History TroubledProduction / VideoGamesNToZ

** In September 2023, the game's development hit a significant roadblock for a rather disturbing reason; [=YandereDev=] was accused of sending sexual messages to a 16-year old girl, followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering pressuring her into retracting her claims, downplaying the incident, and attempting to prevent the release of a compilation of evidence documenting the accusations that she was initially cooperating with]]. Things took a turn for the worse when the aforementioned compilation of evidence was quickly copyright claimed by [=YandereDev=] -- under the alleged victim's real name and doxxing her in the process, [[NotHelpingYourCase a move that increased speculation from the general public that he was indeed guilty of what it accused him of]] as they questioned [[RevealingCoverUp why he would go to such extremes to avoid people from seeing the evidence unless it genuinely incriminated him]]. This merely lead to [[StreisandEffect the compilation being reuploaded by multiple other users]] and created a massive furor on social media such as Website/{{Tumblr}}, Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Reddit}}, that was enough for a mass exodus of staff members, particularly voice actors such as Michaela Laws and Austin Hively (who voiced the main characters) from ''Yandere Simulator'''s development, several [=YouTubers=] who had [[LetsPlay frequently played the game]] to announce that they would now boycott it, a rather gradual decline of donations to [=YandereDev=]'s Patreon, Glowstick Entertainment to [[BuryYourArt voluntarily delist crossover DLC]] for ''VideoGame/DarkDeception: Monsters & Mortals'', Sad Panda Studios to likewise scrub all traces of ''Yandere Simulator'' from ''VideoGame/CrushCrush'' in favor of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, and for word of an apparent police investigation into [=YandereDev=] to quickly spread. This finally convinced [=YandereDev=] to make a blog post as an apology and donate to the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, which was regarded at best as a token effort to defend himself from the accusations, and at worst a thinly-veiled confession. Afterwards, [=YandereDev=] would announce that he would take an indefinite hiatus from development and additionally lower the game's scope once he resumed, only to almost instantly go back on his word and announce a rather large update implementing [[LevelEditor a custom mode]] for release in 2024, which did little to dissuade people from predicting that [=YandereDev=] would be outright arrested and/or ''Yandere Simulator'' would eventually be cancelled, ending its development on a sordid note.

%% * Atari's home port of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' It did well on the strength of the title but took a pounding in the media and contributed to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.

** With Creator/CoreDesign's main team working on ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'', an underfunded new team was put in charge of the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series' [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames next-gen]] debut on the Platform/PlayStation2. This team had no experience with the [=PS2=]'s exotic hardware, and spent a year just trying to figure out how to work with it. When Richard Morton, the lead programmer on ''Chronicles'', finished that game and went on to bring his team to work on ''The Angel of Darkness'', he was mortified at what he saw. He and his team had to dump the entire year's work and start from scratch.

* After it was funded via Kickstarter, ''VideoGame/{{OMORI}}'' quickly fell into such a production, lasting 6 whole years; enough time for the proposed UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS version to be scrapped in favor of a port to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. "Highlights" included a port from RPG Maker VX to RPG Maker MV, which resulted in such catastrophic plugin compatibility issues that a programmer from Enterbrain (the developers of RPG Maker) had to step in to help the team fix the issues, and coupled with outright radio silence on the side of the developers, the prospects appeared grim. Thankfully, ''OMORI'' turned out to be worth the wait, as once it was released on Christmas Day 2020, it earned rave reviews from both backers and players alike.

* ''VideoGame/{{Owlboy}}'' is notorious for its lengthy development, beginning in 2007 and releasing in November 2016 nearly a decade later, with planning going back to at least 2005, before the release of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} Nintendo Wii]]. The director, Simon Stafsnes Andersen, has suffered from depression since childhood, and the team were so worried about expectations from fans that they cut and restarted the entire game several times. The game became acclaimed for its [[SceneryPorn gorgeous pixel art]], story, and characters, but a BrokenBase emerged around its controls; some have no problem with the controls while others think the controls are awkward.

* As shown in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCx32lrBSNQ the final part of the “Making Of” documentary]], WebVideo/The8BitGuy’s ''Planet X3'', the MS-DOS sequel to his UsefulNotes/Commodore64 strategy game ''Planet X2'', went through trials and tribulations during the stressful 14 month development cycle.

** Even though David still has plenty of leftover ''Planet X3'' materials, which take up a lot of storage space, the game was successfully shipped and received positive reviews, with plans for a shareware demo, opening the game’s source code, and a possible UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis port.
* ''VideoGame/PlaystationHome'', a virtual world created by Sony for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, effectively existed in a state of limbo for its entire lifespan. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150731231338/http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/29/the-untold-story-of-playstation-home-sonys-most-successful-disaster This article]] on Kotaku UK lays out the whole story of "Sony's most successful failure".
** ''Home'' began life as an online mode for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 game ''VideoGame/TheGetawayBlackMonday'', but soon expanded once Phil Harrison, vice president of Sony Europe, had a look at it and decided that it could be something far more. Harrison envisioned the project, then known internally as 'the Hub', as a 'space between games' that would function as a lobby system of sorts for a whole slew of games. While Harrison was able to secure funding for what was becoming his dream project, many of Sony's other executives didn't understand his vision for the Hub, a problem that would plague ''Home'' for its entire lifespan. The Japanese executives especially couldn't get their heads around it -- to them, multiplayer gaming was a social activity where friends get together in the same room, the antithesis of the Hub's Western model of playing with strangers through online matchmaking. (A similar philosophy was visible in Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s much-maligned "friend code" system.)

*** For starters, ''Gold and Silver'' were originally developed as Game Boy games, with UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy compatibility and a set release date of "late 1997." Enough of the game was completed for a demo at Spaceworld 1997, and from hacking the leaked ROM of the demo, one can observe how much of a mess things were in this state. Hardly any of the gym leaders were programmed into the game, the Kanto region had been heavily distilled into a single map, and many other features were not anywhere close to completion. This, combined with the impending release of the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor in 1998, forced Game Freak to delay the games to June 1999, something they didn't announce until March 1998, three months after the original release year lapsed.

* The development of ''VideoGame/{{Redfall}}'' was practically a [[HistoryRepeats repeat]] of the development of ''VideoGame/Anthem2019'', with Arkane Austin being ordered by Bethesda to produce a game that could leap on the live service boom that was kicked off by ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'', despite the studio's experience being mostly with "immersive sim" games such as ''VideoGame/Prey2017''. Development lacked a clear goal throughout, with the game directors being accused of seeming content to make things up as they went along, and the development team was sorely under-staffed for a game of the scope that Bethesda wanted. It got to the point where the developers were actively ''hoping'' that Microsoft would order the game scrapped or development to be rebooted when they bought out Bethesda, only for them to not only not order any real course-correction on the game, but to start hyping it up as the next big exclusive for the UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, which backfired big-time when the game released to heavily underwhelming reviews.

