews at launch... until it was discovered that the game contained an image of a Fulu talisman (a ritual object roughly analogous to a voodoo doll) with the text "UsefulNotes/XiJinping Franchise/WinnieThePooh Moron" on it, supposedly a placeholder asset that Red Candle forgot to remove. Winnie the Pooh is [[MemeticMutation used as a mocking nickname]] for Chinese president Xi Jinping, and political speech critical of the Chinese government is a big deal over there, so its presence led to intense negative review-bombing from Chinese players and the game ultimately being pulled from UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}. This incident is now better-known than the game itself. In 2021, the game became available again through Red Candle Games' new e-store, but is still BannedInChina, whose government remains unforgiving despite the provocative text having long been patched out.

* The UsefulNotes/Atari2600 game ''Dragster'' was a short, decent game by Creator/{{Activision}}, the system's biggest third party. It is almost entirely remembered for a 5.51 score being the most infamous of Todd Rogers's now-banned, decades-old records, being the most infamous impossible score among all his highly suspect achievements.

* ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper (2014)'' was tainted from the start by [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]]'s decision to reboot the [[SequelGap long-dormant]], [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]]-based franchise as a [[MobilePhoneGame mobile game]], much to the disappointment of long-time fans who had wanted a new ''Dungeon Keeper'' game for PC like its predecessors[[note]]Mobile games in general have a reputation among PC and console gamers for [[BribingYourWayToVictory pay-to-win mechanics]], which are disliked by many in the West [[ValuesDissonance but more accepted in the East, due to different cultural norms and differences in the gaming market over there]][[/note]], but the game became associated with its reputation for being one of the epitomes of AllegedlyFreeGame, being severely held back by ridiculously long {{Freemium Timer}}s for basic in-game actions (digging an earth tile in this game took 10 ''minutes'', while this took 5 '''seconds''' in the PC games) that made the game all but unplayable without spending real money to extend the Freemium Timers. Not helping matters was EA filtering less-than-five-star reviews of the game by forcing those reviewers to fill in a feedback form (and then never posted those reviews by pretending there was an error), which [[StreisandEffect only served to draw more attention to the game and its shortcomings]]. Eventually, EA halved the FreemiumTimer from 24 hours to 12 hours, but the damage was done, players had lost interest, and Mythic Entertainment[[note]]Best known as the developers of ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot''[[/note]] [[CreatorKiller was closed]] soon afterwards. As for the game, it would limp on for eight years before finally being closed in 2022.
* The Creator/EpicGames Store launched in late 2018 as a competitor to UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} with the distinction of giving a larger revenue cut to developers selling their games on the service.[[note]]Upon launch, Epic Games gave its developers an 88 percent cut of the profits when their game was sold, whereas Steam gave only 70 percent of the profits.[[/note]] However, the storefront quickly became more known for the controversies surrounding the early stages of its life:

* MECC, the creators of ''VideoGame/TheOregonTrail'', developed and published ''Freedom!'', a game for the UsefulNotes/AppleII, in which the player would assume the role of a runaway slave trying to reach the North through the Underground Railroad, in a manner similar to that of ''The Oregon Trail'', while [[NeverLearnedToRead gaining the ability of literacy]] and the ability to swim. The game was meant to be used in a school curriculum when it was released in late 1992, but most schools simply released the game to students to play without prior lessons. This led to [[MoralGuardians numerous parents]] complaining to MECC and their schools on what they considered the racially offensive nature of the game, and threatened to sue MECC. Though MECC offered to make changes to alleviate these concerns, the company ultimately pulled the game from sale.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Gizmondo}} was the second-worst selling game console of all time. However, just as notorious as the reasons for its failure is the fact that its manufacturer, Tiger Telematics, had links to Swedish organized crime groups.

* While it eventually dissipated by the second half of TheNewTens, for around a decade or so, it was difficult to discuss ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' without bringing up the massive fan backlash it generated outside of Japan as a result of its cartoony, cel-shaded art style. Many thought it clashed heavily with the more realistic visual direction of the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 ''Zelda'' titles, a Spaceworld 2000 tech demo based on ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', and other high-profile releases on competing consoles. The controversy got so big that it directly informed the direction of future ''Zelda'' games (which are generally [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff more popular in the West]] than in Japan), with Nintendo holding off plans for a ''Wind Waker'' sequel in favor of the RealIsBrown aesthetic of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' and limiting later "Toon Link" games to handheld titles and spinoffs (which generally see less publicity than mainline home console entries).

* ''Major League Baseball'' on the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem is better known for a lawsuit in early 1990 by a nine-year-old boy because the game did not include his favorite players and claimed the game box was being misleading about managerial decisions.
* The first ''VideoGame/MarioParty1'' is fondly remembered by those that have played it, but it's more often associated with the rampant [[ScrappyMechanic control-stick spinning minigames]], in particular ''Tug o' War'' and ''Pedal Power''. The most efficient way to win at these minigames was to use the palm of your hand rather than your thumb, but this technique applied a dangerous amount of friction to the players' skin, which led to several players contracting blisters while playing. [[https://www.cnet.com/news/nintendo-offers-glove-to-prevent-joystick-injuries/ Nintendo was eventually forced to offer free protective gloves]] to any player who had injured themselves while playing the game. Later installments would remove these types of minigames, and the whole controversy is believed to be the main reason why [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes it took until 2022 for the game]] to be re-released virtually through UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online, albeit with [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope a warning about certain techniques]]. The ''Tug o' War'' would be individually got re-released on ''VideoGame/MarioPartySuperstars'' for the Switch as well, with the same warning.

** The first ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' was known by those who hadn't played it (due to being released only on UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and a year later [=PC=]) as ''that sci-fi game that has an explicit sex scene and allowed a lesbian romance between a Female PC and a blue alien chick'', thanks to a very misinformed and reactionary segment on [[PompousPoliticalPundit Fox News]].

