History DarthWiki / FallenCreator

* Creator/FrankMiller was an icon of comics in the 1980s with his work on Daredevil and Batman, with ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' and ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' redefining the character in the eyes of the mass media. But during the '90s, Miller's creative owned work ''ComicBook/SinCity'' led to a massive change in his art style and his tone (already heavily inspired by FilmNoir) became overt with an added heaping dose of misogyny with the vast number of high profile ''Sin City'' stories that involved hookers or strippers. His later Batman work (''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain'' and ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'') were widely decried for bad writing, as Miller quickly tried to pass off his bad writing by [[ParodyRetcon claiming to be parodying]] his own earlier [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]]-inspiring Batman work. However, it was his work on ''ComicBook/HolyTerror'', a vehement anti-Muslim AuthorTract-filled political cartoon, that truly sunk his reputation as a writer. Nowadays, Miller's work is more heavily scrutinized and the few projects he's been attached to since ''Holy Terror'' have received lukewarm reception at best.
* Creator/MarkMillar was a young writer who got work in American comics thanks to the patronage of Creator/GrantMorrison and Creator/WarrenEllis. Taking over ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' just as the book began receiving mainstream buzz, he became one of the top writers in the US and his censorship fights with DC Comics over his run made him a ''cause celebre'' amongst comic fans. But the fame quickly went to his head and Millar became a complete and total douchebag, spewing self-promoting lies and showing complete and total contempt for anyone who didn't worship him as the next big thing. Further hurting was Millar taking a massive jump off the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism; his bloody works such as ''ComicBook/TheUnfunnies'', ''ComicBook/KickAss'', ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', and ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' featured SociopathicHero characters and StrawmanPolitical arguments, which had to be removed from the film adaptations. He was also the main writer behind ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' which featured massive CharacterDerailment, especially of ComicBook/IronMan, shamelessly took Bill Jemas's side in firing Mark Waid from the ''Fantastic Four'' when Waid refused to make the Fantastic Four more of a sitcom-type book for Jemas, and seems to have permanently burned bridges with his former mentor Grant Morrison, especially since Millar's work seems to wallow in the [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age tropes]] that Morrison despises.

* Throughout the 2000s, Creator/DanSchneider was touted as a pioneer of the modern KidCom genre, shifting children's TV towards mostly live-action programming for a tween audience with such hit shows as ''Series/AllThat'', ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', ''Series/Zoey101'', ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', all of which launched the careers of numerous celebrities. However, by the late 2010s, concerns grew over Schneider's behavior, especially after the [[TroubledProduction extremely controversial production]] of ''Series/SamAndCat''. His next series, ''Series/HenryDanger'', was a ratings success, but nowhere near the level of Nick's previous juggernauts, and later shows such as ''Series/GameShakers'' and the animated series ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfKidDanger'' failed to gain momentum. Finally, in early 2018, it was revealed Schneider had verbally and emotionally abused several of the teenaged stars of his shows, alongside dozens of accusations of sexualization of underage girls and collaborating with convicted pedophiles. Schneider's career was permanently destroyed after Creator/JennetteMcCurdy's memoir ''I'm Glad My Mom Died'' revealed more of the backstage stories on the shows she was in, as well as allegations from Creator/AmandaBynes (even indicating he had a role in her star-derailing addiction problems).

* Video game writer Masato Kato had a hand in a number of beloved classics in the 90s, including the NES ''Videogame/NinjaGaiden'' trilogy (the series primarily responsible for popularizing {{cutscene}}s and story in action games), ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' (one of the most beloved and highly acclaimed {{RPG}}s of all time), portions of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', and ''Chrono Trigger's'' controversial sequels, ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. General consensus is that his projects from the early 2000s onward (including [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI an MMORPG]] and several low-budget DS games) have been almost unilaterally underwhelming and forgettable.

* Richard "Lord British" Garriott, father of the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series, fell into this after the last iterations of the series felt short for many of his fans. He then spent eight years developing ''VideoGame/TabulaRasa'' as his personal project, which, after released, lasted a little more than a year online before being shut down. It didn't help that, while the game was failing, he seemed more interested in spending a large chunk of his personal fortune for his space trip in Autumn 2008. Now he is dedicated to doing Poker games for Website/{{Facebook}}.

* Hideo Baba was once a rising star producer in the RPG scene, directing the vastly successful ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Tales of Destiny R]]'' and becoming the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' brand manager after ''VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence''. However, his reputation began to slip after the Wii version of ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' shipped with many major [[GameBreakingBug Game Breaking Bugs]] and ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' and ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' were ChristmasRushed to meet the series' 15th anniversary. His reputation was then completely destroyed when ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' was thrashed for very controversial story decisions (and bugs) and Baba was seen to have thrown the game's voice actors under the bus at fan events to avoid personal criticism. After being KickedUpstairs out of his brand manager role, Hideo Baba left Namco Bandai altogether to join Square Enix, but two short years later left the video game industry completely after releasing no new games. Nowadays, Hideo Baba is best remembered for his failures rather than his successes, with the success of his earlier work being thought of to have happened despite his presence rather than because of it.

[[folder:Film - Directors]]

[[folder:Film - Actors]]

[[folder:Film - Other]]

* Throughout the 2000s, Creator/DanSchneider was touted as a pioneer of the modern KidCom genre, shifting children's TV towards mostly live-action programming for a tween audience with such hit shows as ''Series/AllThat'', ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', ''Series/Zoey101'', ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' and ''Series/{{Victorious}}''. Schneider's shows launched Creator/KenanThompson, Creator/MirandaCosgrove, Creator/DrakeBell and many others into stardom. While Schneider's shows were often criticized for their constant usage of [[DemographicallyInappropriateHumour off-color jokes]] and [[FootFocus an odd fondness for feet]] as humor, these complaints didn't affect the popularity of his shows. However, by the late 2010s, concerns grew over Schneider's behavior, especially after the [[TroubledProduction extremely controversial production]] of ''Series/SamAndCat'' led Nickelodeon to absorb his production company, Schneider's Bakery. His next series, ''Series/HenryDanger'', was a ratings success, but nowhere near the level of Nick's previous juggernauts, and later shows such as ''Series/GameShakers'' and the animated series ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfKidDanger'' failed to gain momentum. Finally, in early 2018, it was revealed Schneider had verbally and emotionally abused several of the teenaged stars of his shows, alongside dozens of accusations of sexualization of underage girls and collaborating with convicted pedophiles. Schneider's career was permanently destroyed after Creator/JennetteMcCurdy's memoir ''I'm Glad My Mom Died'' revealed more of the backstage stories on the shows she was in, as well as allegations from Creator/AmandaBynes (even indicating he had a role in her star-derailing addiction problems).

* Creator/EarlDuvall was one of two directors - the other being Creator/FrizFreleng - that helped get the Creator/WarnerBros cartoon studio back up and running after original directors Creator/HarmanAndIsing defected to MGM. He directed some pretty decent cartoons and was given the honor of directing the studio's first color cartoon. These days however, Freleng is widely regarded as one of the Godfathers of animation, while Duvall's name is just a footnote in animation history books, and the reason for this is that Duvall one day decided it'd be a great idea to get extremely drunk and demand that his pay packet be doubled. Needless to say, it wasn't - Duvall was instantly fired and never worked in the animation industry again.

* Many years ago, Creator/JohnLasseter was seen as one of the unsung heroes of animation, for helping start up the acclaimed animation studio {{Creator/Pixar}}, directing the critically-praised and influential ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', and introducing the west to the works of Creator/StudioGhibli. It got even better when he was promoted to chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2006, helping push the studio out of its AudienceAlienatingEra, as well as ending the much-maligned DirectToVideo Disney [[{{Sequelitis}} sequels]] that had plagued the market for the past decade. Then in late 2017, he had to take a leave of absence after it was revealed he had been sexually harassing the female staff members at Disney and Pixar, giving them inappropriate hugs, kisses, and gropes against their wishes. Many went from praising Lasseter to boycotting him and demanding Disney get rid of him. In 2018, this wish was granted, and he was finally released from the company in December of that year. However, a month later, it was announced that he was now heading Paramount's Skydance Animation, which drew much ire from the animation community, to the point where Creator/EmmaThompson ended up dropping from one of their projects. It's safe to say that Lasseter will never be able to live down any of this, and will never have the positive reputation he had long ago.
* Back in the 2000s, Creator/ButchHartman was one of Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s most celebrated creators for his work on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' and ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. However, Hartman's popularity would undergo a gradual decline in the 2010s, starting with the [[SoOkayItsAverage middling reception]] of ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'', ''The Fairly [=OddParents=]!'' sinking into SeasonalRot, and the critical indifference of ''WesternAnimation/BunsenIsABeast'', culminating in his departure from Nick in 2018. Later that year, Hartman started a UsefulNotes/{{Kickstarter}} for a streaming service called OAXIS Entertainment, which gained scrutiny for its lack of updates, as well as the revelation that all its programming would be pushing a Christian agenda. Combined with reports of unpaid royalties and a number of scandals surrounding his social media presence, many fans turned their backs on Hartman, and the early success of ''The Fairly [=OddParents=]!'' and ''Danny Phantom'' [[MyRealDaddy is now credited to Steve Marmel, a writer and producer on both shows]] who left Nickelodeon around the time the two shows began suffering SeasonalRot.