* The production and design of the Sega CD add-on for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis proved to be quite difficult for Creator/{{Sega}}. Technical hurdles to getting the Sega CD to work with the Genesis, as well as paranoia about the capabilities of competing hardware, pressed the development team into continually beefing up the add-on’s specs to the point where it became ridiculously expensive to manufacture. Adding to the mess was the [[InterserviceRivalry lack of cooperation and coordination between Sega's Japanese and American branches]] (which would go on to derail the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn), with Sega of Japan refusing to send prototypes to the West, rendering Sega of America and Sega of Europe unable to promote the add-on to consumers and developers before its release. When systems finally arrived at Sega of America, they found them plagued with manufacturing defects up to and including ''spontaneous combustion.'' All of this scramble to simply get the hardware out the door meant that Sega couldn't properly solicit game developers for the system, causing the Sega CD's library to consist mainly (though not entirely) of FMV games, with only a few or so games that actually made (comparatively) more innovative use of the system's specs[[note]]Including ''VideoGame/SonicCD''[[/note]].
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'''s development is an example that had profound ramifications for Creator/{{Nintendo}}, Creator/{{Sony}} and [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]], as its fate is closely tied to the collapse of the UsefulNotes/{{SNESCDROM}}.

** The game went through massive cuts and reworking as a result of being forced onto the limited storage space of a cartridge. Director Koichi Ishii estimated that 40 percent of the game's content was axed in the transition, though most of the content and concepts cut from the game would find use in other Square [=RPGs=] such as ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' and ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana''. While the game was ultimately a success in both reviews and sales, the SNES CD-ROM incident and its impact on the game's development was a major catalyst behind Square's decision to sever its ties with Nintendo and partner with Sony, who would [[CreateYourOwnVillain turn the CD-ROM console idea into the wildly successful]] UsefulNotes/PlayStation. To add insult to injury, many of Squaresoft's games would prove to be major hits on Sony's system, most notably ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.

* ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' immediately emerged as one of the most anticipated horror games on the horizon after a demo called ''P.T.'' (for "'''P'''layable '''T'''easer") was released at Gamescom 2014 and [[NightmareFuel scared the pants off nearly everybody who played it]]. It was to be a ''Franchise/SilentHill'' game made by a team consisting of Creator/HideoKojima and Creator/GuillermoDelToro, with Creator/NormanReedus voicing the protagonist. Unfortunately, ''P.T.'' was all that ever came of the project, as production came to a halt several months later thanks to a bitter feud and falling out between Kojima and publisher Creator/{{Konami}}, with both Del Toro and Reedus confirming that the game was delayed indefinitely, if not outright canceled. Rumors briefly swirled that Microsoft was looking to buy the rights and restart production as an UsefulNotes/XboxOne exclusive, but those hopes turned out to be little more than wishful thinking. The experience (together with that of ''[=inSANE=]'', a previous video game project of Del Toro's that became {{vaporware}} when Creator/{{THQ}} went bankrupt) caused Del Toro to [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/08/14/guillermo-del-toro-vows-never-to-work-on-a-video-game-again swear off]] working on video games. Fortunately, some good did come of the experience, as Kojima and Reedus would later collaborate on ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'', with Del Toro making a cameo appearance within that game.

** Furthermore, the game was slated to come out on the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, but publisher Creator/{{Vivendi}} didn't want to spend much money on porting the game to a system with a limited install base, so they gave the job to just one person, lead programmer Cary Brisebois. Amazingly, he managed to convert all of the game's code to work on the [=GameCube=] in the few weeks he was given to port the game, though the fact that the port was entirely the work of one man shows in its ObviousBeta nature compared to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} versions.

** Despite the much more powerful UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 being the hot new thing at the time and the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast also having been out for a year, executives at both Fox Interactive and publisher Activision insisted on only releasing the game on the by then long-in-tooth [=PS1=], believing that they would have more market share among children if the game were released on the already established [=PS1=] instead of the [=PS2=]. The executives also asked for rather arbitrary cuts: An animated character select screen where the characters could heckle each other and trade blows before the start of the match was forced to be cut in favor of a much simpler select screen with no animations or banter between the characters. It was also apparently a delicate dance to even have the characters be shown exchanging blows (even in a wacky, cartoonishly exaggerated way) in the first place without causing the executives to demand changes to characters so they could not attack others.

** The first patch for the game arrived in November 2012, but only for [=PlayStation=] users (and from a different developer) -- UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade size limits prevented the patch from being released on the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}.

** At the same time this was going on, they were promoting their UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port for ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' with the DummiedOut content incorporated for free. However, the port was released with a GameBreakingBug (that was patched a month later) and a [[{{vaporware}} missed release window]] after promising a release for the Restored Content DLC sometime in Q3 2022, weakening players' faith in the remake even further.

* One would think that, as bad as ''VideoGame/{{Superman 64}}'' was, it was solely developer Titus' fault. However, in [[http://www.protonjon.com/blog/?p=48 an interview]] with Eric Caen, one of the founders of Titus, with LetsPlay/ProtonJon, it's revealed a lot of the reasons for the game's poorness was [[ExecutiveMeddling office and company politics]] with Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/DCComics towards Titus (the virtual reality world? They didn't want Superman kicking real people). In fact, Caen mentions that the game was "not even 10% of what they envisioned" and that while it ''was'' a money-maker, it hurt them in the long run because they were forced to cancel the UsefulNotes/PlayStation version of the game.

** Worst of all, however, was [[CreatorKiller what happened]] to Bob Davis. He had a long past of alcohol and drug abuse, but had become clean by the time he worked for On-Line. Unfortunately, by the end of ''Time Zone''[='=]s production, the money he made with ''Ulysses and the Golden Fleece'' led him to fall off the wagon big time, and soon he quit On-Line with the ambition of making his own games to sell to publishers. Alas, he could never do this without development tools to work with, even when sober... and even if he hadn't tried working with the UsefulNotes/Atari2600, one of the most infamously difficult platforms to code for. He lost his shirt and his marriage when the royalty checks dried up, he was reduced to constantly calling On-Line to try to get hired again (or, increasingly, to try to get money), and he ultimately ended up in jail after burning bridges all over his hometown by writing one bad check after another. His downfall would taint On-Line's memories of ''Time Zone'''s production, and haunt the company for many years after.[[note]]Fortunately, Davis' story has a happy ending: after years of training, he became the owner of [[http://ttltechs.com/about TTL]], an IT company in Hanford, CA.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/TheTombOfTheTaskMaker'', the sequel to the mid-1990s UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh RPG ''VideoGame/TaskMaker'', ended up being the undoing of its publishers, Storm Impact. After the success of Storm Impact's first two products (the first ''[=TaskMaker=]'' and a skiing game called ''VideoGame/MacSki''), the company's next two products (a debug program called ''Technical Snapshot'' and a space game called ''Asterbamm'') both failed to catch on. A publisher who kept losing money orders didn't help, neither did the rush to get ''Tomb'' out on time — the game has a huge number of cut corners, and version 1.0 just ''barely'' got out before Storm Impact went under. See more information [[http://web.archive.org/web/20040605131022/http://www.btinternet.com/~G.Janacek/Taskmaker.html#News here]] (Wayback Machine archive). The deciding factors were undercapitalization (Storm Impact was mostly just two guys), an inability to get the product out on time, a declining Mac market at the time, and considerable advances in computer gaming since the first ''[=TaskMaker=]'' came out.