** The game gained a VocalMinority of absurdly zealous fans well over a year before it even came out, to the extent that they ended up sending death threats to both [[Creator/HelloGames the developers of the game]] and a Kotaku reporter as a consequence of a short release date delay, tainting the perception of its fanbase before it came out. The actual release didn't improve the situation -- the game got disappointing SoOkayItsAverage reviews on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and was an ObviousBeta on PC, to which the most devoted fans reacted by lashing out at anyone who had anything bad to say about the game, to the extent that reviewer [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} James Stephanie Sterling]]'s website got what is believed to be a distributed denial-of-service for their slightly negative review. Meanwhile, another group of {{Fan Hater}}s were happy to see the game "fail" and decided to attack anyone who had anything ''good'' to say about the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ronde}}'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn is the last game in the ''VideoGame/MajinTensei'' branch of the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise, and is considered a fun game by those who have played it. Unfortunately, it's better known for having some of the worst graphics of the 32-bit era, which resulted in [[TaintedByThePreview a preview event that garnered such negative reception that Japanese gamers cancelled their preorders for the game]] on a scale that was virtually unprecedented for the Japanese game industry at the time. The game's failure would make the ''SMT'' series abandon the StrategyRPG genre for 12 years, until 2009's ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor''.

* ''The Slaughtering Grounds'' was a cheaply made, [[UsefulNotes/{{Shovelware}} asset-flip]] ridden first-person shooter game done by two people that seemed to have only made the game for a quick buck. Jim Sterling of ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'' fame tore the game a new one by heavily criticizing the game's broken mechanics, boring gameplay, and heavy use of purchased stock assets that did not fit the theme of the game and clashed with every other asset. The developers tried to silence Sterling with a copyright takedown, and when the takedown failed (along with other attempts to discredit Sterling), the duo then outright ''sued Sterling'' for defamation and other damages, to the tune of 10 million dollars. [[StreisandEffect The moment the lawsuit happened, the game quickly became known]] for two people that [[CantTakeCriticism couldn't take criticism]] over a crappy and broken game, and caused whole internet communities to spring up solely dedicated to scrutinizing and mocking the duo's previous work. Their reputation would only plummet even further when the duo tried ''suing UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} users for leaving negative reviews of their games''--a move that led to Creator/{{Valve}} swiftly pulling all of the duo's games from the service in response. This reputation has followed these developers to every new online storefront they join since being booted from Steam, in spite of them assuming new aliases and trying to stay under the radar.

* The CompilationRerelease ''Sonic Origins'', which includes ports of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Sonic 1]]'', ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'', ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Sonic 2]]'' and ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and PC, has been the center of many controversies before and after its release. First, Creator/{{Sega}}'s decision to remove the original games from online platforms (UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, UsefulNotes/XboxLive, Nintendo eShop and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}) in May 2022 was considered a not-subtle way to push consumers to this compilation, and the use of the [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement Denuvo]] protection for the PC version was criticized because of the implications that it may slow down computers. The in-game coin system which is necessary to unlock some bonuses and which is sold through [[DownloadableContent DLC]] didn't help neither. After the release, some players realized the following things: some bugs in the games were not corrected yet because Sega didn't include them properly in the compilation; despite what the intro and outro cutscenes supposed, Amy Rose is not playable; and while the replacement of Music/MichaelJackson tracks in ''Sonic 3 and Knuckles'' was accepted because of [[UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}} the legal issues around them]], the decision to remix the PC tracks instead of remastering the prototype ones was not well-received.

** ''Soulcalibur III'' is still a popular game in the series, thanks in part to the large amount of single-player content offered in the game. However, this tends to be overshadowed by the outcry that rose from the decision to release the game exclusively on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, which angered fans who bought the previous game for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] or UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}. This is especially the case concerning the [=GameCube=] version since it was actually the most popular version [[JustHereForGodzilla because of]] [[GuestFighter the inclusion of]] [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]].
** ''Soulcalibur II HD Remix'' received a lot of flack for not being released on a Nintendo console. The reason is that the original release had VersionExclusiveContent with a different GuestFighter on each console, and ''HD Remix'' was intended to have the multiple guests in a single game. But the [=GameCube=] guest was Link from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and Nintendo understandably did not want their character on a rival console, so the developers decided to forgo the UsefulNotes/WiiU release in order to keep the rosters the same on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/Xbox360.

** The addition of VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}} as a GuestFighter to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita versions, [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/streetfighterxtekken/images/d/d4/SFxT-Mega_Mam.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120203042449 whose design for this game]] was based on [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dd/Mega_Man_1_box_artwork.jpg the infamously ugly box art]] for the first ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' game on NES. This was intended as a harmless, silly joke; unfortunately, the announcement came in the wake of ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends 3''[='s=] cancellation, meaning a lot of ''Mega Man'' fans took it more as an insult.