* Creator/JohnSingleton started his career out with a bang with ''Film/BoyzNTheHood'', which was a box office hit and got him UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director (he was the youngest to be nominated for the latter). After a number of acclaimed films in the 1990s, the changing box office climate in the 2000s made Singleton a dinosaur and forced him into making for-hire projects such as ''2 Fast 2 Furious''. One of the big reasons for his downfall was that Paramount [[http://www.tmz.com/2011/10/19/john-singleton-sues-hustle-and-flow-paramount-studios-lawsuit/?adid=recentlyupdatedstories apparently screwed him over]] after he made a deal with them for ''Film/HustleAndFlow'', basically they promised him two independent films, but they made it all but impossible for those films to get made. The bottom fell out in 2007 when he was in a car accident that caused him to accidentally kill a man (he was acquitted though), which led him to become a pariah in Hollywood. His first post-accident project was the critically mauled ''Film/{{Abduction}}'', and the other films he made before his death in 2019 similarly failed to re-capture the fame and glory of his early days.

* [[Creator/FattyArbuckle Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]] was one of the top film comedian/director/producers in the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood. After a scandal in 1921 where a woman died of kidney failure at a party Arbuckle held, and (unsubstantiated) rumors kindled by the press formed that Arbuckle raped the girl while she was unconscious, crushing her under his weight, his good-guy image fell hard. Arbuckle, even while acquitted in court, had to resort to working under pseudonyms as a movie director for the rest of his life. Neither he nor his career ever fully recovered from the rumors (tragically, he had reportedly just signed a film contract with Creator/WarnerBros that looked as though it might restore his reputation hours before his death in 1933), and the scandal was reportedly one of the catalysts of the passing of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode.

* Creator/WoodyAllen is a multi-talented actor, director, writer, and musician. (For example, he holds the record for most UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations for Best Screenplay -- fourteen.) First becoming famous as a stand-up comic in the 1960s, he went on to major film successes like ''Film/{{Sleeper}}'', ''Film/{{Bananas}}'', ''Film/AnnieHall'', ''Film/{{Manhattan}}'', and ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters'' (among others) in the '70s and '80s. His films began to decline in prestige and commercial success in the 1990s; in fact audiences favoring his "early, funny" films were already a problem for him in TheEighties. Unfortunately, he also had a massive scandal in his personal life that overshadowed much of his earlier work -- an affair with his long-time lover Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi. Because he had known the girl since she was seven, it didn't matter very much that she was 22 at the time they married and that she was a legal adult when the relationship is believed to have begun, thus dogging him with jokes about pedophilia ever since. This ended his relationship with Farrow and also estranged him from one of their biological children in the aftermath. It didn't help that the real-life scandal caused audiences and critics to be more judgmental about his [[AuthorAppeal tendency]] to romantically pair his characters in films with ones played by very young actresses, although he's far from the only Hollywood offender there. Allen's films continued to decline, with several massive flops in the late '90s and 2000s, with minor bright spots in 2005's ''Film/MatchPoint'', 2008's ''Film/VickyCristinaBarcelona'' and 2011's ''Film/MidnightInParis''. While he is prolific, with at least one new film each year since 1982, his glory days appear to be well behind him. It doesn't help that Woody Allen came out and supported Creator/RomanPolanski after the famous director was arrested for drugging and raping a thirteen year-old girl.

* Music/LaurynHill was already an established act with the hip-hop group Music/TheFugees when she released her commercially and critically successful solo album ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' (which won five [[UsefulNotes/GrammyAward Grammys]] including Album of the Year). However, about a year or two later, Hill had disappeared from the public eye. This was due in part to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. Hill briefly resurfaced with an "unpluggged" live album and a short-lived reunion with the Fugees (which in itself, ended badly due in large part to Hill's chronic tardiness and diva behavior). Also, by this time, Hill was in the news more for her controversial criticism of the Vatican (in reference to the molestation of boys by Catholic priests) than her music.

* Creator/{{Atari}} was the top video game manufacturer in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, with the Platform/{{Atari 2600}} cranking out hits of arcade ports and original games. Then came (among others) the disastrous [[VideoGame/ETTheExtraterrestrial E.T. video game]] and the [[PortingDisaster horrid port]] of ''VideoGame/PacMan'', leading up to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Atari was never able to recover fully after that--not with the Platform/{{Atari 5200}}'s wonky controller, the Platform/{{Atari 7800}} being drowned out by the NES, and the Platform/AtariLynx falling behind the Game Boy. It was finally the overhyped "64-bit" Platform/AtariJaguar and its even worse add-on, the Jaguar CD, that sent Atari to bankruptcy. A few years later, the Atari brand was bought by toy giant Hasbro; the current Atari in videogaming is a French studio formerly known as Infogrames.

* During UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, Creator/{{Dimps}}’s games were further praised for making quality Sonic games when the main console games [[AudienceAlienatingEra were declining in quality]]. Then came ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode I''. Suddenly, they took all of the blame for the game not truly being in the spirit of the original Genesis games, saying that Sonic Team alone should have made the game (cheerfully ignoring that it was the current leader of Sonic Team, Takashi Iizuka, that said he wanted it to be different from the original Genesis games). Afterwards, they somehow went from producing completely original Sonic games to [[ReformulatedGame Reformulated]] versions of Sonic Team's games, and now Dimps gets a lot of flack for producing some of the worst games in the entire franchise (most notoriously ''[[VideoGame/SonicGenerations Generations]]'' 3DS and ''[[VideoGame/SonicLostWorld Lost World]]'' 3DS), and even their earlier Sonic games like the ''VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy'' and ''VideoGame/SonicRush'' have received HypeBacklash.

* Artist Creator/RobLiefeld revived the struggling ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' comic, which transferred into the top selling ''ComicBook/XForce'' when Liefeld was given full creative control over the book in 1991. But royalty issues led to him abandoning the book after nearly a year and he went on to found Creator/ImageComics. There he launched the equally popular creator-owned series, ''ComicBook/{{Youngblood}}'', and inspired a slew of copycats as artists began aping his insanely popular style. But it all quickly evaporated for Rob; the HypeBacklash against him began with several high profile cases of [[ScheduleSlip books he was drawing shipping late]]. He alienated his fellow Image colleagues and split from the company and formed Awesome Comics, which folded after a couple of years of publication. Many of his characters were ripoffs of other characters or rehashes of his own, and his art work left something to be desired, to the point that "Liefeldian" has become a mocking term. Many of his popular characters are considered to have [[GrowingTheBeard grown the beard]] once in other hands. He has since rejoined Image Comics and returned home to Creator/MarvelComics, much to the disdain of fans of his characters such as ComicBook/{{Cable}} and ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, who have thrived under other writers who fleshed them out, and his involvement is treated with revulsion from fans, who [[MyRealDaddy prefer the way post-Liefeld writers have handled his Marvel creations.]]

* Creator/{{Atari}} was the top video game manufacturer in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, with the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} cranking out hits of arcade ports and original games. Then came (among others) the disastrous [[VideoGame/ETTheExtraterrestrial E.T. video game]] and the [[PortingDisaster horrid port]] of ''VideoGame/PacMan'', leading up to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Atari was never able to recover fully after that--not with the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 5200}}'s wonky controller, the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}} being drowned out by the NES, and the UsefulNotes/AtariLynx falling behind the Game Boy. It was finally the overhyped "64-bit" UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar and its even worse add-on, the Jaguar CD, that sent Atari to bankruptcy. A few years later, the Atari brand was bought by toy giant Hasbro; the current Atari in videogaming is a French studio formerly known as Infogrames.

* Creator/CoreDesign was a respected developer in the first half of the 1990s, especially on the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} (''VideoGame/BubbaNStix'', ''VideoGame/{{Banshee}}'', ''VideoGame/ChuckRock'', ''VideoGame/RickDangerous'', and more); they were also capable with the Sega CD (''VideoGame/{{Soulstar}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Thunderhawk}}''). In 1996, they hit big with ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' and also produced ''VideoGame/FightingForce'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectEden'' in the following years. However, ''Franchise/TombRaider'' had entered the new millennium already under {{Sequelitis}}, until the flop of ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]''. The series was handed over to Creator/CrystalDynamics, the studio sold over to Creator/{{Rebellion}} (but without its brand); it was finally closed in late 2009 after their last game, the abysmal ''VideoGame/RogueWarrior'', making such demise akin to a mercy killing.