** With Creator/CoreDesign's main team working on ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'', an underfunded new team was put in charge of the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series' [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames next-gen]] debut on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2. This team had no experience with the [=PS2=]'s exotic hardware, and spent a year just trying to figure out how to work with it. When Richard Morton, the lead programmer on ''Chronicles'', finished that game and went on to bring his team to work on ''The Angel of Darkness'', he was mortified at what he saw. He and his team had to dump the entire year's work and start from scratch.

* Creator/SiliconKnights hit its creative nadir with CEO Denis Dyack's pet project and self-considered masterpiece ''VideoGame/TooHuman''. It took second place to ''Duke Nukem Forever'' as the king of {{Vaporware}}: announced in 1999 and released in 2008, having effectively existed in three incarnations on three console generations (UsefulNotes/PlayStation[=/=]UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, and the final released product on UsefulNotes/Xbox360). It was cancelled the first time around by the original publishers (a partnership between Creator/ElectronicArts and Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer) for reasons unknown to even the developers, and sidelined the second time around due to too much workload with Nintendo. The reason why the Xbox 360 was ultimately chosen? Because Dyack, a man of graphics and technology, was utterly disgusted by the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} hardware's lack of horsepower and immediately burned bridges with Nintendo, believing that the Wii [[ItWillNeverCatchOn would be a failure]].\\\

* ''VideoGame/TurokEvolution'' ended up killing that series and contributing to the downfall of Creator/{{Acclaim}} due to troubles in development. Initially the development team intended to produce a direct follow-up to the events of ''Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion'', but the underwhelming critical response and poor sales of that game resulted in them deciding to instead make a prequel starring the first game's protagonist, Tal'Set. Development went smoothly for the most part, though the team were placed under the same two-year schedule as with the three prior games, which didn't help when they also had to transition to the new UsefulNotes/GameCube hardware, and then add in a version for the original UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} to maximise potential sales. Thing really started going wrong near the end of development, when Sony started making thinly veiled threats towards any publisher who was thinking of releasing a game on the other two consoles, but not the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, resulting in Acclaim grudgingly producing a quick-and-dirty [=PS2=] port, figuring that the franchise's previously Nintendo-exclusive status would mean the game would sell the most on the [=GameCube=]. Which ended up going completely pear-shaped when sales of the [=PS2=] version eclipsed those of the other two -- the [=GameCube=] version actually ending up selling the ''least'' of the three by some distance -- meaning that the enduring image that most were left with was of an ugly, slowdown-riddled, barely functional mess of a game. The other two versions, while not being reviewed as poorly, were still affected by this mess, as the need to produce a [=PS2=] port cut badly into the time the developers had to test, debug and optimise the game.

* Development on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn version of ''VideoGame/VirtuaRacing'' was somewhat difficult due to a lack of support from Sega, as chronicled in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjhDXStrFdc a 2021 video by YouTube channel "PandaMonium Reviews Every U.S. Saturn Game"]]. Instead of developing it internally as with the previous Genesis and 32X ports, Sega outsourced the Saturn ''Virtua Racing'' to American developer [[Creator/{{Atari}} Time Warner Interactive]], who were not given the game's source code, or indeed much reference material beside model data for the tracks and a loaned cabinet of the arcade original. Despite aiming it to be a launch title for the system, Sega did not initially provide them a Saturn devkit ''either'', which means that for the first few months of development, Time Warner Interactive had neither ressources for the source game or the target hardware, and until the team received its own devkit in December 1994, one employee had to stay at Sega of America's headquarters and work overnight on their spare hardware. When they did receive one, they found that the original "Sophia" kit was an unwiedly beast that lacked a debugger, so the solution was to carefully remove the CPU from it and emulate it by placing it in an Hitachi workstation. Not all was bad, however, as Sega exerted little oversight during development, allowing the developers to add a generous amount of extra tracks, cars and modes (indeed, still the biggest of any incarnation of ''Virtua Racing''). In the end, ''Time Warner Interactive's VR Virtua Racing'' got a cool reception at release due to its controls and physics being inaccurate to the arcade game and its graphics being massively outdated compared to the likes of ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA'', and still stands as easily the most [[ContestedSequel divisive]] release of the game.

* The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis port of ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'' was the work of a single, American first-party studio, Sega Midwest, which proceeded to churn out a PortingDisaster. But going by [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150415110512/https://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Interview:Jim_Reichert this developer interview with Jim Reichert]], it's a wonder the port was finished at all. The original programmer, supposedly a "wunderkind" at his trade, turned out to be a ConMan who defrauded Sega Midwest out of a huge chunk of money before vanishing. Thus the job was handed to a novice programmer, Reichert, who was forced to write the whole thing from scratch almost ''all by himself'' in an extremely short time. There was no one to test the game or help him port the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo graphics to the Genesis, he had to squeeze 82 megabytes into a 16 megabyte cartridge, and the only source code he had was a post-compilation assembly dump with no documentation whatsoever. He admits the final result was a PortingDisaster, but considers the fact that he managed to fit all the characters and their animations into the game, including the final boss, to be an impressive feat considering the circumstances.

** Numerous [[ScheduleSlip schedule slippages]] -- all of which documented on [[Trivia/YandereSimulator the game's Trivia page]] -- plagued development with delays. Among the reasons include [[https://twitter.com/YandereDev/status/686364522882306048 YandereDev's hard drive dying]] on January 10, 2016 (which fortunately didn't delete progress) and a trip to Anime Expo later in July 2016. [=YandereDev=] projected that the game would be released in 2015 with a Kickstarter project for higher production values and to get it on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}. The game is still at its alpha state since 2020.