** ''Super Mario 3D All-Stars'' is a CompilationRerelease of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Sunshine]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Galaxy]]'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. However, it is infamous for several controversial decisions made during and after its development. Besides ''64'' being based on the fan-disliked 1997 Shindō edition (especially among speedrunners, due to patching several GoodBadBugs that allow SequenceBreaking), the compilation consists of straight ports of the originals with little to no additional content, ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 Galaxy 2]]'' was left out for unknown reasons, costs $60 for a 2020 compilation whose most recent game is from 2007, and, most infamously of all, Nintendo decided to make it a limited release, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes pulling the compilation from sale]] after March 31, 2021[[note]]especially since the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'', released for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] in 1993, was not a limited release[[/note]]. This has been widely decried as an anti-consumer business decision designed to pressure fans into buying the compilation lest they lose access to it forever.
** The English localisation of ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros Encyclopedia''—a book containing information on the ''Super Mario Bros.'' games from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original]] on the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] all the way to ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' on the UsefulNotes/WiiU, that was officially licensed by Creator/{{Nintendo}}—became embroiled in controversy just over one week after its release when it was discovered that one of the translators on the team, Zack Davisson, had decided to cut corners with some of the more obscure character names across the franchise in an unethical way. Instead of doing careful research and contacting Nintendo like the German and French localisation teams had, Davisson plagiarised from the Super Mario Wiki and Mario Fandom, without giving credit or citing their sources. This left a sour taste in many readers' mouths, and both Creator/DarkHorseComics and Nintendo received fan backlash for proof-reading neglection. Nintendo also received flak for their neglection being seen as incredibly {{hypocrit|e}}ical, given their notorious litigation against {{fan game}}s. This incident has made it very difficult for ''Super Mario'' fans to recommend buying the English version of the book, with most urging against doing so or at least telling people to buy a second-hand copy so as not to give financial support to Davisson's unethical behavior.

* The UsefulNotes/XboxOne was defined by the massive outcry over Microsoft's (ultimately scrapped) plans to give the console DRM that would have required it to connect to Xbox Live at least once every 24 hours and placed heavy restrictions on used games. Also controversial was the bundling of a Kinect with every console, and that the system would refuse to function without the sensor connected to it, which (a) increased the system's price [[note]]$100 more than the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 would sell for at launch despite the Xbox having weaker hardware[[/note]] and (b) upset people who either didn't care for the Kinect or were worried about privacy[[note]]Microsoft's filing a [[https://kotaku.com/this-kinect-patent-is-terrifying-wants-to-charge-you-f-5958307 patent to restrict movie watching]] and the Snowden leaks amplified these concerns[[/note]]. Worse was Don Mattrick's initial tone-deaf response telling users that they would [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzmVcasl3ZU have to accept this or be stuck in the past]]. The backlash was so swift and intense that Microsoft reversed both their DRM plans and the requirement that Kinect be plugged in at all times a week after E3, replaced Xbox division head Don Mattrick with Phil Spencer, and later cut the Kinect entirely to drop the system's price. While these actions would redeem the brand in the eyes of consumers, the Xbox One was never able to gain enough momentum to challenge UsefulNotes/PlayStation4's sales numbers thanks to these self-inflicted wounds from its pre-release, and Spencer would lament that it was the "[[https://kotaku.com/xbox-phil-spencer-interview-starfield-ps5-console-war-1850404446 worst generation to lose]]" due to how the UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames marked the start of consumers investing heavily in digital over physical game purchases, and by extension, investing into specific console ecosystems.

* Video game music composer Music/TommyTallarico was known for much of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s for his works as a composer on popular games (most notably ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'') and the ''Video Games Live'' concerts. While his tenure as co-host of the television show ''Electric Playground'' and reaction to online critics generated controversy, he was still primarily known as a talented musician. Cracks in his reputation deepened when Tallarico took over the UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} brand and began work on a new video game system called the UsefulNotes/IntellivisionAmico. Tommy's [[TakeThatCritics highly abrassive attitude toward people critical of the Amico]] [[note]]including slander towards the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch and collectively calling detractors of the console "gaming racists"[[/note]] and habit of making grandiose promises about the Amico hardware and software pipeline that had a pattern of not materializing garnered him a growing number of detractors. This led to these detractors digging into his history, uncovering a pattern of misappropriating credits from people who worked under him and lying about his personal accomplishments and involvement in projects his name was attached to. This truly hit the mainstream when popular [=YouTuber=] WebVideo/HBomberguy released a video discussing Tallarico's lawsuit with the developers of ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' and his checkered history, introducing the controversy to a much larger audience. These days, Tommy Tallarico's reputation as a liar and a fraud has overtook his reputation as a composer, with many commentators throwing the validity of his entire career into doubt.

%% Please do not add any discussion of the sexual misconduct allegations against [=YandereDev=] until February 2024.

* ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'', aside from its years spent in DevelopmentHell, picked up controversy over its advertising campaign which [[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt advertised John Romero's name more than it did the game itself]], most infamously starting with a claim that "John Romero's about to make you his bitch. Suck it down." The game has mostly been forgotten aside from the aforementioned campaign and the negative press [[CreatorKiller that brought Romero's development career down with it]].

* ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' was one of the video games that contributed to the creation of the ESRB in the United States. An infamous bathroom scene[[note]]Which the game does call you out on for when you fail to save the girl, or any girl for that matter.[[/note]] in particular was what led to [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcomittee intense Senate hearings]] with proponents of the ban saying it glorified violence against women, while many of them admitted [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch they hadn't played the game]]. Although by today's standards, the game seems pretty harmless and [[ValuesDissonance many people nowadays are surprised or even laugh when they find out this game was controversial in the first place]]. The game's rerelease in 2018 even leaned into and played up the controversy, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co8ixwQYj3w the Switch version]]'s trailer even making a joke of then Nintendo of America President Howard Lincoln's assertion that ''Night Trap'' "will never appear on a Nintendo system". [[HilariousInHindsight Cue the Nintendo Switch Logo]].