* Creator/{{Interplay}}, Shiny's publisher up to ''Sacrifice'', owned a good number of successful franchises including said Shiny games, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'', ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' among many other things. Then in the 2000s, they mucked up with ''Fallout''. The end result? Interplay went bankrupt, and only managed to save its ass by selling the ''Fallout'' franchise to Creator/BethesdaSoftworks. Nowadays, they are only putting up games on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, and not much is heard of their planned sequel games. Interplay's descent into the shit began when they became publicly traded in 1998 and reported losses after the release of ''VideoGame/Descent3'' and ''VideoGame/FreeSpace 2''. Then a different company managed to buy a majority share of Interplay's stock in 2001. That company was Creator/TitusSoftware, headed by a pair of French hacks by the names of Eric and Herve Caen. Brian Fargo then left Interplay to the wolves. After the acquisition, Titus as a company went belly up because of their over expansion and shut down in 2004 while racking up huge debts because of owed back pay and redundancy to wholly owned development studios. Herve Caen named himself the new CEO of Interplay but their sky high debts ensured that they had no resources to produce new games. Herve Caen is still CEO of Interplay and the court battle between Interplay and Bethesda over ''Fallout'' licensing and the lack of progress on the ''Fallout'' MMO ''Project V13'' shows that Caen is still a talentless hack who can't produce results. ''VideoGame/{{FreeSpace}} 2'''s lackluster commercial faring probably didn't do it any favors either,[[note]]Though that was really more Interplay's ''own'' fault as [[ScrewedByTheNetwork they didn't even TRY to market it]] in spite of its critical praising; [[VindicatedByHistory it achieved most of its (now considerable) reputation years after its original release date]][[/note]] nor did the 2002 breakup of Volition and Interplay. The mediocre sales of the series killed the space sim market built by the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' and ''VideoGame/XWing'' series, which not even the Creator/{{Microsoft}} juggernaut could revive with ''VideoGame/{{Starlancer}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' (produced by the company ''Wing Commander'' creator Creator/ChrisRoberts created after leaving Origin, following [=WC4=]).

** Back during the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum days, they were known as Ultimate Play The Game (initially Ashby Computer Graphics), and their earlier works were all acknowledged as massive landmarks in gaming -- ''Jetpac'', ''Atic Atac'', ''Sabre Wulf'' (possibly the biggest selling game on the Speccy) and the seminal ''Knight Lore'', which introduced isometric graphics to the machine. Then came Filmation II. ''Nightshade'' and ''Gunfright'' were both toss, and the name was sold to U.S. Gold. Unfortunately. ''Martianoids'' and ''Bubbler'' were Ultimate games in name only, and the company soon disappeared, until the team behind Ultimate rebranded themselves as Creator/{{Rare}}.
** As Rareware, it produced games for various consoles like ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'', various movie-licensed games (like ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' and ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'') and ''R.C. Pro-Am''. Starting with ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' and ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo, Creator/{{Rare}} had become a successful Creator/{{Nintendo}} developer at its peak in the Nintendo 64 era, creating ''{{VideoGame/GoldenEye|1997}}'', ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'', ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' and its sequel ''Banjo-Tooie'', ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', ''VideoGame/JetForceGemini'', ''Donkey Kong 64'', and ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay''. Enter the UsefulNotes/{{GameCube}} era, and Creator/{{Rare}} created ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'', which is considered the [[OddballInTheSeries black sheep]] of the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series, if not completely without merit (in their defense, ''Adventures'' was the result of Nintendo doing some ExecutiveMeddling on what was to be ''Dinosaur Planet'' at the time). In the middle of production of ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'', Creator/{{Microsoft|Studios}} acquired Creator/{{Rare}}, moving it from being a successful Creator/{{Nintendo}} developer into a poster child for Microsoft. As a Microsoft developer for the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, Creator/{{Rare}} created ''Grabbed by the Ghoulies'', which is known as their biggest flop, and a remake of ''Conker''. It got a little better into the Xbox 360 era, with ''VideoGame/KameoElementsOfPower'' (a game they'd ''started'' working on before their fall) and ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'', and revived ''Banjo-Kazooie'' with ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' (albeit with mixed results, and fairly low sales), but not to their former glory. In the following years, they rebranded themselves as a developer for Kinect games in the style of ''Wii Sports''. This wasn't well received either.
* Creator/{{Sega}} is probably the shining example of the fall of a modern console maker. With the UsefulNotes/MegaDrive (the Genesis in the US), Sega experienced its golden age and proved to be a powerful competitor to Creator/{{Nintendo}}, and the system held up well even against the Super NES. However, the first signs of its fall started with the release of the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn. Due to numerous boneheaded marketing decisions, such as releasing the system four months earlier than scheduled and alienating third party developers and major retailers, the system flopped against the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation. Sega's true fall wouldn't come until the release of the Dreamcast, however. While the launch was hugely successful, sales dropped quickly and the release of the UsefulNotes/PS2 killed the Dreamcast (it was discontinued in early 2001, just 18 months after the American launch) and any hopes of anybody taking a Sega console seriously again. Since then Sega has not made a new console system and has been relegated as a third party game developer. It now produces games and franchises that were once Sega exclusives for its former competitors, Creator/{{Sony}} and Creator/{{Nintendo}}. Notably, the Dreamcast and Saturn are fondly remembered despite their failure and Sega has never been known to actively insult their fans like many of the creators here. Gamers are still glad they're around -- they just don't expect anything particularly groundbreaking from them anymore.

* Another victim of this is Creator/SiliconKnights, who was coincidentally another former Creator/{{Nintendo}} dev[[note]]Though technically, Nintendo still owns some stock in the company[[/note]]. The creators of the first ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' game, the acclaimed UsefulNotes/GameCube SurvivalHorror game ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness: Sanity's Requiem'' and well-done ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' remake ''The Twin Snakes'', their next game, ''VideoGame/TooHuman'', languished in DevelopmentHell. From jumping from [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation three]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube different]] [[UsefulNotes/Xbox360 consoles]] to an incredibly bloated budget ($60 million!) to a series of {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s between Epic Games, the finished product received mediocre reviews and rather bad sales, [[StillbornFranchise which put a damper on that trilogy they planned.]] ''VideoGame/XMenDestiny'' [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames fared no better with critics]], averaging around 50% on Metacritic [[note]]For the [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 versions, with the Wii and DS averaging around 30%[[/note]]. The reasons for the poor quality of the game have been disputed; [[http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/10/what-went-wrong-with-silicon-knights-x-men-destiny/ comments allegedly from former employees]] claim that the game was mismanaged by President Denis Dyack, who was taking the funding from Activsion and directing it towards work on a sequel to ''Eternal Darkness'' while prolonging Destiny's development for more money, while Dyack [[http://nichegamer.com/2015/05/denis-dyack-interview-part-1-yellow-journalism-and-what-really-happened-with-x-men-destiny/ refutes the allegations]] and lays the blame on [[ExecutiveMeddling a drastic decrease in funding]] due to Disney purchasing Marvel and resulting legal issues with Activision. The nail in Silicon Knights' coffin came when Epic Games won their countersuit and received a court order to recall and destroy ''Too Human'' and ''X-Men Destiny'' along with all games currently under development, ultimately leading to the studio's closure two years later.

* David Crane was one of the first game developers to become a household name, largely thanks to being the lead developer behind a number of well-loved UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} games, most notably the smash hit ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}''. After he left Creator/{{Activision}} however, Crane's career suffered its own pitfall. He and other former Activision employees formed Absolute Entertainment but, with few exceptions (most notably ''VideoGame/ABoyAndHisBlob''), the company churned out a series of bad and/or licensed games, mostly based on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', along with ''David Crane's Amazing Tennis'' (which most critics agreed was only amazing in how bad it was); he also collaborated to the infamous ''VideoGame/NightTrap''. Absolute collapsed in 1995 and, while he has never left the game industry (he has made a rather successful career out of advergaming), Crane has been under the radar since then.
* Trip Hawkins was the founder and CEO of Creator/ElectronicArts, which would become a giant in the video game industry, and contributed heavily to some of their most successful early games such as ''VideoGame/{{MULE}}'' and the first edition of ''[[VideoGame/MaddenNFL John Madden Football]]''. In 1991, he left Creator/ElectronicArts to form The 3DO Company, which would create the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer console of the same name]]. After the console bombed due to its ridiculous pricing, the company went third party and had some early success with the ''VideoGame/ArmyMen'' series, ''VideoGame/BattleTanx'' and the acquisition of the lucrative ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' [=IP=]. However, 3DO's habit of releasing [[ObviousBeta buggy and unfinished products]] and churning out [[{{Sequelitis}} bad sequels and spin-offs]] at an insanely fast rate long with numerous other bad decisions led them to crash and burn spectacularly, ending with the company filling for bankruptcy in 2003. After that, he founded the CasualVideoGame developer Digital Chocolate and while it is doing decently well, it's still a far cry from [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]]'s dominance, and he owes the Federal Bank more than [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2011/03/25/video-gaming-pioneer-trip-hawkins-is-still-on-the-hook-for-big-taxes/ $20 million]] due to avoiding paying taxes after the fall of 3DO.