** In September 2023, the game's development hit a significant roadblock for a rather disturbing reason; [=YandereDev=] was accused of sending sexual messages to a 16-year old girl, followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering pressuring her into retracting her claims, downplaying the incident, and attempting to prevent the release of a compilation of evidence documenting the accusations that she was initially cooperating with]]. Things took a turn for the worse when the aforementioned compilation of evidence was quickly copyright claimed by [=YandereDev=] -- under the alleged victim's real name and doxxing her in the process, [[NotHelpingYourCase a move that increased speculation from the general public that he was indeed guilty of what it accused him of]] as they questioned [[RevealingCoverUp why he would go to such extremes to avoid people from seeing the evidence unless it genuinely incriminated him]]. This merely lead to [[StreisandEffect the compilation being reuploaded by multiple other users]] and created a massive furor on social media such as Website/{{Tumblr}}, Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Reddit}}, that was enough for a mass exodus of voice actors such as Michaela Laws and Austin Hively (who voiced the main characters) from ''Yandere Simulator'''s development, several [=YouTubers=] who had [[LetsPlay frequently played the game]] to announce that they would now boycott it, a rather gradual decline of donations to [=YandereDev=]'s Patreon, and for Glowstick Entertainment to [[BuryYourArt voluntarily delist crossover DLC]] for ''VideoGame/DarkDeception: Monsters & Mortals''. This finally convinced [=YandereDev=] to make a blog post as an apology and donate to the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, which was regarded at best as a token effort to defend himself from the accusations, and at worst a thinly-veiled confession. Afterwards, [=YandereDev=] would announce that he would take an indefinite hiatus from development and additionally lower the game's scope once he resumed, only to almost instantly go back on his word and announce a rather large update implementing [[LevelEditor a custom mode]] for release in 2024, which did little to dissuade people from predicting that ''Yandere Simulator'' would eventually be cancelled, ending its development on a sordid note.

** In September 2023, the game's development hit a significant roadblock for a rather disturbing reason; [=YandereDev=] was accused of sending sexual messages to a 16-year old girl, followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering pressuring her into retracting her claims and downplaying the incident]]. Things took a turn for the worse when a compilation of evidence was copyright claimed by [=YandereDev=] -- under the alleged victim's real name and doxxing her in the process, [[NotHelpingYourCase a move that increased speculation from the general public that he was indeed guilty of what it accused him of]]. This merely lead to [[StreisandEffect the compilation being reuploaded by multiple other users]] and created a massive furor on social media such as Website/{{Tumblr}}, Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Reddit}}, that was enough for a mass exodus of voice actors such as Michaela Laws and Austin Hively (who voiced the main characters) from ''Yandere Simulator'''s development, several [=YouTubers=] who had [[LetsPlay frequently played the game]] to announce that they would now boycott it, and for Glowstick Entertainment to [[BuryYourArt voluntarily delist crossover DLC]] for ''VideoGame/DarkDeception: Monsters & Mortals''. This finally convinced [=YandereDev=] to make a blog post as an apology and donate to the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, which was regarded at best as a token effort to defend himself from the accusations, and at worst a thinly-veiled confession. Afterwards, [=YandereDev=] would announce that he would take an indefinite hiatus from development and additionally lower the game's scope once he resumed, which did little to dissuade people from predicting that ''Yandere Simulator'' would eventually be cancelled, ending its development on a sordid note.

** By Leyland's own admission, Big Ape, despite being a reputable name in the game industry, were out of their league trying to create a fighting game when they had previously largely developed 3D platformers and Zelda-esque top-down adventure games beforehand. Working with the weaker [=PS1=] quickly proved to be a chore for Big Ape as well: It was clear that the [=PS1=]'s hardware was not powerful enough to properly emulate the show's style and aesthetic without causing the game's performance to tank, especially since the outlines for the game's cel-shaded appearance were generated in real time (and real-time cel-shading on a [=PS1=] + the fast-paced gameplay and visually intensive stages = [[{{Catchphrase}} D'OH!!]]). Failing to help matters was development time being only a single year ([[ChristmasRushed so the game could be released in time for the 2000 holiday season]]) along with the game's inexperienced producer suddenly quitting in the middle of development, throwing the studio into chaos as the devs tried to restructure without them and causing the game's release date to be pushed back by four months. On top of this, the devs experienced communication issues with the show's writers and voice-actors when going to them for dialogue. The writers and [=VAs=], knowing they were writing and recording for a wrestling game and nothing more, repeatedly turned in scripts and dialogue that, according to both Leyland and level designer Michael Ebert, apparently would have been too graphic and vulgar for the TV show itself, let alone a video game based on it that was supposedly aimed at children. It took repeated attempts to tone the dialogue down to something that would be presentable in a video game that children were expected to be playing.

** The game finally saw release in 2011, where it received incredibly poor reviews from not only critics, but fans as well, who balked at the game for its weak graphics, numerous glitches, poor controls, and its obnoxious sense of humor. RWS would completely [[OldShame disown the game]] on their website, to the point where it was retconned in the ''Postal 2 Paradise Lost'' Expansion as a coma-induced fever dream by the Postal Dude. The game would also serve as [[CreatorKiller the killing blow to Akella]], who ultimately went defunct a year after the game's launch, no thanks to the game's abysmal sales, plus a massive lawsuit filed by the fired staff for unpaid royalties. RWS would eventually work on their own in-house ''Postal'' sequel, ''VideoGame/Postal4NoRegerts'', without any third party assistance. As for outsourcing, they wouldn't attempt that until 2021, when they contacted Hyperstrange to make ''VideoGame/PostalBrainDamaged'' as a spin-off as opposed to a mainline title.

** All of these factors led to the game falling spectacularly short of sales forecasts. The ''Tekken X Street Fighter'' game was quietly cancelled, while Capcom [[OldShame came to regret their DLC practices]] and made pains to not repeat those mistakes.

* "Troubled" doesn't even begin to describe the genesis of ''VideoGame/TattooAssassins'', Creator/DataEast's ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' [[FollowTheLeader clone.]] According to [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200203050923/http://gameological.com/2013/04/splattered-ink/ insider]] [[http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=tattoo-assassins&page=detail&id=2841 accounts,]] the idea was born when Creator/DataEast Pinball executive Creator/JoeKaminkow got a script treatment from ''Framchise/BackToTheFuture's'' Bob Gale[[note]]The two became friends during development of the [[Pinball/BackToTheFuture BTTF pinball]][[/note]] and decided to turn it into a game -- with a development schedule and budget that was '''less than half''' of the typical arcade game of the time. It bears repeating that this proposal, tight schedule, and low budget for an arcade game was given to a company focused ''exclusively on pinball machines'', not videogames. The developers were promised lucrative bonuses for making the deadlines, which resulted in 12-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week grinds. To make matters worse, the team was hamstrung by nonstop demands for additional fatalities, time was spent preparing demo prototypes for trade show demos, and the final hardware was far underpowered for the game's intended design. The playtesters had to be forced to test the game, while the developers simply wanted to finish it and move on -- and at the end of it all, the game was never released.

** The game was created by Creator/YasumiMatsuno as a spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' as a partnership alongside board game company Playdek with a goal of $600,000 and a release date of July 2015. Problems instantly arose when the game couldn’t make its required funding in time despite the big names attached (including composer Creator/HitoshiSakimoto and artist Akihiko Yoshida). That is until a Kotaku article by Jason Schreier got people’s attention and allowed it to reach its goal in time ([[OldShame something Schreier would later come to regret]]).