* The UsefulNotes/XboxOne was defined by the massive outcry over Microsoft's (ultimately scrapped) plans to give the console DRM that would have required it to connect to Xbox Live at least once every 24 hours and placed heavy restrictions on used games. Also controversial was the bundling of a Kinect with every console, and that the system would refuse to function without the sensor connected to it, which (a) increased the system's price [[note]]$100 more than the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 would sell for at launch despite the Xbox having weaker hardware[[/note]] and (b) upset people who either didn't care for the Kinect or were worried about privacy[[note]]Microsoft's filing a [[https://kotaku.com/this-kinect-patent-is-terrifying-wants-to-charge-you-f-5958307 patent to restrict movie watching]] and the Snowden leaks amplified these concerns[[/note]]. Worse was Don Mattrick's initial tone-deaf response telling users that they would [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzmVcasl3ZU have to accept this or be stuck in the past]]. The backlash was so swift and intense that Microsoft reversed both their DRM plans and the requirement that Kinect be plugged in at all times a week after E3, replaced Xbox division head Don Mattrick with Phil Spencer, and later cut the Kinect entirely to drop the system's price. While these actions would redeem the brand in the eyes of consumers, the Xbox One was never able to gain enough momentum to challenge UsefulNotes/PlayStation4's sales numbers thanks to these self-inflicted wounds from its pre-release, and Spencer would lament that it was the "[[https://kotaku.com/xbox-phil-spencer-interview-starfield-ps5-console-war-1850404446 worst generation to lose]]" due to how the UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfVideoGames marked the start of consumers investing heavily in digital over physical game purchases, and by extension, investing into specific console ecosystems.

* The UsefulNotes/XboxOne was defined by the massive outcry over Microsoft's (ultimately scrapped) plans to give the console DRM that would have required it to connect to Xbox Live at least once every 24 hours and placed heavy restrictions on used games. Also controversial was the bundling of a Kinect with every console, and that the system would refuse to function without the sensor connected to it, which (a) increased the system's price [[note]]$100 more than the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 would sell for at launch despite the Xbox having weaker hardware[[/note]] and (b) upset people who either didn't care for the Kinect or were worried about privacy[[note]]Microsoft's filing a [[https://kotaku.com/this-kinect-patent-is-terrifying-wants-to-charge-you-f-5958307 patent to restrict movie watching]] and the Snowden leaks amplified these concerns[[/note]]. Worse was Don Mattrick's initial tone-deaf response telling users that they would [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzmVcasl3ZU have to accept this or be stuck in the past]]. The backlash was so swift and intense that Microsoft reversed both their DRM plans and the requirement that Kinect be plugged in at all times a week after E3, replaced Xbox division head Don Mattrick with Phil Spencer, and later cut the Kinect entirely to drop the system's price. While these actions have redeemed the brand in the eyes of most consumers, the Xbox One was never able to gain enough momentum to challenge UsefulNotes/PlayStation4's sales numbers, in no small part due to the self-inflicted wounds from its pre-release.

* Edge Games was a video game developer and publisher founded in 1990, acquiring the [=IPs=] of its founder and CEO Tim Langdell's former company Softek Software in the process, which itself was founded in 1980. Edge Games is much more well-known for multiple incidents of Langdell filing {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s against gaming-related companies using the word "edge" in their products such as [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]]'s 1995 [[UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame arcade game]] ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]]'' or {{Creator/DICE}}[=/=][[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]]'s ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'', (in which Edge Games lost against EA and by extension, had to give up the "Edge" patent, saving Mobigames' "EDGE", a small indie game by a small indie publisher, in the process) than for any of their games[[note]]Edge Games have a very small library for a company of their age, releasing nine games over the course of twenty-five years from 1989–2014[[/note]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' series, formerly one of the most successful video game franchises, has long lived under the infamy of its third game, ''[=Driv3r=]''. The game was ChristmasRushed while still in [[ObviousBeta a far-from-complete state]] in order to beat the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', and Creator/{{Atari}} bribed two British magazines (''[=PSM2=]'' and ''Xbox World'') to give it a suspicious 9/10 score. This incident, which is referred to as "[[{{Scandalgate}} Driv3rgate]]", gave the series a negative reputation and accusations of being a ''GTA'' clone. However, the reputation would die down with the moderate success of ''VideoGame/DriverSanFrancisco'', which was praised for ditching the ''GTA'' elements to focus on the driving. The scandal faded into obscurity until [[WebVideo/GuruLarryAndWez Guru Larry's webshow "Fact Hunt"]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEQOv2g0JA covered it in 2016]].

* The highly-anticipated ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' GameMod ''VideoGame/TheFrontier'' was initially renowned for performing feats thought to be impossible within the game's engine such as good vehicle mechanics. However, the mod faced significant criticism for poor writing before being taken down entirely due to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-3YjqXOzhA serious controversies]] surrounding its content and creation such as [[PaedoHunt the ability to gaslight a teenage girl into becoming the player's]] SexSlave and allegedly stolen assets. A revised build was published to Nexus several days later, but the team's credibility was destroyed with several contributors refusing to associate with them further.

* ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'' is an indie game that is fully completed, but initially promised a myriad of DLC characters to be added post-launch, including crossovers with ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' and ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}''. Fans were eagerly awaiting for the rollouts to begin after the game's release in October of 2019... when things stalled out for a year with little progress, and then half the game's team suddenly left Lab Zero (the developer). It turned out the owner of Lab Zero, Mike Zaimont, had been accused of sexually harassing his staff by making suggestive comments and bringing up inappropriate conversations that made much of the staff uncomfortable. When his Board of Directors requested his resignation, he refused to do so and made numerous demands (including some that were referred to as being "potentially illegal"). This resulted in him firing his board, all the employees leaving the company in retaliation, and the publisher stopping all interaction with what was left of Lab Zero. With no funding or team to complete the game, Zaimont scrapped all future development for ''Indivisible'', and the publisher stated they would perform no further updates on the game. Although the game's story and gameplay are fully finished, the game still includes various pieces of NPC dialogue and locked locations that tease potential new content and characters that will never be added to the game. While many fans still look upon the game's story positively, any discussion of its developer or someone asking what happened to the DLC will almost inevitably turn into a huge rant on Zaimont's (alleged) actions.