* Manfred Trenz was responsible for many beloved UsefulNotes/Commodore64 classics such as the ''VideoGame/{{Turrican}}'' series, ''VideoGame/TheGreatGianaSisters'' and ''Katakis'', but his success practically died with the system. ''Rendering Ranger'', a fine SNES game he worked on, was inexplicably [[NoExportForYou published only in Japan]]. An attempt to revive ''VideoGame/{{Turrican}}'' in 3D failed. He formed his own studio, Denaris Entertainment Software, which then proceeded to make many [[SarcasmMode medium-changing masterpieces]] such as ''Crazy Frog Racers''.
* One of the more tragic examples -- Creator/GunpeiYokoi was a creative genius at Creator/{{Nintendo}} that was making successes even before Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto became the public face of the company. On top of being the inventor of the D-pad that all gaming controllers use to this day, he created the ''VideoGame/GameAndWatch'' series that broke Nintendo into home video games, and later replicated this with the UsefulNotes/GameBoy. Serving as a producer, he also oversaw the creation of ''VideoGame/Metroid1'', ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', ''VideoGame/DrMario'', and ''VideoGame/PanelDePon''. Then he made the Virtual Boy. The high-profile disaster of a system was discontinued within a year, by which time he had become ''persona non grata'' at Nintendo. Creator/{{Nintendo}} was notoriously cruel to the poor guy, too. After the Virtual Boy debacle, they made him man the booth at a trade show, which in Japanese corporate culture is considered entry-level work, and thus a severe insult to someone of Yokoi's stature. He eventually resigned and began development on the Japan-only handheld system, the [=WonderSwan=], which did go on to be a reasonable challenger to the Game Boy's domination in Japan. But sadly he didn't live to see it as he died suddenly in a traffic accident in 1997. After his death, Nintendo paid tribute to him and still recognize him to this day as an important figure in the company's history... and are kind enough to his departed soul to just forget the Virtual Boy ever happened.

* Creator/SonicTeam rose to success thanks to ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'', which was the only real challenge to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'s domination of {{platform game}}s in the 1990s, only for that success to come crashing down after Sonic [[VideoGame3DLeap went 3D]]. The [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure two]] ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Adventure|2}}'' games were seen as worthy additions to the series despite being plagued by fundamental problems, but ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' was [[BrokenBase divisive]], and the one-two punch of ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' wrecked Sonic Team's reputation. It also didn't help that the studio couldn't seem to resist shoehorning weird gimmicks into gameplay.[[note]]Some reviewers believe that ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' would've been the return to form Sonic needed if it weren't for [[ScrappyMechanic the Werehog gameplay]].[[/note]] Sonic Team appeared to come out of this status in the 2010s with ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' and ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' seeing success critically and commercially, before ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' and especially ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' put them back into Fallen Creator territory. The success of ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' has suggested a hopeful future, but it is unknown if this will stick.

* Creator/{{Atari}} was the top video game manufacturer in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, with the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} cranking out hits of arcade ports and original games. Then came the disastrous [[VideoGame/ETTheExtraterrestrial E.T. video game]] and the [[PortingDisaster horrid port]] of ''VideoGame/PacMan'', leading up to UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Atari was never able to recover fully after that--not with the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 5200}}'s wonky controller, the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}} being drowned out by the NES, and the UsefulNotes/AtariLynx falling behind the Game Boy. It was finally the overhyped "64-bit" UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar and its even worse add-on, the Jaguar CD, that sent Atari to bankruptcy. A few years later, the Atari brand was bought by toy giant Hasbro, and currently the name is used by numerous companies and only for marketing: most notably, the current Atari in videogaming is in fact French company Infogrames.

* Creator/SonicTeam rose to success thanks to Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, which was the only real challenge to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'s domination of {{platform game}}s in the 1990s, only for that success to come crashing down. The [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure two]] ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Adventure|2}}'' games were seen as worthy additions to the series despite being plagued by fundamental problems, but ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' marked the teetering edge of the abyss, ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' was made on the way down, and ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic 2006]]'' was the echoing crash of the series finally hitting rock bottom. It also doesn't help that Sonic Team couldn't seem to resist putting a weird gimmick into gameplay. [[note]]Some reviewers believe that ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' would've been the return to form Sonic needed if it weren't for the Werehog gameplay.[[/note]] Sonic Team's decline continued into the 2010s, with some games, such as ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' and ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', seeing success critically and commercially, while others, such as ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', and ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', being negatively received among fans. The 2020s, however, have suggested a hopeful future thanks to the success of ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers''.
* Creator/{{THQ}} was once a fairly respectable second tier publisher, with ownership of respected developers like Volition and Relic that gave us hits like ''VideoGame/RedFaction'', ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'', ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'', and more. Creator/{{THQ}} also made a very healthy profit developing licensed children's games. However, in order to emulate publishing giants Creator/{{Activision}} and [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]], Creator/{{THQ}} began buying up huge numbers of licenses and game developers without giving a second thought to how profitable their investments would actually be. Also, several high profile flops like ''VideoGame/RedFactionArmageddon'', ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' (not to be confused with the aforementioned Homeworld), and the ill-advised HD version of the [=uDraw=] tablet device bit into the company's dwindling cash reserves. Creator/{{THQ}} filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 9, 2012, and sold off its remaining properties a month later.

* Creator/JohnKricfalusi was regarded as influential in animation, with ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' being his breakout work. Unfortunately, his ideas are often all too crazy for the execs to tolerate. He got fired from Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} because of his late work, and his show was handed to Nick's Games Animation studio in its later seasons. When he got the chance to do the show again, it was from Creator/SpikeTV, whose executives asked for the content to be "more adult". Despite good ratings, it was cancelled after a month due to poor reception and continued production issues. By the 2010s, he was stuck creating animations for music videos and bumpers, as well as updating his blog, Blog/JohnKStuff. In 2018, it was revealed that Kricfalusi had sexually groomed his underage staff members and even kept child pornography on his computer. This, combined with his mistreatment of many crew members, destroyed his chances of making a comeback, culminating in his retirement from animation in 2020.

* During UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, Creator/{{Dimps}}’s games were further praised for making quality Sonic games when the main console games [[AudienceAlienatingEra were declining in quality]]. Then came ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode I''. Suddenly, they took all of the blame for the game not truly being in the spirit of the original Genesis games, saying that Sonic Team alone should have made the game (cheerfully ignoring that it was the current leader of Sonic Team, Takashi Iizuka, that said he wanted it to be different from the original Genesis games). Afterwards, they somehow went from producing completely original Sonic games to [[ReformulatedGame Reformulated]] versions of the Sonic Team's games, and now Dimps gets a lot of flack for producing some of the worst games in the entire franchise (most notoriously ''[[VideoGame/SonicGenerations Generations]]'' 3DS and ''[[VideoGame/SonicLostWorld Lost World]]'' 3DS), and even their earlier Sonic games like ''Sonic Advance'' and ''Sonic Rush'' now receive bile for being subpar.

* [[Creator/{{Sega}} Sonic Team]]. Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog used to be a worldwide icon and the only real challenge to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'s domination of {{platform game}}s. The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis entries in the series are still considered great games. Then Sonic went 3D. For most fans and critics, most of the 3D Sonic games have a [[CameraScrew bad camera]], broken controls, and too many characters, and Sonic Team has lost its old glory to them. It started with the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure two]] ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Adventure|2}}''s, which were worthy additions to the series despite being plagued by fundamental problems. ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' marked the teetering edge of the abyss, ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' was made on the way down, and ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic 2006]]'' was the echoing crash of the series finally hitting rock bottom. Since then, the franchise has been making significant progress at climbing back up, but it still struggles with the basics like camera controls, physics, glitches, and fair level design. It also doesn't help that Sonic Team can't seem to resist putting a weird gimmick into gameplay. [[note]]Some reviewers believe that ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' would've been the return to form Sonic needed if it weren't for the Werehog gameplay.[[/note]] ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' and ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' have improved their reputation a bit by now, presenting creative and ambitious game ideas in the series' trademark rough and fractured frame. ''Colors'' [[WinBackTheCrowd won back a sizable portion of the disillusioned fanbase]], ''Generations'' did pretty well for itself as well, and while ''Lost World'' is divisive, it's not terrible any way you cut it. There was also ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing]]''; while a ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' [[FollowTheLeader clone]] (well, more like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''VideoGame/OutRun''), the racing gameplay was actually praised by many to be ''better'' than that of ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' and the game was both a commercial and critical success.

* Creator/JohnKricfalusi was regarded as influential in animation, with ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' being his breakout work. Unfortunately, his ideas are often all too crazy for the execs to tolerate. He got fired from Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} because of his late work, and his show was handed to another studio only to crash after season 5. When he got the chance to do the show again, it was from Creator/SpikeTV, whose executives asked for the content to be "more adult", so it could stand next to ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' or ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Despite good ratings and reception, it was cancelled after a month due to John K managing to complete only 3 out of the 9 requested episodes on time. Nowadays, he currently posts on his blog about his influences, as well as his studies on animation and tutorials for fans wanting to learn how to do animation. And while he doesn't have much of anything kind to say about modern animation or modern stuff in general, he has his reasons for doing so (for the most part, anyway). In 2018, it was revealed that he had sexually groomed his underage staff members such as Katie Rice and Robin Byrd, and even kept child pornography on his computer. This, combined with his mistreatment of crew members such as Bob Camp and Creator/BillyWest, has lowered his chances of making a comeback from "unlikely" to "impossible", and with every studio refusing to accept his pitches thanks to these scandals, he is pretty much limited to working on his own personal blog.

* Creator/JohnRomero was a revolutionary. He helped design the ultraviolent masterpiece ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', and earned such respect there is a whole genre based on the TropeCodifier: {{First Person Shooter}}s. But, when the sodomy-threatening publicity for ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' came along, and [[{{Vaporware}} the game's release date was changed so much]] for what turned out to be a game so bad it is frequently described as one of the worst games ever, nothing has been the same. He lost his prestige, his company, his girlfriend, and even his hair. He eventually apologized over the ad and the quality of the game.