* ''VideoGame/PlaystationHome'', a virtual world created by Sony for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, effectively existed in a state of limbo for its entire lifespan. [[http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/29/the-untold-story-of-playstation-home-sonys-most-successful-disaster This article]] on Kotaku UK lays out the whole story of "Sony's most successful failure".

*** Despite this, Game Freak still faced massive difficulties with getting the game properly programmed, due to them having a lot of ideas that they didn't really know what to do with, and due to them having to reprogram much of the graphics to be compatible with the Game Boy Color in addition to the Super Game Boy, with both of these factors pushing the release date further back to November 1999. Even then, the game was in such a sloppy state that it seemed unlikely that it could be released at all; only half the game was finished yet it was close to maxing out the available cartridge space. Enter [[SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming genius programmer]] Creator/SatoruIwata, who stepped in and did a lot of much-needed fat trimming for ''Gold and Silver'', distilling the games' jumbled collection of ideas into a cohesive unit and optimizing and compressing the game data so well that Game Freak were able to add in almost the entirety of Kanto from Generation I. Only after this were Game Freak finally able to release ''Gold and Silver'' on November 21, 1999 in Japan.

* Following the disasterous launch of their [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the 2003 first-person shooter ''VideoGame/{{XIII}}'', French developer [=PlayMagic=] and publisher Creator/{{Microids}} issued [[https://www.microids.com/us/official-statement-by-microids-playmagic-regarding-xiii-us/ a joint statement]] blaming the COVID-19 pandemic and at-home working for the game's technical issues. [[https://www.fanbyte.com/features/inside-playmagic-the-studio-behind-the-disastrous-xiii-remake/ Several anonymous PlayMagic employees thought otherwise]].

** At launch, the ''XIII'' remake was critically savaged and [[https://www.thegamer.com/xiii-2003-sold-better-than-remake/ sold worse than the original game]]. Over a quarter of the credited staff left [=PlayMagic=], with Curgliano allegedly harassing them in retaliation. Two years later, Creator/{{Microids}} replaced PlayMagic with Tower Five, who released a free update that significantly improved the remake.

* ''VideoGame/TheTypingOfTheDeadOverkill'' [[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/203801/How_Typing_of_the_Dead_Overkill_survived_its_studios_apocalypse.php was developed under constant threat of cancellation]]: it began development with a deadline of four months at Blitz Games Studios, which went bankrupt before the game was completed, taking down Sega's original contract from the game with them. Afterwards, the developers negotiated for a new contract to release the game, which they got... with a measly deadline of six weeks. Due to not being employed, the staff had no choice but to become bedroom coders in a crowded apartment; fortunately for that one, Sega saw the location situation and granted the staff temporary office space at one of their subsidiaries. That it sold well with this history is a complete miracle.

* The development of ''VideoGame/{{Redfall}}'' was practically a [[HistoryRepeats repeat]] of the development of ''VideoGame/Anthem2019'', with Arkane Austin being ordered by Bethesda to produce a game that could leap on the live service boom that was kicked off by ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'', despite the studio's experience being mostly with "immersive sim" games such as ''VideoGame/Prey2017''. Development lacked a clear goal throughout, with the game directors being accused of seeming content to make things up as they went along, and the development team was sorely under-staffed for a game of the scope that Bethesda wanted. It got to the point where the developers were actively ''hoping'' that Microsoft would order the game scrapped or development to be rebooted when they bought out Bethesda, only for them to not only not order any real course-correction on the game, but to start hyping it up as the next big exclusive for the UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, which backfired big-time when the game released released to heavily underwhelming reviews.

** In September 2023, the game's development hit a significant roadblock for a rather disturbing reason; [=YandereDev=] was accused of sending sexual messages to a 16-year old girl, followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering pressuring her into retracting her claims]]. Things took a turn for the worse when a compilation of evidence was copyright claimed by [=YandereDev=] -- under the alleged victim's real name and doxxing her in the process, [[NotHelpingYourCase a move that increased speculation from the general public that he was indeed guilty of what it accused him of]]. This merely lead to [[StreisandEffect the compilation being reuploaded by multiple other users]] and created a massive furor on social media such as Website/{{Tumblr}}, Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Reddit}}, that was enough for a mass exodus of voice actors such as Michaela Laws and Austin Hively (who voiced the main characters) from ''Yandere Simulator'''s development, several [=YouTubers=] who had [[LetsPlay frequently played the game]] to announce that they would now boycott it, and for Glowstick Entertainment to [[BuryYourArt voluntarily delist crossover DLC]] for ''VideoGame/DarkDeception''. This finally convinced [=YandereDev=] to make a blog post as an apology and donate to the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, which was regarded at best as a token effort to defend himself from the accusations, and at worst a thinly-veiled confession.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]: Shadow of Chernobyl'' suffered from almost a decade of DevelopmentHell due to the developer GSC's grand ambitions battling with their own X-Ray Engine, along with near-endless feuding between publisher THQ and GSC on the road to becoming known as the Eastern European analogue to ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''. Originally announced in 2001 and not released until 2007, the result was an amateurish ObviousBeta. It eventually became VindicatedByHistory as a huge CultClassic, but it had quite a hard time getting there.
** What became ''Shadow of Chernobyl'' started as [[DolledUpInstallment a completely different game]] called ''Oblivion Lost'', and was originally intended to be a sci-fi game in a futuristic setting akin to ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' before GSC opted to put the game in a more grounded setting. Some on the team were apprehensive about the game's setting, as the effects from the [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} Chernobyl disaster]] was very much still in recent memory and they didn't want to [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents make light of it]] by using it as a setting.
** The team's wild ambitions constantly ran afoul of reality. Initially planned as a realistic and massive open world game with cutting edge AI and photorealistic graphics, the team regularly fought against the X-ray game engine, which was less than well suited for the monumental task asked of it. Many of their prototyped gameplay ideas proved to be unworkable as various mechanics fought against each other, such as drivable vehicles clashing with the deadly anomalies in levels. In late December 2003, a pre-alpha build of the game was leaked to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. This build, marked as version 1096, inadvertently acted as a fully functional tech demo of ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'''s engine, despite its lack of NPC enemies and fauna.
** A version of the game dubbed Build 1935 was the closest the game got to its original ambitions. Despite being in a near feature-complete (albeit ''very'' buggy) state, much of this build's content was axed due to issues with the engine and THQ [[ExecutiveMeddling demanding a more linear, story-driven game upon being shown the build]]. This forced GSC to hastily cut the game's story to pieces, and thanks to the issues with the engine and amount of cut content, the game was delayed multiple times for almost two years by THQ, while GSC frantically tried to make the messy remains of the project into a playable game. This build would later be released in 2009 by GSC to the community.
** Additional problems followed in 2005, when some members of the development team, most notably Oles' Shiskovtsov and Aleksandr Maksimchuk who had worked on the X-ray engine, were becoming frustrated with the constant delays, workplace conflicts and abysmally low pay. THQ's representative at GSC, Dean Sharpe, [[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-07-28-dean-sharpe-sent-to-save-stalker?fbclid=IwAR30X-KSnth6hKV-1aEPAz1gnPslShaZjuEgI2OOJ-VXUIsQnAS57b08PTA faced language barrier issues and open hostility from the development team]], with one incident leading to a physical altercation between himself and a developer. His attempts to get the game focused and cut down to something releasable also made him a target of scorn and death threats from the community. These factors ultimately resulted in a mass exodus from the company on October of that year, with many of the former GSC developers forming 4A Games to begin work on ''VideoGame/Metro2033''. Sharpe, despite his icy relationship with many of the GSC development team, would himself move to 4A and eventually become its CEO. Sergei Grigorovich would later accuse 4A of stealing assets and engine code from ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' for ''Metro 2033'', though no legal action was taken.