* Try mentioning ''[=SimCopter=]'' to anyone without someone bringing up the infamous "himbo" EasterEgg. Just try. When the game initially released, one of the developers snuck in this gag without Maxis's permission, where on certain days of the year [[note]]The programmer's birthday, his ex's birthday, or Friday the 13th[[/note]], male citizens dressed in nothing but speedos would show up in ridiculous numbers and start making out with one another. This Easter Egg wasn't caught until long after several tens of thousands of copies had shipped, leading to a massive recall and the oddity getting patched out of future releases. If you find yourself telling someone you bought a used copy, expect them to ask if you're going to see if it has this in it.

* [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]] as a whole is well-known for making many controversial business decisions over their history which culminated in them being voted as the No. 1 most hated company in America in 2012 ''and'' 2013. In particular, EA became infamous for acquiring and subsequently liquidating well-regarded studios such as Creator/OriginSystems[[note]]Best known as the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' and ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', acquired by EA in 1992 and shuttered in 2004[[/note]], Creator/BullfrogProductions[[note]]Creators of ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'', ''VideoGame/MagicCarpet'' and ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'', acquired by EA in 1995 and stopped producing games in 2001 before officially closing in 2004[[/note]] and Creator/WestwoodStudios[[note]]Best known as the creators of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'', acquired by EA in 1998 and liquidated in 2002. It has an effect of people quickly forgetting that EA somehow managed to re-gather the crews behind Westwood Studios to re-make the ''Red Alert'' subseries of the franchise to stay as closely to the original game as possible, with none of their usual "evil actions" forced on the remake unlike most of the time they run things, the praise given to them was temporary until their evil reputation overshadowed it again.[[/note]]; acquiring exclusive licenses to ''[[VideoGame/FIFASoccer FIFA]]'' and ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'' games that gives them a monopoly in football [[SimulationGame simulators]]; their ExecutiveMeddling like mandating the use of the troublesome Frostbite engine[[note]]Frostbite was designed with [[FirstPersonShooter FPSs]] like ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' in mind, so it works fine for developing [=FPSs=] but becomes a chore to use when developing [[RolePlayingGame RPGs]] like ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' and ''VideoGame/{{Anthem}}'', ultimately contributing to those games' {{Troubled Production}}s[[/note]]; and their inclusion of predatory monetization practices in premium-priced games and [[MemeticMutation memetic]] attempts to defend such practices ("[[https://old.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7cff0b/seriously_i_paid_80_to_have_vader_locked/dppum98/ Pride and accomplishment]]"[[note]]In response to a Website/{{Reddit}} post complaining about the ridiculous amount of grinding required to unlock iconic ''Franchise/StarWars'' characters ([[BribingYourWayToVictory which could be circumvented by spending real-life money]] on LootBoxes) in the pre-release trial for ''VideoGame/{{Star Wars Battlefront II|2017}}'', an EA representative responded by saying the reason for the long grind was to give players "a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes". This response angered players enough to make the response ''the'' most downvoted post in Reddit history (eventually winning a [[Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords Guinness World Record]]), as players could tell EA's real reason was that they wanted to frustrate them into spending money to make the grind less tedious[[/note]] and "[[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/loot-boxes-are-surprise-mechanics Surprise mechanics]]"[[note]]In June 2019, EA executive Kerry Hopkins objected to the term "loot boxes" and tried to rename them "surprise mechanics" ''in front of members of parliament'', in response to a UK government hearing questioning her if she thinks loot boxes are ethical[[/note]]). While EA has made several successful titles when EA executives are able to reach a compromise with their developers, EA as a company continues to be widely disliked in the wake of their multiple scandals.

* Creator/BioWare's ''VideoGame/{{Anthem}}'' was already considered to be a disappointing game at launch, but soon after it launched, it was revealed in a [=Kotaku=] article by Jason Schreier that the game had undergone a very TroubledProduction that consisted of years of mismanagement, and its workers were crunched to the point of having mental breakdowns. Not helping was that [=BioWare=]'s response was to call their workplace environment and work ethic "[=BioWare=] Magic", a statement that drew ire, mockery, and heavy criticism from pundits, audiences, and journalists alike. Its scrutiny and subsequent commercial failure meant attempts to revamp the game were abandoned in early 2021, [[StillbornFranchise effectively ending intended franchise plans right out of the gate]]. ''Anthem'' is thus less remembered for its merits than, along with the similarly disappointing ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', tanking the reputation of the once-beloved [=BioWare=].

* ''VideoGame/{{Ooblets}}'' came under fire in 2019 when it announced the game would be an Epic Games Store PC exclusive, but the main cause of the controversy wasn't the announcement itself, but from ''how'' it was handled. Their official announcement was presented in a condescending and immature way, their thoughts being summed up as "Don't act like a toxic, entitled gamer about it [[FirstWorldProblems and there are better thing to get mad about anyway]]", with a lack of professionalism and tact that's best examplified with them taking the time to make a custom animation of the player character doing the floss. They then decide to leave themselves open to a potential angry mob by taking further questions on their official Discord, which resulted in a myriad of out-of-context and some faked screencaps to make the devs look far worse than they actually were spreading around the Internet, claiming gamers are the worst kind of people and they "belong in gas chambers". At that point, even after they were able to clear up how much genuine harassment they've received and how much of those screencaps were faked, the damage had already been done and the first thing most people remember about this game is the disasterous fallout of its exclusivity announcement.

* ''VideoGame/TheSettlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom'' actually fixed many of the complaints people have had over the last games and is as a result often considered the best ''Settlers'' game in almost a decade. Unfortunately though, the game's problematic, always-online [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement DRM]] and [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore infamously bad]] [[https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/box/3/6/0/128360_front.jpg North American box art]] meant most people didn't bother to find out.