This can sometimes be caused by a combination of MisBlamed and hubris. The original good productions were a team effort, but one guy took all the credit and was recognized as the [[IAmTheBand sole genius behind the work]]. When the team breaks up and the sole spotlight hog sets out on his own, people quickly realize he's nothing without his team when he suddenly gets a string of failures. See also ProtectionFromEditors.

[[folder:Video Game Designers]]
* George Broussard was a pioneer of the {{shareware}} model of distribution with Scott Miller and their company Apogee Software (later Creator/ThreeDRealms); he saw his breakthrough in 1996 with ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', which was an incredible success. The he announced ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''... and the rest is (sad) history. Given [[http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_duke_nukem/ how he managed the whole fiasco]], only the most ardent fans still believe in him. Thanks to the efforts of Creator/GearboxSoftware and Randy Pitchford, [[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30260/InDepth_Pitchford_On_How_Gearbox_Got_To_Own_Duke_Nukem_Franchise.php his dream lived on]], but, alas, it was not to be - ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' hovered in the mid-40 percent range on [=GameRankings=] for the Xbox 360 and, most unfortunately, PC versions. The game was derided as being several years too late, looking and playing dated. The script was described as overly crude and even hypocritical - an early scene in the game has Duke turning down a suit of ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''-style power armour with derision, except he is now only able to carry two weapons and has a regenerating health bar... exactly like ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}''.
* David Crane was one of the first game developers to become a household name, largely thanks to being the lead developer behind a number of well-loved UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} games, most notably the smash hit ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}''. After he left Creator/{{Activision}} however, Crane's career suffered its own pitfall. He and other former Activision employees formed Absolute Entertainment but, with few exceptions (most notably ''VideoGame/ABoyAndHisBlob''), the company churned out a series of bad and/or licensed games, mostly based on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', along with ''David Crane's Amazing Tennis'' (which most critics agreed was only amazing in how bad it was); he also collaborated to the infamous ''VideoGame/NightTrap''. Absolute collapsed in 1995 and, while he has never left the game industry (he has made a rather successful career out of advergaming), Crane has been under the radar since then.
* Trip Hawkins was the founder and CEO of Creator/ElectronicArts, which would become a giant in the video game industry, and contributed heavily to some of their most successful early games such as ''VideoGame/{{MULE}}'' and the first edition of ''[[VideoGame/MaddenNFL John Madden Football]]''. In 1991, he left Creator/ElectronicArts to form The 3DO Company, which would create the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer console of the same name]]. After the console bombed due to its ridiculous pricing, the company went third party and had some early success with the ''VideoGame/ArmyMen'' series, ''VideoGame/BattleTanx'' and the acquisition of the lucrative ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' [=IP=]. However, 3DO's habit of releasing [[ObviousBeta buggy and unfinished products]] and churning out [[{{Sequelitis}} bad sequels and spin-offs]] at an insanely fast rate long with numerous other bad decisions led them to crash and burn spectacularly, ending with the company filling for bankruptcy in 2003. After that, he founded the CasualVideoGame developer Digital Chocolate and while it is doing decently well, it's still a far cry from [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]]'s dominance, and he owes the Federal Bank more than [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2011/03/25/video-gaming-pioneer-trip-hawkins-is-still-on-the-hook-for-big-taxes/ $20 million]] due to avoiding paying taxes after the fall of 3DO.
* Video game writer Masato Kato had a hand in a number of beloved classics in the 90s, including the NES ''Videogame/NinjaGaiden'' trilogy (the series primarily responsible for popularizing {{cutscene}}s and story in action games), ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' (one of the most beloved and highly acclaimed {{RPG}}s of all time), portions of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', and ''Chrono Trigger's'' controversial sequels, ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. General consensus is that his projects from the early 2000s onward (including [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI an MMORPG]] and several low-budget DS games) have been almost unilaterally underwhelming and forgettable.
* Creator/KeijiInafune got his start at Creator/{{Capcom}} in the 1980s, and quickly made a name for himself as the "father" of the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' franchise.[[note]]Although he has said that his co-worker at the time, Akira Kitamura, deserves credit for actually designing Mega Man.[[/note]] He moved up the ladder to executive producer, and [[Franchise/ResidentEvil many]] [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry classic]] [[VideoGame/{{Onimusha}} franchises]] were created under his watch. By the time of the seventh generation of video games, Inafune grew sick of [[CapcomSequelStagnation Capcom's sequel policies]]; thanks to that, as EP he made sure that games like ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' and ''VideoGame/LostPlanet'' went so over budget that they couldn't be cancelled in favor of more sequels to existing titles. Another thing that got him in thin ice was his hostility towards Japanese game developers for not adapting to HD hardware and the tastes of western gamers; all this caused him to leave Capcom by 2010, triggering the cancellation of the highly-anticipated ''Mega Man Legends 3'' in 2011.\\
As soon as Inafune left Capcom, he founded a new studio called comcept, and raised a staggering 4 million USD in a Kickstarter campaign for his first new major product, ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'', a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Mega Man''. The game was first announced for a late 2014 release, then went through endless delays until it was released in June 2016. By the end of it all, ''Mighty No. 9'' was widely derided as an [[TheMockbuster ugly, uninspired knockoff]] rather than the SpiritualSuccessor it was meant to be.\\
\\
Not helping was Inafune's utter abuse of Kickstarter as a crowdfunding platform: not only did he announce a KS campaign for a CGI cartoon of the character, but also another one for English voice acting ''and'' yet another for the ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends''-esque ''VideoGame/RedAsh''--and that last one meant nothing anyway, as it was already being fully funded by the Chinese studio FUZE Entertainment. All this had the gaming public question if Inafune was genuine in his efforts or a greedy con man.\\
\\
Eventually it was discovered that not only did he personally order the shutdown of Capcom's beloved Creator/CloverStudios, but his harsh statements on Japanese devs not adapting to Western tastes caused development of the [[BrokenBase highly]] [[DarkerAndEdgier controversial]] ''VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry''. All of the above, along with the failure of ''Mighty No. 9'' and the mediocre reception of ''VideoGame/ReCore'' has given Inafune a reputation as Japan's counterpart to Creator/JohnRomero.
* American [=McGee=] began as a level designer of the first two ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' installments, and later gave us ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'', his own grim take on a certain Creator/LewisCarroll classic and became an overnight superstar with even talks of movie deals for the property. Since then, he's never been anywhere near as popular, with his subsequent works being mostly ignored (''VideoGame/{{Scrapland}}'' got a [[SoOkayItsAverage lukewarm reception]] from players and critics, and ''VideoGame/BadDayLA'' was a pure trainwreck). ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesGrimm'' got a small amount of press and has done reasonably well on [=GameTap=], but still has yet to achieve the critical or commercial success that ''Alice'' had, which might explain why he chose to create a sequel, ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', which has received reviews ranging from fairly positive to lukewarm, although it can hardly be credited as a full return to form.
* Brad [=McQuaid=], the original lead developer for ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'', got most of the credit for the initial success of ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}} 1''. When his company, Verant Interactive, was absorbed by Creator/{{Sony}}, [=McQuaid=] was dropped. At this point, he had the implicit loyalty of ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' fans. He began ostentatiously working on ''Vanguard: Saga of Heroes'', with people waiting anxiously. The end result? A game so high-end that most computers couldn't handle it, almost no high-end content, and all the flaws of the old-school ''[[VideoGame/{{Everquest}} EQ]]'' with few of the good points. His name is now reviled by the same people who once exalted him, and to rub salt in the wound, ''Vanguard: Saga of Heroes'' was also bought out by Creator/{{Sony}}.
* This happened with ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' of all things. Henk Rogers, the man originally responsible for exporting ''Tetris'' out from the former Soviet Union, decided sometime around late 2005 to standardize ''Tetris'' games in what originally seemed to be an attempt to avoid DamnYouMuscleMemory in future releases via ExecutiveMeddling. Unfortunately, the resulting revised Tetris Guideline was based entirely on ''Tetris Worlds'', a version that wasn't all that popular (or good) to begin with, and was so overly restrictive that it basically forced future games to be snowclones of ''Worlds''. In addition, The Tetris Company has a tendency to send out cease-and-desist letters for anything unlicensed even vaguely resembling Tetris, even for game elements which ''the US Supreme Court has ruled cannot be covered by copyright'' ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_v._Borland Lotus v. Borland]]), while the Tetris Guideline was a licensing requirement, which meant the only games which dared to defy the Tetris Guideline were {{Fan Remake}}s and frequently hit by C&D's. This quickly resulted in a PortingDisaster of ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster ACE'' because the staff had to rewrite a ton of stuff to match the behavior of ''Tetris Worlds'' (and replacing various staples of the ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'' series in the process). The Tetris Company and Rogers have been declining on the PR front ever since. It doesn't help that Rogers loves to brag about how rich he's gotten from Tetris basically every time he makes a media appearance, accidentally furthering his own image as a CorruptCorporateExecutive.
* Richard "Lord British" Garriott, father of the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series, fell into this after the last iterations of the series felt short for many of his fans. He then spent eight years developing ''VideoGame/TabulaRasa'' as his personal project, which, after released, lasted a little more than a year online before being shut down. It didn't help that, while the game was failing, he seemed more interested in spending a large chunk of his personal fortune for his space trip in Autumn 2008. Now he is dedicated to doing Poker games for Website/{{Facebook}}.
* Creator/JohnRomero was a revolutionary. He helped design the ultraviolent masterpiece ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', and earned such respect there is a whole genre based on the TropeCodifier: {{First Person Shooter}}s. But, when the sodomy-threatening publicity for ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' came along, and [[{{Vaporware}} the game's release date was changed so much]] for what turned out to be a game so bad it is frequently described as one of the worst games ever, nothing has been the same. He lost his prestige, his company, his girlfriend, and even his hair. He eventually apologized over the ad and the quality of the game.
* Bill Roper was praised as the genius behind ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' and ''Diablo 2''. He quit Creator/BlizzardEntertainment due to what many suspected was a conflict about the direction of ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', taking most of the Diablo staff with him. He founded Flagship Studios and went to work on ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'', a game that was expected to be so successful that things like separate executables for single player and multiplayer (to prevent hacking), a comic, a series of statues with a price tag approaching four figures and a whole separate free game (''Mythos'') created ''[[TechDemoGame just to test the network infrastructure]]'' seemed appropriate. The actual game was rushed out the door after a very long development cycle and was a massive flop due to underdeveloped content and an insane amount of bugs. The company later went bankrupt. He then went to work with Creator/CrypticStudios, but the collaboration was amidst a period of serious difficulties for the developer and lasted less than two years. After a period of hiatus, it seems he's going to work with a branch of Disney Interactive that will deal with Creator/MarvelComics' properties.
* Manfred Trenz was responsible for many beloved UsefulNotes/Commodore64 classics such as the ''VideoGame/{{Turrican}}'' series, ''VideoGame/TheGreatGianaSisters'' and ''Katakis'', but his success practically died with the system. ''Rendering Ranger'', a fine SNES game he worked on, was inexplicably [[NoExportForYou published only in Japan]]. An attempt to revive ''VideoGame/{{Turrican}}'' in 3D failed. He formed his own studio, Denaris Entertainment Software, which then proceeded to make many [[SarcasmMode medium-changing masterpieces]] such as ''Crazy Frog Racers''.
* One of the more tragic examples -- Creator/GunpeiYokoi was a creative genius at Creator/{{Nintendo}} that was making successes even before Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto became the public face of the company. On top of being the inventor of the D-pad that all gaming controllers use to this day, he created the ''VideoGame/GameAndWatch'' series that broke Nintendo into home video games, and later replicated this with the UsefulNotes/GameBoy. Serving as a producer, he also oversaw the creation of ''VideoGame/Metroid1'', ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', ''VideoGame/DrMario'', and ''VideoGame/PanelDePon''. Then he made the Virtual Boy. The high-profile disaster of a system was discontinued within a year, by which time he had become ''persona non grata'' at Nintendo. Creator/{{Nintendo}} was notoriously cruel to the poor guy, too. After the Virtual Boy debacle, they made him man the booth at a trade show, which in Japanese corporate culture is considered entry-level work, and thus a severe insult to someone of Yokoi's stature. He eventually resigned and began development on the Japan-only handheld system, the [=WonderSwan=], which did go on to be a reasonable challenger to the Game Boy's domination in Japan. But sadly he didn't live to see it as he died suddenly in a traffic accident in 1997. After his death, Nintendo paid tribute to him and still recognize him to this day as an important figure in the company's history... and are kind enough to his departed soul to just forget the Virtual Boy ever happened.
[[/folder]]