** ''Clear Sky'' suffered even worse from this, as the ''entire X-Ray Engine'' was retooled for [=DirectX=] 10 support halfway through development with only a ''year'' of development time. The final result was a somehow ''even worse'' ObviousBeta than ''Shadow of Chernobyl''; the game shipped as a near-unplayable mess of glitches, awful optimization/performance, insanely unbalanced NintendoHard gameplay that flew headfirst into FakeDifficulty, and bugs - including several bugs that [[GameBreakingBug made the game impossible to finish]]. Thankfully, ''Call of Pripyat'' was much smoother and the result was the most polished game in the series.

** According to different sources, the first incarnation of the game was in development after ''Call of Pripyat'', but Creator/GSCGameWorld was facing serious financial difficulties as well as having trouble finding a publisher for the game. Internal conflicts within GSC were becoming increasingly severe. GSC's CEO, Sergei Grigorovich, was becoming dissatisfied with the direction that the game was taking, ultimately leading to [[CreatorKiller the studio shutting down]] in December 2011. What little remained of the game's staff desperately continued their work ''without receiving any financial compensation or pay for several months''. They tried to find new investors and a publisher to finance the project, but Grigorovich still wanted to hold onto the ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' license and forbid the development team to continue work on the game, which forced the remaining staff to finally kill off the project in April 2012. Most of the remaining development team would thereafter go on to found a new company called Vostok Games that began work on a multiplayer free-to-play SpiritualSuccessor called ''Survarium'', while Grigorovich and some other old GSC workers went on to re-establish GSC in December 2014 and announced in May 2018 that the game was back in development. In the meantime, they released ''[[VideoGame/{{Cossacks}} Cossacks 3]]''.
** Even then, it has been far from an easy road. Initially given a release date of 2021, it was pushed back to April 2022 and then [[https://www.polygon.com/22880013/stalker-2-delay-release-date-2022-xbox December 2022]]. In December 2021, GSC announced plans for in-game Non-Fungible Tokens, only to be met with such backlash that [[https://www.polygon.com/22841151/stalker-2-nft-content-canceled-reaction they retracted such plans with an apology]]. And then in February 2022, [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/stalker-2-dev-based-in-ukraine-gives-an-update-amid-russia-attacks/1100-6501214/ development was suspended]] due to the UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n military invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}. One of the developers, Volodymyr Yezhov, was confirmed to have been killed in battle in December 2022. Development resumed in the UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic.

** Yet the problems were not over, as in October 2021 [=YandereDev=] attempted to dissuade fears that he was incapable of handling 10 rivals (which he had planned from the beginning of development) by releasing 1980s Mode, complete with its own batch of unique rivals. [[HistoryRepeats Once again]], the new mode launched with a plethora of [[GameBreakingBug severe glitches]] despite his insistence that he tested the game beforehand, most notoriously save file corruptions. Almost the entirety of October was dedicated to bug-fixes, and many continued to be skeptical regarding ''Yandere Simulator'''s future.
** In September 2023, the game's development hit a significant roadblock once [=YandereDev=] was accused of sending sexual messages to a 16-year old girl, followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering pressuring her into retracting her claims]]. Things took a turn for the worse when a compilation of evidence was copyright claimed by [=YandereDev=] -- under the alleged victim's real name and doxxing her in the process. This created a massive furor on social media such as Website/{{Tumblr}}, Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Reddit}} that was enough for voice actors such as Michaela Laws and Austin Hively (who voiced the main characters) to quit ''Yandere Simulator'''s development. This finally convinced [=YandereDev=] to make a blog post as an apology, which was regarded at best as a token effort to defend himself from the accusations, and at worst a half-veiled confession.

** In September 2023, the game's development hit a significant roadblock once [=YandereDev=] was accused of sending sexual messages to a 16-year old girl, followed by [[JuryAndWitnessTampering pressuring her into retracting her claims]]. Things took a turn for the worse when a compilation of evidence was copyright claimed by [=YandereDev=] -- under the alleged victim's real name and doxxing her in the process. This created a massive furor on both Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Reddit}} that was enough for voice actors such as Michaela Laws and Austin Tively (who voiced the main characters) to quit ''Yandere Simulator'''s development. This finally convinced [=YandereDev=] to make a blog post as an apology, which was mostly regarded as a token effort to defend himself from the accusations.

** Yet the problems were not over, as in October 2021 [=YandereDev=] attempted to dissuade fears that he was incapable of handling 10 rivals (which he had planned from the beginning of development) by releasing 1980s Mode, complete with its own batch of unique rivals. [[HistoryRepeats Once again]], the new mode launched with a plethora of [[GameBreakingBug severe glitches]] despite his insistence that he tested the game beforehand, most notoriously save file corruptions. Almost the entirety of October was dedicated to bug-fixes, and many continue to be skeptical regarding ''Yandere Simulator'''s future.

* "Troubled" doesn't even begin to describe the genesis of ''VideoGame/TattooAssassins'', Creator/DataEast's ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' [[FollowTheLeader clone.]] According to [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200203050923/http://gameological.com/2013/04/splattered-ink/ insider]] [[http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=tattoo-assassins&page=detail&id=2841 accounts,]] the idea was born when Creator/DataEast Pinball executive Creator/JoeKaminkow got a script treatment from ''Film/BackToTheFuture's'' Bob Gale[[note]]The two became friends during development of the [[Pinball/BackToTheFuture BTTF pinball]][[/note]] and decided to turn it into a game -- with a development schedule and budget that was '''less than half''' of the typical arcade game of the time. It bears repeating that this proposal, tight schedule, and low budget for an arcade game was given to a company focused ''exclusively on pinball machines'', not videogames. The developers were promised lucrative bonuses for making the deadlines, which resulted in 12-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week grinds. To make matters worse, the team was hamstrung by nonstop demands for additional fatalities, time was spent preparing demo prototypes for trade show demos, and the final hardware was far underpowered for the game's intended design. The playtesters had to be forced to test the game, while the developers simply wanted to finish it and move on -- and at the end of it all, the game was never released.