* The first ''VideoGame/MarioParty1'' is fondly remembered by those that have played it, but it's more often associated with the rampant [[ScrappyMechanic control-stick spinning minigames]], in particular ''Tug o' War'' and ''Pedal Power''. The most efficient way to win at these minigames was to use the palm of your hand rather than your thumb, but this technique applied a dangerous amount of friction to the players' skin, which led to several players contracting blisters while playing. [[https://www.cnet.com/news/nintendo-offers-glove-to-prevent-joystick-injuries/ Nintendo was eventually forced to offer free protective gloves]] to any player who had injured themselves while playing the game. Later installments would remove these types of minigames, and the whole controversy is believed to be the main reason why [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes it took until 2022 for the game]] to be re-released virtually through UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online, albeit [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope warning about certain techniques]]. The ''Tug o' War'' would be individually got re-released on ''VideoGame/MarioPartySuperstars'' for the Switch as well, with the same warning.

* The 2007 brain-training game ''Mind Quiz'' would probably have flown completely under the radar if not for an unfortunate word choice. The lowest "brain awareness" ranking was called "Super Spastic", and the word "spastic" is considered an ableist slur in Great Britain and Ireland. When the game's use of the word was discovered, it caused a major outcry in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, forcing Creator/{{Ubisoft}} to pull the game in both countries.

* ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' was one of the video games that contributed to the creation of the ESRB in the United States. An infamous bathroom scene[[note]]Which the game does call you out for when you fail to save the girl, or any girl for that matter.[[/note]] in particular was what led to [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcomittee intense Senate hearings]] with proponents of the ban saying it glorified violence against women, while many of them admitted [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch they hadn't played the game]]. Although by today's standards, the game seems pretty harmless and [[ValuesDissonance many people nowadays are surprised or even laugh when they find out this game was controversial in the first place]]. The game's rerelease in 2018 even leaned into and played up the controversy, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co8ixwQYj3w the Switch version]]'s trailer even making a joke of then Nintendo of America President Howard Lincoln's assertion that ''Night Trap'' "will never appear on a Nintendo system". [[HilariousInHindsight Cue the Nintendo Switch Logo]].

* The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' ROM-hack ''Notte Luminosa'' is best known for the fact that its creator, Yanama, [[ObfuscatingDisability lied on SMW Central about having terminal leukemia]], leading people like LetsPlay/{{raocow}} and LetsPlay/ProtonJon to LetsPlay the hack (the latter even going back on his promise not to play any more ''SMW'' hacks) before his ruse was discovered.

** The game had Heroes (playable characters, including iconic ''Star Wars'' characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader) that required an absurd amount of Credits to unlock, so trying to unlock one would require you to abstain from buying lootboxes (and thus eschew the upgrades they contained, playing at a disadvantage) or only buy lootboxes with Crystals. It was calculated that it would take approximately ''forty hours'' of gameplay to unlock just ''one'' of the top-tier Heroes with Credits. The microtransaction/lootbox system gave it such a bad reputation that ''multiple governments labeled it as gambling'' and worked to regulate lootboxes and microtransactions in general, if not outright ban them.

* Creator/BlizzardEntertainment has seen its once-stellar reputation take a nosedive in the late 2010s and early 2020s following several controversial incidents. While there were prior incidents like the botched launch of ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''[[note]]At launch, the game suffered from DemandOverload, and its always-online [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement DRM]] meant many gamers couldn't play it at all[[/note]] and negative audience reaction to the announcement of the [[MobilePhoneGame mobile]]-[[NoPortForYou exclusive]] ''Diablo Immortal'' at [=BlizzCon=] 2018[[note]]The event is rather noteworthy as the first time in [=BlizzCon=] history that an announcement was met with vocal negativity. Much of the backlash was because the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]]-centric crowd had paid $200 each to attend with expectations of seeing a new mainline ''Diablo'' installment, or at least a remaster of ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo I]]'' or ''[[VideoGame/DiabloII II]]''. Their reactions weren't helped by ''Diablo Immortal'' being announced at the very end of the convention as TheClimax, or by the exasperated response by Blizzard employees who [[DidntSeeThatComing had not anticipated such a negative reception]] i.e. "[[MemeticMutation Do you guys not have phones?]]"[[/note]], Blizzard became the center of international controversy following the Blitzchung controversy in which Blizzard suspended the ''[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft Hearthstone]]'' [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming e-sports]] player Ng "Blitzchung" Wai Chung for a year and stripped him of his winnings after he voiced support for the 2019 Hong Kong protests during an interview. This response spurred furious protests from not only Blizzard's audience, but also from fans of other video games, Blizzard's own employees, the general public and politicians, all accusing the company of engaging in censorship to appease the Chinese government and Blizzard's Chinese investors so their games [[BannedInChina wouldn't be banned]].[[note]]While some believed "Blitzchung" should be punished for making a political speech during a non-political interview (which is against Blizzard's guidelines), even they thought his punishment was disproportionately harsh and more about appeasing China, especially since several professional ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' players received lighter punishments for racism and sexism.[[/note]] 2020 also saw a similar controversy with the one at 2018 with their release of ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: Reforged'', which is considered one of the worst video game remake attempts of all time with unfulfilled promises from the trailers and extremely damaging for Blizzard; since they were known as one of the kings of the RealTimeStrategy genre with ''Warcraft'', their attempt to revive the genre plummeted it deeper into the grave and made it harder for fans to forget their previous two controversies. However, the nadir of Blizzard's controversies came in the middle of 2021[[note]]Right after people thought they calmed down since ''Warcraft III: Reforged'', which was at the beginning of 2020, they had one year and a half reprieve and Blizzard did try to restore their reputation with ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} 2'', ''VideoGame/{{Diablo IV}}'' and trying to do better in remakes with ''VideoGame/DiabloII: Resurrected'', which was going smoothly until those were shattered with the events as described soon[[/note]] when news reports and lawsuits revealed that Blizzard had terrible working conditions with some employees receiving starvation wages and male employees regularly sexually harassing female employees[[note]]Both the financial and sexual discrimination have existed at the company for many years[[/note]], with one harassed woman eventually committing suicide. Even worse was that the company's leadership was aware of harassment yet chose to either downplay incidents at best, or to actively defend sexual harassers and retaliate against victims of harassment at worst. These reports lead to Blizzard employees staging strikes, sponsors pulling out from Blizzard's eSports tournaments and both the state of California and federal government investigating Blizzard for workplace violations. Given Blizzard's inclusive image and sterling reputation, as noted by the common quote "Blizzard can do no wrong", the company experienced a greater fall from grace than most, only rivaling Creator/{{Konami}} in disgrace. This gigantic controversy eventually caused their stock to plummet low enough for Creator/{{Microsoft}} to buy out parent company Creator/ActivisionBlizzard, marking the end of the company as an independent titan of gaming. Despite ''all'' of this, however, ''VideoGame/DiabloIV'' proved to be the best-selling game the company had ever made up to that point, resulting in cynical commentators pointing out that all of the trouble and controversy apparently meant nothing if the company made a game people ''wanted''.

*** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' is among one of the best selling games ever, but is primarily remembered amongst non-fans for an infamous interrogation scene where the player must control Trevor as he brutally tortures a man for information about a suspected terrorist. The scene was intended to be a political commentary on the use of "enhanced interrogation" by intelligence agencies, but many called hypocrisy due to the gratuitous violence and overly disturbing nature.

* ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'': The initial marketing [[TaintedByThePreview left a bad first impression]] by showing how the game deviated from the semi-realism of previous entries. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb1MR85XFOc The reveal trailer]], in particular, showcased exaggerated character customization options that lets players [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory create soldiers of any gender and color]], wield samurai swords and cricket bats, and wear exotic facepaint in a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII setting. This resulted in a huge outcry from the fanbase. In response to the backlash, an [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]] executive criticized detractors by [[DontLikeDontRead daring those who didn't like the direction to not buy the game]], which lead to the game underperforming in pre-orders and launch sales. The actual game itself had gameplay problems like [[GameBreakingBug Game-Breaking Bugs]], the absence of advertised content at launch like the battle royale mode and vehicle customization, and a live service that didn't offer consistent updates, which meant that the game didn't have any good gameplay to distract anyone from the identity politics discourse. Nowadays, most conversations around the game almost inevitably revolve around the reaction to the reveal trailer, the bizarre push for female and POC fighters in places where they weren't allowed to fight in real life WWII (without explicitly taking the AlternateHistory route), and EA's response to the reaction.

* ''VideoGame/DepressionQuest'' is a small independent text-based game focused on helping the player character deal with their severe depression, based on the real-life experiences of creator Zoë Quinn. However, it's best known for sparking [[{{Scandalgate}} Gamergate]], a huge harassment campaign that dominated online discourse throughout 2014 and 2015 after an ex-boyfriend of Quinn's wrote a blog post claiming that they'd[[note]]Quinn identified as a woman at the time, later coming out as non-binary in 2017[[/note]] engaged in some toxic and manipulative behavior, most notably saying they'd had an affair with Kotaku journalist Nathan Grayson who gave positive coverage to the game, possibly [[CastingCouch in exchange for said coverage]]. The online backlash that resulted from this claim -- which birthed a huge rift in the gaming community and journalism -- led to a massive debate about sexism, gender roles, diversity, and journalistic integrity in the gaming industry and subculture, the ramifications of which are still being felt to this day. The lingering hot-button nature of this incident still seeps into wider pop culture and American politics, and both ''Depression Quest'' and Quinn themself continue to see the incident loom over discussions of them.

* Although it has ultimately managed to escape this reputation, for a period in the late '90s and early '00s, ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' was inexorably linked to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre who were huge fans of the game. There were even rumors that they rehearsed the massacre by means of a modded ''Doom'' map in the shape of the school's floor plan.[[note]]Harris and Klebold really did make ''Doom'' mods. But a ''Doom'' map shaped like Columbine High School created by the two killers has never been found, if it ever existed at all. It is also dubious because the shooting spree was not their actual plan; they had intended to bomb the school. The shooting was what they resorted to when their bombs failed to go off.[[/note]] Over the years, the supposed link between [[MurderSimulators violent video games and real violence]] has been increasingly debunked, advocates of the existence of the link are now largely seen as being [[DiscoDan behind-the-times]], and ''Doom'' has been recognized as a classic of the FirstPersonShooter genre and spawned an acclaimed franchise that continues to this day.

* ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' for the Atari 2600 is mostly associated with its reputation as "the worst video game of all time", being the TropeCodifier for TheProblemWithLicensedGames, and for its contribution to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 to the extent that it is frequently MisBlamed as being single-handedly responsible for the crash[[note]]It was not; the video game market was saturated with poor-quality titles in the early 1980s such as ''Custer's Revenge'', and ''E.T.'' was merely the breaking point[[/note]]. Atari, the dominant gaming company at the time, gave programmer Howard Scott Warshaw an impossibly tight schedule to develop the game from start to finish in just ''six weeks'' [[ChristmasRushed for a Christmas release]] (most video games back then still took three to six months to develop from scratch). The result was a tedious, repetitive, unenjoyable mess, and Atari's [[ThisIsGoingToBeHuge reckless assumption that the game would be a massive hit]] from the success of the [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Spielberg]] [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial movie]] led to them producing over four million copies, of which only about one and a half million were sold; to make matters worse, most of ''those'' were returned for a refund. The disappointing release—exacerbated by the similarly infamous Atari 2600 PortingDisaster of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' earlier that same year—resulted in Atari losing its reputation, and the rest is history. While the game has been somewhat VindicatedByHistory from the 2000s onward, with people coming forward to argue that Warshaw did a pretty good job with what little time he had (the game is surprisingly GameBreakingBug-free) and that the game is more "extremely disappointing" than "worst video game ever made", any discussion about ''E.T.'' is still almost guaranteed to mention its contribution to the 1983 Video Game Crash.