* Creator/BlizzardEntertainment was once hailed by the fandom as one of the premiere Western video game developers. Some of their accomplishments include two RealTimeStrategy juggernauts that truly left their marks in the world and media in general: ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' series[[note]]The former's later story iterations revolutionized on how people viewed the formerly AlwaysChaoticEvil [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orc race]], while the latter ended up becoming [[SeriousBusiness a national sport]] for [[UsefulNotes/SouthKorea a country]] for its time[[/note]], and the dark Western RPG ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series. They also created the biggest and most profitable MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame title ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', a game whose status as the most played game in the world was unmatched for decades. Their entry to the TradingCardGame and HeroShooter genres, ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' and ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', were greatly praised. Even with several setbacks, they always managed to get back up (such as the ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' launch or several poorly received ''[=WoW=]'' expansions). Unfortunately, by 2018, they started to show a lot of continuous cracks that eventually destroyed the image of the company once referred as 'can do no wrong':
** During Blizzcon 2018, completely ignoring that their player base are mostly Westerners with little interest in mobile, they decided to use that grand event to announce a mobile game based on ''Diablo'': ''Diablo Immortal'', teaming up with Creator/{{NetEase}}, while responding to player concerns with mockery such as "Do you guys not have phones?" This event was so negatively received that fans started fearing that Blizzard has been pandering so much to China (at that point under the rule of UsefulNotes/XiJinping and the CCP) instead of their loyal fans in the West.
** In 2019, during a ''Hearthstone'' tournament, pro-player Blitzchung, a Hong Kong native, made a political statement to support Hong Kong protesters against China's takeover. While it was a breach of the rules, [[DisproportionateRetribution Blizzard went out of its way to punish Blitzchung by banning him from tournaments, taking away his prizes and also banning his casters.]] Many players were disgusted at this and committed a mass deletion of their accounts (and Blizzard even at one point prevented them from being able to delete their accounts). Even Nintendo cancelled their promotion of the ''Overwatch'' port on the Nintendo Switch and offered refunds to those who bought its Switch port. One of its characters, Mei, was turned into an anti-CCP symbol by the fandom. While Blizzard hit the brakes for a bit by lessening Blitzchung's punishment, the damage has been done.
** In 2020, Blizzard launched a remaster of one of their classics, ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III Reforged'', only for the game to be an extreme ObviousBeta, not giving what was promised in the trailers that had been hyped up since the previous year, coming with a lot of controversial terms of service, screwing over original owners of the game (by forcefully replacing the older, more stable version with the buggy version), and when Blizzard was forced to issue a public apology, it was considered 'half-hearted' and not serious. The game went on to be one of the worst rated games ever in the history of the internet and was considered by the older fans as the proof of how disconnected the modern Blizzard was with the beloved classic Blizzard.
** 2021 has been considered the lowest point, as Blizzard got hit with a lawsuit which revealed that they have such an abusive workplace environment based on a FratBro culture that includes in a female worker being harassed repeatedly until she committed suicide because of it. Before they sorted it out, Blizzard got hit with ''another'' lawsuit that condemned them for making light of their workplace environment. It didn't help when they were found out to be shredding evidence. At that point, whatever attempts Blizzard made to restore their reputation became hollow, and disgruntled fans and content creators jumped ship from their games into their rival games (chiefly ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''). Even worse, many key figures in the company decided to resign (or were fired to avoid further controversies), resulting in delays on some of their big projects (''VideoGame/DiabloIV'' and ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} 2'') that they could have used as redeeming points. Their attempt at an AuthorsSavingThrow, ''VideoGame/DiabloII Resurrected'', ended up being OvershadowedByControversy, and many of their e-sports scene sponsors pulled their support from Blizzard to the point [[https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/11/04/why-is-everyone-talking-about-activision-blizzard/ it became one of the lowest revenue-making companies under Activision.]]
** In the end, the once mighty Western Video Game Developer was eventually seen as a husk of its former self with none of the beloved old guard remaining, only filled with greedy people only interested in money and showcasing the problems within the modern AAA game industry. Since 2018, not a single year passed by without a serious controversy involving Blizzard, making them appear to be addicted to controversies that they self-destructed. [[note]]An old statement in regard to how many MMORPG games hyped as ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''-killers usually ending up failing goes like this: "The only thing that could kill ''[=WoW=]'' is Blizzard itself". It proved prophetic.[[/note]] Disgruntled fans now chant one of the phrases Blizzard games used to cite during its climax to describe the fallen company: [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft "At long last, no King rules forever."]]
* Creator/CoreDesign was a respected developer in the first half of the 1990s, especially on the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} (''VideoGame/BubbaNStix'', ''VideoGame/{{Banshee}}'', ''VideoGame/ChuckRock'', ''VideoGame/RickDangerous'', and more); they were also capable with the Sega CD (''VideoGame/Soulstar'', ''VideoGame/Thunderhawk''). In 1996, they hit big with ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' and also produced ''VideoGame/FightingForce'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectEden'' in the following years. However, ''Franchise/TombRaider'' had entered the new millennium already under {{Sequelitis}}, until the flop of ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]''. The series was handed over to Creator/CrystalDynamics, the studio sold over to Creator/{{Rebellion}} (but without its brand); it was finally closed in late 2009 after their last game, the abysmal ''VideoGame/RogueWarrior'', making such demise akin to a mercy killing.