** Then, in February 2021, it was announced [[https://www.bloodlines2.com/en/bloodlines-2-development-update that Hardsuit Labs was no longer in charge of the project]], and the game was nearly scrapped entirely before being handed to a yet-unnamed developer. Paradox pushed the game back past 2022, and suspended pre-orders until a new release window could be confirmed.

** What ultimately killed [=BigSky=], in addition to running out of money, was that a friend of a former [=BigSky=] developer confided that he was in a meeting with Jeff Lapin (who at that point had transferred to Creator/TakeTwoInteractive shortly before the game was released) and he overheard that Jeff had ''blacklisted the entire company'' to spite them for refusing to join THQ. With [=BigSky=] no longer receiving any replying phone calls from publishers to release their future video games (such as the upcoming ''Terminal Code''), the studio would lay off its employees before closing down in March 2003.

** What ultimately killed [=BigSky=], in addition to running out of money, was an instance where one former member had a friend who worked with Jeff Lapin, then CEO at THQ, who bragged that [=BigSky=] didn't want to work with THQ (who wanted to buy them out), leading to Lapin ''blacklisting the entire company''.

* ''Videogame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' was a massive SleeperHit. So creating a successor in ''Videogame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' ended up being very complicated for Game Freak.
** For starters, ''Gold and Silver'' were originally developed as Game Boy games, with UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy compatibility and a set release date of "late 1997." Enough of the game was completed for a demo at Spaceworld 1997, and from hacking the leaked ROM of the demo, one can observe how much of a mess things were in this state. Hardly any of the gym leaders were programmed into the game, the Kanto region had been heavily distilled into a single map, and many other features were not anywhere close to completion. This, combined with the impending release of the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor in 1998, forced Game Freak to delay the games to June 1999, something they didn't announce until March 1998, three months after the original release year lapsed.
** Despite this, Game Freak still faced massive difficulties with getting the game properly programmed, due to them having a lot of ideas that they didn't really know what to do with, and due to them having to reprogram much of the graphics to be compatible with the Game Boy Color in addition to the Super Game Boy, with both of these factors pushing the release date further back to November 1999. Even then, the game was in such a sloppy state that it seemed unlikely that it could be released at all; only half the game was finished yet it was close to maxing out the available cartridge space. Enter [[SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming genius programmer]] Creator/SatoruIwata, who stepped in and did a lot of much-needed fat trimming for ''Gold and Silver'', distilling the games' jumbled collection of ideas into a cohesive unit and optimizing and compressing the game data so well that Game Freak were able to add in almost the entirety of Kanto from Generation I. Only after this were Game Freak finally able to release ''Gold and Silver'' on November 21, 1999 in Japan.
** The sheer chaos of the games' development is highly unusual and a much-talked-about subject among analysts, as not only did it mark the only time Game Freak delayed a mainline Pokémon game, but it also marked one of the most dramatic revamps of a Pokémon game from the initial drafts to the final release. The delays in development are also notable in that they forced the staff behind ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' to improvise around the games' constantly-shifting release date, creating a FillerArc with the Orange Islands to ensure that the show could still keep running during the roughly two-year gap between the intended and actual release dates.

* ''VideoGame/SoulSaga'', which was initially pitched as a classic turn-based JRPG, had a very difficult development. Originally conceived in 2008 with 2D graphics, Mike "Disastercake" Gale was dissatisfied with what he had and made a Website/{{Kickstarter}} campaign in 2013 to make the game 3D, which raised over 3 times its 60k goal. Intended for a 2014 release, it faced several delays due to Mike's ever-changing vision of what the game should be like, leading to things like his wife divorcing him due to [[{{Workaholic}} his obsession with working on the game]] and him becoming homeless and having to work from his car. Not helping was a GameBreakingBug that was completely the fault of the UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} game engine, meaning Mike could do nothing but wait until a new version of the engine came out without that issue. [[EpisodicGame Episode 1]] of ''Soul Saga'' would only see release (in Early Access form) in 2020, where it ended up getting negative reviews, mainly due to being too different from what was initially promised.

* ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsRevengeOfTheFlyingDutchman'' encountered a multitude of issues during its development, as covered in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCECvC3iaVo this video]].

** Things began to fall apart shortly afterwards. Alongside having to create a design document that needed to be approved by series creator Stephen Hillenburg and Nickelodeon, Kalisto USA began to run into technical problems regarding the engine developed by their parent company, who had to constantly update the code in order to properly do anything at all. Both ''[=SpongeBob=]'' and ''Jimmy Neutron'' teams were constantly running into roadblocks, leading to their French parent company having to provide constant updates. There were points where both teams couldn't even make progress because Kalisto France never saw this as a big issue. Producer Billy Joe Cain described in a 2019 interview (around 11:43 in the video) the issues of having to wait for updates to the engine, with one notable instance where, upon calling the French office, Cain and the rest of the USA crew found out that they were taking the entirety of August off. In addition, to stay afloat, Kalisto outright ''begged'' the USA team just for a piece of the money the USA crew were making on development.

** With the deadline to finish the game approaching, certain ideas were scrapped. Notably, the [=GameCube=] version was to have functionality with the GBA version, where the Flying Dutchman's treasures would be found with the GBA serving as a radar; the final version uses the [=GameCube=]'s rumble function for this, with the remnants being left in the code.
** Things only got worse from there on out, as the relationship between THQ and [=BigSky=] became strained during development. Initally, they were kind to let them continue working on the project, since they were so deep into development they couldn't hand it off to a different developer. Later, however, THQ began to pay them less and less, to the point where it would come down to the last ''hour'' before the bank closed. This greatly stressed management to the point where they were ''begging'' THQ for funds until the ''last possible minute''. The entire development team became tense due to crunch time, and issues would rear their ugly heads. When September 11th happened, Cane sent everyone home, which was a huge blow to morale. On top of that, one of the lead designers lost his grandfather, who lived in Japan, and had to be gone for a whole week. This didn't sit well with one of the producers at THQ, who went ballistic.
** During development, [=BigSky=] realized that none of the publishers they contacted were calling back, which meant that the only way they were getting funds was when ''[=SpongeBob=]'' shipped, which was only a few weeks away. This meant that even more members were laid off, with some only working on it on an off-and-on basis. With all this in mind, it's amazing that the game was finished, let alone released.
** Problems continued to affect [=BigSky=] after release. An infamous glitch that occured in the [=PS2=] version where the game would be stuck on the loading screen, which would lead to the game saves being corrupted or even outright deleted was a result of a soft reset tactic that they had to work around due to Sony's draconian policy about loading screens being longer than six seconds.