* [=G2A=].com is a website where people can buy and sell unredeemed UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} game keys, usually at a much lower price than usual, which has been embroiled in controversy following accusations of fraud and incompetence:
** Despite billing itself as a reliable source for reselling game keys, the company's lack of oversight has turned it into a quasi-black market. The absence of any authentication means that many of the keys sold on [=G2A=] were originally pirated or purchased using stolen credit cards, forcing developers to shoulder the burden of refunding customers. The company's impact has become so detrimental that many indie developers would rather see their games be ''pirated'' rather than purchased through [=G2A=]. The site still manages to attract many customers thanks to its low prices, but in most gaming communities, mentioning that you bought a game on [=G2A=] is practically begging for people to call you out.
** [=G2A=] is also infamous for its many poorly-disclosed extra fees. Many people have reported buying a few games on the site, only to be charged some monthly fees later on without knowing how to cancel them, or being flat-out unable to cancel due to accidentally locking themselves out of their account. Specific examples include [=G2A=] Shield, a premium subscription providing faster customer support if you buy a non-functional key, which is easy to accidentally subscribe to and [[https://imgur.com/gallery/PUwPC was notoriously tricky to cancel]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwzDBupz43g an inactivity fee]] deducted from your site funds if you spend too long without logging in (supposedly to cover the costs of keeping your account on their servers, even though the 1€ per month they charge is several orders of magnitude more than it would cost to just keep the inactive account in their database).

* ''VideoGame/HeroSiege'' was a horde-based roguelike that enjoyed moderate success due to being one of the first action roguelikes to gain appeal after ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' rejuvenated the genre. However, any and all goodwill towards the game evaporated overnight when, in 2020, the CEO of the game's developer [=PanicArt=] Studios suddenly went on an utterly unhinged anti-immigration rant on Twitter, calling immigrants "parasites" and "animals" and going so far as to declare he "would not rest" until all immigrants were removed from his country one way or another. His later attempt to defend himself by claiming that a Middle Eastern immigrant had accused him of child trafficking only furthered the backlash due to how outlandish and absurd the claim was, and both the game and the studio never fully recovered from the [=CEO=]'s display of cartoonish bigotry.

* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor2010'' and its sequel ''Medal of Honor: Warfighter'' would've been effectively forgotten as run-of-the-mill military shooters. However, the first game experienced some political backlash for having the Taliban as a playable faction in multiplayer, which lead to Danger Close studio renaming the faction to "Opposing Force". The sequel ''Warfighter'' is better known for [[FranchiseKiller killing the franchise]] and having US Navy [=SEALs=] consultants who worked on the game without permission from the Pentagon.

* ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', the [[SequelGap long-awaited]] fourth game of the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' franchise, became infamous shortly after release for having [[spoiler:Penelope Mouse, a [[NiceGuy Nice Girl]] and loyal friend to the Cooper Gang in [[VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves the previous game]], pull a FaceHeelTurn and become a greedy {{Yandere}}]], which even the twist's defenders bemoaned as underdeveloped and done just for shock value. Thus despite the gameplay and rest of the story being well received, this twist dominated fan perception and discussion and was seen as the developer Creator/SanzaruGames not caring about the game, making them pariahs to all video game fandom. By the time ''Thieves in Time'' retroactively got an AudienceAlienatingEnding once it was announced there would be no sequel thus ending the franchise on a cliffhanger, the fanbase had by and large already [[FanonDiscontinuity disowned the game]].

* Once a heavily anticipated indie title whose demos gained it a wide fandom overnight, ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is better-known nowadays for the heavy amounts of drama surrounding its lead developer, [=YandereDev=]. Most notorious is the fact that the game has been in an alpha state since 2014, which resulted in many accusing him of milking DevelopmentHell for profit, the demos' [[DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming poor coding]] resulted in widespread ridicule that only corroborated the controversy surrounding his apparent approach to game development. As a result, any attempts at discussing ''Yandere Simulator'' today will inevitably circle around to [=YandereDev=] himself and especially his treatment of the game.

* ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' was one of the video games that contributed to the creation of the ESRB in the United States. An infamous bathroom scene[[note]]Which the game does call you out for when you fail to save the girl, or any girl for that matter.[[/note]] in particular was what led to [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcomittee intense Senate hearings]] with proponents of the ban saying it glorified violence against women, while many of them admitted [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch they hadn't played the game]]. Although by today's standards, the game seems pretty harmless and [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny many people nowadays are surprised or even laugh when they find out this game was controversial in the first place]]. The game's rerelease in 2018 even leaned into and played up the controversy, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co8ixwQYj3w the Switch version]]'s trailer even making a joke of then Nintendo of America President Howard Lincoln's assertion that ''Night Trap'' "will never appear on a Nintendo system". [[HilariousInHindsight Cue the Nintendo Switch Logo]].

** Prior to their acquisition by Take-Two Rockstar North (the team behind ''Grand Theft Auto'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'') started off life as a company called DMA Design[[note]]'''D'''oesn't '''M'''ean '''A'''nything[[/note]], who created the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} game ''VideoGame/{{Uniracers}}''. This game is most famous for getting recalled after Creator/{{Pixar}} won a lawsuit claiming the CGI unicycle in the game was stolen from one of Pixar's animated shorts.