* The team who did ''{{VideoGame/GoldenEye|1997}}'' left Creator/{{Rare}} shortly after it was done to start Free Radical Design. Their first title was ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters'', which was lauded for continuing what ''[=GoldenEye=]'' started, but was met with some critique, like the lack of story. Their follow-up was ''Timesplitters 2'', which [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel rectified all the problems of the first game and overall polished it]]. The game was a huge success and still to this day has a hardcore cult following. After that came the very underrated ''VideoGame/SecondSight''. But their next title would be the third ''Timesplitters'' game. This one faced some problems, seeing as it was trying to be a bit more of a standard FPS similar to ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'', instead of the more classic ''[=GoldenEye=]'' feeling of 1 and 2, but was still a huge hit. Their next title would be ''VideoGame/{{Haze}}'', a game that was bashed to hell by critics and led to Free Radical announcing bankruptcy in the end of 2009 and laying off most of their employees (by ''locking them out of the building'' with no prior announcement), but the core members became [[VideoGame/FarCry Cry]][[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} tek]] UK.
* Creator/{{Interplay}}, Shiny's publisher up to ''Sacrifice'', owned a good number of successful franchises including said Shiny games, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'', ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' among many other things. Then in the 2000s, they mucked up with ''Fallout''. The end result? Interplay went bankrupt, and only managed to save its ass by selling the ''Fallout'' franchise to Creator/BethesdaSoftworks. Nowadays, they are only putting up games on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, and not much is heard of their planned sequel games. Interplay's descent into the shit began when they became publicly traded in 1998 and reported losses after the release of ''VideoGame/Descent3'' and ''VideoGame/FreeSpace 2''. Then a different company managed to buy a majority share of Interplay's stock in 2001. That company was Creator/TitusSoftware, headed by a pair of French hacks by the names of Eric and Herve Caen. Brian Fargo then left Interplay to the wolves. After the acquisition, Titus as a company went belly up because of their over expansion and shut down in 2004 while racking up huge debts because of owed back pay and redundancy to wholly owned development studios. Herve Caen named himself the new CEO of Interplay but their sky high debts ensured that they had no resources to produce new games. Herve Caen is still CEO of Interplay and the court battle between Interplay and Bethesda over ''Fallout'' licensing and the lack of progress on the ''Fallout'' MMO ''Project V13'' shows that Caen is still a talentless hack who can't produce results.\\
\\
''VideoGame/{{FreeSpace}} 2'''s lackluster commercial faring probably didn't do it any favors either,[[note]]Though that was really more Interplay's ''own'' fault as [[ScrewedByTheNetwork they didn't even TRY to market it]] in spite of its critical praising; [[VindicatedByHistory it achieved most of its (now considerable) reputation years after its original release date]][[/note]] nor did the 2002 breakup of Volition and Interplay. The mediocre sales of the series killed the space sim market built by the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' and ''VideoGame/XWing'' series, which not even the Creator/{{Microsoft}} juggernaut could revive with ''VideoGame/{{Starlancer}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' (produced by the company ''Wing Commander'' creator Creator/ChrisRoberts created after leaving Origin, following [=WC4=]).
* Creator/{{Konami}} used to be a beloved video game studio and publisher of some of the most respected video game series, including ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', and ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' amongst their titles while also having a very strong arcade presence and inventing the ever famous KonamiCode. At the eighth console generation, everything just went down the drain on this company:
** Signs of problems had been detected in 2012, when they continued to dissuade and restrict the director of the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series, Koji Igarashi, from continuing to develop the {{Metroidvania}} games that had not been profitable since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin''. In response to this, Igarashi departed from the company after [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia the next game]] and years later went on to create his own studio and make a SpiritualSuccessor of the {{Metroidvania}}-style games, which achieved great success.
** Around the same time, Konami also started making decisions that slowly alienated their fans. These included announcing the cancellation of the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' reboot that was meant to be directed by Creator/HideoKojima, as well as acquiring Hudson Soft (creator of the iconic ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'' series) but doing nothing with their titles, letting them rot.
** 2015 exacerbated the issues further with their decision to seriously scale back AAA-Video Game development and focus on Pachinko and Mobile games, alienating gamers and even their own staff. After the release of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', which was mired with development conflicts, Konami fired the franchise's creator Creator/HideoKojima and barred him from receiving the awards that the game won.
** Then news spread that Konami had been absolutely making its video game division's life a complete hell by working with them, with the employers likening it to being sent to prison and made worse when another news spread that the current CEO of Konami admitted to never playing video games before taking the position. The fandom went into justified rage of learning this mistreatment to their video game division.
** As Konami went on, old beloved franchises like ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' were given pachislot titles, the former having very questionable features and marketing strategy (titled ''[='=]Castlevania Erotic Violence[='=]'' with tons of gratuitous fanservice shots) and the latter, after the debacle with Kojima and the video game division staves, went on to become the third most disliked video in all Youtube history.
** By 2016, people have forgotten Konami's influence in early gaming history and it is seen as nothing more than [[MoneyDearBoy a money-grubbing]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive greedy corporation]] that continued to insult video gamers by unapologetically making games that no gamers liked and considered by many to be as one of the worst video game companies ever, matching even Creator/ElectronicArts. [[VideoGame/MetalGearSurvive Any attempts by them to]] WinBackTheCrowd usually backfired. At best, it's a complete laughing stock to western gamers, and at worst, it generates bitter rage amongst all gamers.

** As Konami went on, old beloved franchises like ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' and ''Franchise/MetalGear'' were given pachislot titles, the former having very questionable features and marketing strategy (titled ''[='=]Castlevania Erotic Violence[='=]'' with tons of gratuitous fanservice shots) and the latter, after the debacle with Kojima and the video game division staves, went on to become the third most disliked video in all Youtube history.

* Creator/{{Konami}} used to be a beloved video game studio and publisher of some of the most respected video game series, including ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', ''Franchise/MetalGear'', and ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' amongst their titles while also having a very strong arcade presence and inventing the ever famous KonamiCode. At the eighth console generation, everything just went down the drain on this company:

* Rock & roll pioneer Music/ChuckBerry enjoyed one last top 40 hit with 1972's "My Ding-a-Ling". However, Berry didn't help himself by, shortly thereafter, stopping recording and strictly doing the oldies circuit (with a different backing band each night because he didn't want to hire anyone full time and figured everyone knew his songs). Ironically, Peter Tosh's cover of "Johnny B. Good" stormed the charts in 1983, two years prior to the smash success of ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. Unfortunately, Berry himself received negative publicity for being caught filming women using the toilets in his St. Louis eatery. At his death in 2017, he was still remembered mostly for his pivotal contributions to early rock & roll than for anything he had done in the preceding half-century.

* Writer/director Creator/JohnHughes was the man who practically defined 1980s pop cinema. He hit it big right out of the gate with his teen-oriented smash-hits like ''Film/SixteenCandles'', ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'', and ''Film/PrettyInPink''. He hit a plateau with ''Film/PlanesTrainsAndAutomobiles'' and began a slow slide downward with mediocre but more dramatic films like ''Film/SomeKindOfWonderful''. He had his last major success with ''Film/HomeAlone1'' and [[Film/HomeAlone2LostInNewYork its sequel]], before bombing with a string of lowbrow flops in the '90s, including ''Film/CurlySue'', ''Film/BabysDayOut'', the SoOkayItsAverage ''Film/HomeAlone3'', and a major holiday flop with his ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'' remake; his biggest hits were the live-action ''Film/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' and ''Film/{{Flubber}}'', the remake of classic Disney film ''Film/TheAbsentMindedProfessor''. ''Flubber'' was a critical disaster, but still financially successful. After 2001, he wrote scripts for the direct-to-video ''Film/{{Beethoven}}'' sequels and a couple minor hits (''Film/MaidInManhattan'' and ''Film/DrillbitTaylor'') under the pseudonym of "Edmond Dantes" until his death in 2009.

This can sometimes be caused by a combination of MisBlamed and hubris. The original good productions were a team effort, but one guy took all the credit and was recognized as the [[FaceOfTheBand sole genius behind the work]]. When the team breaks up and the sole spotlight hog sets out on his own, people quickly realize he's nothing without his team when he suddenly gets a string of failures. See also ProtectionFromEditors.

* Former Creator/{{Disney}} [=CEO=] Michael Eisner was brought in by Roy E. Disney after the first "Save Disney" campaign in 1984. Eisner took Disney to the major market force that exists today -- returning it to higher-budget films, creating the Touchstone division for adult-oriented material, and pushing for the much-lauded Disney Renaissance that revived animated films after the false start of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron''. He believed in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' and brought new interest to the golden age of animation, while getting Disney into television animation (resulting in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', etc.). But when Disney's president Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash just before the release of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' in 1994, long-time studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg expected to be promoted to fill Wells's position. When Eisner refused and forced Katzenberg to resign, he left the studio to found Creator/{{Dreamworks}}, whose [[Creator/DreamworksAnimation animation arm]] became a major competitor to Disney's. The promotion of Eisner's friend Michael Ovitz to the position was a disaster that upset most of the shareholders. Disney's new films, shows, and theme parks began to tank one after another in the late '90s and early 2000s -- accused of becoming formulaic, obsessed with TheMerch, and in the case of the parks outright lazy and cheap, while the ''old'' animated films were hit hard by DirectToVideo {{Sequelitis}}. Eisner was also famous for being a control freak. He rejected the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' franchise, hated ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' which were immense hits for Creator/{{ABC}}, all while pushing his own project which was basically "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne as a sitcom. Eisner burned enough bridges that even ''Creator/{{Pixar}}'' was ready to end their long partnership. In the wake of this, Roy E. Disney resigned from the board of directors and started a second "Save Disney" campaign to get rid of Eisner, who resigned under extreme pressure in 2005. Bob Iger, rebuilt the bridges with Pixar, among other things, and while his reign as CEO did face several criticisms (most notably the start of Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes), the company as a whole became more financially successful than they had ever been. Eisner's guest-hosting stint on ''Series/TheCharlieRoseShow'' not long after his ouster led to him getting a regular talk-show on CNBC; he continues to expand into Internet production and he bought the Topps baseball company.