** Mismanagement plagued the game and the company at large. The release of ''VideoGame/RAIDWorldWarII'' while ''Payday 2'' was still receiving regular content updates, left many at Starbreeze confused as to why they were competing against their own game, which helped ''RAID'' drop to a mere 40 concurrent players within three months of release. Starbreeze spent tens of millions on Virtual Reality projects, nearly all of which failed.
** On the game itself, producers would make wild demands for features based on the latest games they had seen, such as ''Franchise/FarCry'' and ''VideoGame/DyingLight''. The showcase at E3 2018 had management assuring the team that reactions to the game were glowingly positive, even as team members saw news and videos showing that actual impressions had been lukewarm at best. The team was forced to work up to 100 hours a week during the last months of development to get the game done by the deadline, severely affecting the mental and physical well-being of many working on the game. By the end of development, the team had been thoroughly disillusioned about the quality of the game.
** When the game released in November 2018, it staggered out as an ObviousBeta that was panned for being riddled with glitches and various online issues, and others criticized the game's pacing and gunplay. Expected to sell millions of copies, it fell disastrously short of Starbreeze's expectations and Starbreeze's stock price went into freefall. The company would continue to be rocked by bad news throughout the year as the beginning of December saw Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson leave his post as the company announced it was [[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-12-03-things-are-looking-grim-for-starbreeze-after-overkills-the-walking-dead-flop filing for reconstruction]]. Two days later, Starbreeze would have their offices [[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-12-05-arrest-made-in-starbreeze-office-raid raided by police]], who arrested at least one person and confiscated multiple computers on suspicion of insider trading. In February 2019, Starbreeze had the license to ''The Walking Dead'' [[https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/the-walking-dead-creators-kill-overkills-the-walking-dead-game-1203150365/ ripped away]], removing the game from digital storefronts and cancelling planned releases on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. In the aftermath of ''The Walking Dead''’s disastrous failure, Starbreeze came dangerously close to [[CreatorKiller shutting its doors entirely]], and would only regain stability after a year of restructuring, selling off most of its assets, and resuming active development for ''VideoGame/Payday2 ''[[note]]which had ceased new content releases in anticipation of ''The Walking Dead''[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' immediately emerged as one of the most anticipated horror games on the horizon after a demo called ''P.T.'' (for "'''P'''layable '''T'''easer") was released at Gamescom 2014 and [[NightmareFuel scared the pants off nearly everybody who played it]]. It was to be a ''Franchise/SilentHill'' game made by a team consisting of Creator/HideoKojima and Creator/GuillermoDelToro, with Creator/NormanReedus voicing the protagonist. Unfortunately, ''P.T.'' was all that ever came of the project, as production came to a halt several months later thanks to a bitter feud and falling out between Kojima and publisher Creator/{{Konami}}, with both Del Toro and Reedus confirming that the game was delayed indefinitely, if not outright canceled. Rumors briefly swirled that Microsoft was looking to buy the rights and restart production as an UsefulNotes/XboxOne exclusive, but those hopes turned out to be little more than wishful thinking. The experience (together with that of ''[=inSANE=]'', a previous video game project of Del Toro's that became {{vaporware}} when Creator/{{THQ}} went bankrupt) caused Del Toro to [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/08/14/guillermo-del-toro-vows-never-to-work-on-a-video-game-again swear off]] working on video games. Fortunately, some good did come of the experience, as Kojima and Reedus would later collaborate on ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'', with Del Toro confirmed to be making a cameo appearance.

* That sequel, ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines2'', has had its own development hit by major troubles, including [[ScheduleSlip repeated delays]] and a revolving door of creative leads.
** It was announed early on that Creator/ChrisAvellone, long respected by western RPG fans for writing games like ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', had been brought on by developer Hardsuit Labs. This helped sooth fears that the game's writing would not live up to the original... until 2020, where Avellone was among a slew of industry figures accused of sexual harassment and assault. Paradox [[https://www.vg247.com/2020/06/22/chris-avellone-bloodlines-2-dying-light-allegations/ wasted no time cutting ties with Avellone]], stating that his contributions would be immediately removed. Reports vary about how much he had contributed to the game; Paradox officially stated it was minor, but others have suggested he had written major parts of the game prior to his removal.
** Bad news continued through 2020 as Lead Narrative Designer Brian Mitsoda, a lead developer from the first ''Bloodlines'' who had pitched ''Bloodlines 2'' in the first place, was abruptly let go (to his own frustration and surprise), along with Creative Director Ka'ai Cluney[[note]]who according to reports had fought the hardest behind-the-scenes to get Mitsoda onboard the project in the first place[[/note]] after putting five years of work into the project. Ironically, Mitsoda had been the central figure throughout ''2'''s entire marketing campaign; Paradox used his person extensively to advertise it at cons and engage consumers. The official word was that his work remains despite his departure, but this disheartening news had a souring effect in the ''Bloodlines'' community all the same.

** Then, in February 2021, it was announced [[https://www.bloodlines2.com/en/bloodlines-2-development-update that Hardsuit Labs was no longer in charge of the project]], and the game was being handed to a yet-unnamed developer. Paradox pushed the game back to 2022, and suspended pre-orders until a new release window could be confirmed.

** The development team as a whole was an undersized one, and the overworked team suffered from depression, anxiety, and exhaustion. There were multiple heated disagreements over the remaster's art style and scope, and the team was headed by Rob Bridenbecker, whose management was resented by the other developers because it was aggressive and inconsistant as Bridenbecker frequently took trips out of the country.

** The [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2016 2016]] game also had its own fair share of issues. Despite being announced in 2014 and coming out in 2016, the game only had about [[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/-i-ratchet-clank-2016-i-postmortem 10 months of development]] to coincide with the release of the [[WesternAnimation/RatchetAndClank2016 film]], along with having a smaller than usual budget. Not only did this lead to the developers being unable to hire more people to help out, they also had to cut corners, which included dropping levels from the original game, recycling weapons from previous games and omitting Skill Points altogether. They even had to resort to use data from the ''original [=PlayStation=] 2 game'' to save time, which was easier said than done due to them having lost the source code to the original games. Not helping matters was having to work off a movie that they had little involvement in with the main restriction being that they could only use a limited amount of footage from the film itself. Thankfully for everyone involved, the game went on to earn critical praise and became the fastest selling title in the series.

** Even then, it has been far from an easy road. Initially given a release date of 2021, it was pushed back to April 2022 and then [[https://www.polygon.com/22880013/stalker-2-delay-release-date-2022-xbox December 2022]]. In December 2021, GSC announced plans for in-game Non-Fungible Tokens, only to be met with such backlash that [[https://www.polygon.com/22841151/stalker-2-nft-content-canceled-reaction they retracted such plans with an apology]]. And then in February 2022, [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/stalker-2-dev-based-in-ukraine-gives-an-update-amid-russia-attacks/1100-6501214/ development was suspended indefinitely]] due to the UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n military invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}. One of the developers, Volodymyr Yezhov, was confirmed to have been killed in battle in December 2022.