This can sometimes be caused by a combination of MisBlamed and hubris. The original good productions were a team effort, but one guy took all the credit and was recognized as the sole genius behind the work. When the team breaks up and the sole spotlight hog sets out on his own, people quickly realize he's nothing without his team when he suddenly gets a string of failures. See also ProtectionFromEditors.

* Creator/KevinSmith
** He is almost permanently in danger of heading this way since the mid-2000s in spite of his rather rabid fanbase. After a mostly succesful ten-year career making indie comedies, his attempts to make movies outside of Film/TheViewAskewniverse have usually been met with mixed-to-negative reactions. ''Film/JerseyGirl'' was loathed even by his die-hard fans (his statements that the film [[NotScreenedForCritics wasn't for critics]] didn't help either). Then ''Film/ClerksII'', another View Askew work, made the fans happy again for a while. And despite the again-lackluster box office returns, ''Film/ZackAndMiriMakeAPorno'' was critically well-received. However, ''Film/CopOut'', the first film which he directed but did not write, was critically panned and is only remembered for the documented HostilityOnTheSet with Creator/BruceWillis. ''Film/RedState'', a religious horror film outside of Smith's usual forte, was once again well-received, especially because of Michael Parks' performance as [[SinisterMinister Pastor Abin Cooper]]. His subsequent films, ''Film/{{Tusk}}'' and ''Film/YogaHosers'' have again been met with either disinterest or derision. He's also attracted some negative attention due to his poor handling of an incident with Southwest Airlines and a bizarre self-adulating stunt over the distribution rights to ''Red State''.
** His occasional comic book writing for both DC and Marvel has also generated criticism for his controversial handling of several different characters ([[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]] editors have since admitted that they didn't rein in Smith like they would've for other writers) and ScheduleSlip.

* In the late '80s and early '90s, Creator/LucBesson was an internationally acclaimed filmmaker whose movies ''Film/TheBigBlue'', ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'', ''Film/TheProfessional'' and ''Film/TheFifthElement'' continue to be popular with audiences and critics alike. Then he started focusing more on producing and writing action movies such as the ''Film/{{Taxi}}'' and ''Film/{{Taken}}'' franchises, which were increasingly panned by critics despite being box offices successes. However, he lost even that when he directed ''Film/ValerianAndTheCityOfAThousandPlanets'' and ''Film/{{Anna}}'' and both turned out to be {{Box Office Bomb}}s. These days, he is dismissed by most French critics as a once-talented sellout who writes and produces loud, dumb and cliché-ridden action movies.

* Creator/JohnMcTiernan was one of the biggest action directors of the late 1980s and early '90s with films such as ''Film/DieHard'', ''Film/{{Predator}}'', and ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober''. It was pretty hit or miss after that with ''Film/MedicineMan'' and ''Film/LastActionHero'' both underperforming and getting mixed reviews. [=McTiernan=] made "good again" by returning to direct the third ''Die Hard'' film in 1995. Unfortunately, this was followed by the massive financial flop that was ''Film/{{The 13th Warrior}}''. The remake of ''Film/{{The Thomas Crown Affair|1999}}'' was [=McTiernan=]'s last "real" hit. What followed was extremely harshly received (not only financially, but critically) remake of ''Film/{{Rollerball}}''. [=McTiernan=]'s next film (and his final film to date), ''Film/{{Basic}}'', despite the presence of Creator/JohnTravolta and Creator/SamuelLJackson also received mostly negative reviews. After that, [=McTiernan=] was in the news more for his criminal conviction in the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping scandal than for his movies.

* During the hit days of ''Series/TheXFiles'', Creator/ChrisCarter was untouchable. Fans were convinced that Carter had plotted an elaborate and minutely thought-out web of deceit and lies for his FBI agents to unravel. Eventually, the overarching story had effectively mutated into a dense Kudzu Plot, and people started accusing him of just [[TheChrisCarterEffect making the show's 'mythology arc' up as he went along]] which he confirmed was the case. His other show ''Series/Millennium1996'' got increasingly bizarre and difficult to follow as it went on, the end of the final season provided no closure at all, and [[FullyAbsorbedFinale the show being merged into]] ''X-Files'' further alienated fans. The ''X-Files'' movie ''Film/TheXFilesIWantToBelieve'', was widely criticized for ignoring the myth arc entirely. Carter's attempted Amazon series ''The After'' was ultimately called off because Amazon was unwilling to produce a 99 episode show at a whopping $40 million per season if Carter was unwilling to plan ahead.

* Music/RKelly was the biggest R&B superstar in the 90s and the early 2000s. Many of his albums hit number one on the Billboard 200 and went Platinum multiple times, and he received numerous awards for his songs, "I Believe I Can Fly" probably being his most well known song thanks to being featured in the movie ''Film/SpaceJam''. However, as early as 1994, R. Kelly was also known for having inappropriate relationships with underage girls; he attempted to get married to Music/{{Aaliyah}}, who was 15 at the time, but the marriage was quickly annulled by Aaliyah's parents. Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, news would sporadically pop up about his behavior, such as a viral video of him allegedly peeing on an underage girl, possession of child pornography, and allegedly running a sex cult where he controlled every aspect of the girls' lives. All of this came to head in light of the [=#MeToo=] movement and the release of Lifetime's ''Surviving R. Kelly'', putting all of his crimes in the spotlight. He was soon dropped by Creator/RCARecords, his music was temporarily removed from Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora, and many artists who collaborated with him have publicly expressed regret in doing so. He was convicted in 2021 and 2022 of personally sex trafficking underage girls, and sentenced to 31 years in prison, with another trial still pending.

* Roger Waters of Music/PinkFloyd became this after ''Music/TheWall'', and especially during ''The Final Cut'', when he wrote all of the songs for that album, and [[TroubledProduction the recording sessions for the album were so fraught with tension]] that David Gilmour requested to have his name removed from the producer's credits. Waters would quit the band in 1985, calling it "a spent force", and tried to sue his former bandmates to prevent them from using the Pink Floyd name, but he lost, though he did retain exclusive rights to ''The Wall'', save for three songs that were co-written with Gilmour. Despite this image damage and solo albums that made a fraction of the impact of the Gilmour-led Floyd, in the 21st century Waters found success again, with Pink Floyd's reunion concert, solo tours inspired by ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' and ''Music/TheWall'', and the debut of ''Ça Ira'', an opera written by him (!).

* Creator/CoreDesign was a respected developer in the first half of the 1990s, especially on the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} (''VideoGame/BubbaNStix'', ''VideoGame/{{Banshee}}'', ''VideoGame/ChuckRock'', ''VideoGame/RickDangerous'', and more); they were also capable with the Sega CD (''VideoGame/Soulstar'', ''VideoGame/Thunderhawk''). In 1996, they hit big with ''VideoGame/TombRaider1'' and also produced ''VideoGame/FightingForce'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectEden'' in the following years. However, ''Franchise/TombRaider'' had entered the new millennium already under {{Sequelitis}}, until the flop of ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]''. The series was handed over to Creator/CrystalDynamics, the studio sold over to Creator/{{Rebellion}} (but without its brand); it was finally closed in late 2009 after their last game, the abysmal ''VideoGame/RogueWarrior'', making such demise akin to a mercy killing.

* Video game writer Masato Kato had a hand in a number of beloved classics in the 90s, including the NES ''Videogame/NinjaGaiden'' trilogy (the series primarily responsible for popularizing {{cutscene}}s and story in action games), ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' (one of the most beloved and highly acclaimed {{RPG}}s of all time), portions of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', and ''Chrono Trigger's'' controversial sequels, ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. General consensus is that his projects from the early 2000s onward (including [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI an MMORPG]] and several low-budget DS games) have been almost unilaterally underwhelming and forgettable.

* Creator/CoreDesign was a respected developer in the first half of the 1990s, especially on the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} (''VideoGame/BubbaNStix'', ''VideoGame/{{Banshee}}'', ''VideoGame/ChuckRock'', ''VideoGame/RickDangerous'', and more); they were also capable with the Sega CD (''VideoGame/Soulstar'', ''VideoGame/Thunderhawk''). In 1996, they hit big with ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' and also produced ''VideoGame/FightingForce'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectEden'' in the following years. However, ''Franchise/TombRaider'' had entered the new millennium already under {{Sequelitis}}, until the flop of ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]''. The series was handed over to Creator/CrystalDynamics, the studio sold over to Creator/{{Rebellion}} (but without its brand); it was finally closed in late 2009 after their last game, the abysmal ''VideoGame/RogueWarrior'', making such demise akin to a mercy killing.

This can sometimes be caused by a combination of MisBlamed and hubris. The original good productions were a team effort, but one guy took all the credit and was recognized as the [[FaceOfTheBand sole genius behind the work]]. When the team breaks up and the sole spotlight hog sets out on his own, people quickly realize he's nothing without his team when he suddenly gets a string of failures. See also ProtectionFromEditors.