History ScrewedByTheNetwork / VideoGames

* ''Prey 2'' was originally dreamed up as a space bounty hunter simulator, but was never released. The producers claim the game was simply too rough and bland to sell well, but the developers and some coders claim the game was practically finished and worth a try, but that the cancellation was a 'political' matter. Years later, the same company released ''VideoGame/{{Prey|2017}}'' as a reboot, still featuring aliens hunting the protagonist but in more of a ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' setting involving horror elements and paranoia. No references or Easter eggs to the original ''Prey'' or its intended sequel were ever integrated into the final game.
* Double Fine seems to have bad luck regarding this. ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' was originally going to be a horror-like platformer released early in the Xbox's lifespan, and was to be published by Microsoft. Halfway through development, Double Fine retooled the game into a [[LighterAndSofter lighter, humorous]] platformer (but with some creepy elements). Upon finding this out, Microsoft outright '''refused''' to publish the game, because apparently they found its new incarnation too "kiddie" (never mind the fact that they would go on to publishing ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'', which also has a "kiddie" appearance), so Double Fine spent a long time trying to find a new publisher. Majesco made a deal with Double Fine that they would be the publishers for the game, but ended up giving the game terrible promotion on par to ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}''. The TV commercial ended with the scene where Dogen sneezes out his brain, which led people to believe that it was going to be a grossout platformer, when actually, outside of the brain-sneezing scenes (and the Meat Circus), the game isn't even gross at all. Also, there was a magazine insert that used the slogan [[ShallowParody "It'll blow your mind... out of your nose"]]. Despite being one of the most critically-acclaimed games of the year, it had awful retail sales, most likely because of the botched advertising.

** A minor case of "malice" possibly applies when Bethesda was rumored to have ordered Obsidian to stop releasing official patches for ''New Vegas'' when ''VideoGame/{{Skyrim}}'' came out, because they didn't want their big in-house hit overshadowed by FNV, in addition to [[ChristmasRushed cutting their development time from 2 years to 18 months]] which contributed to the amount of bugs present in the first place. As New Vegas is an example of "Bugsidian"'s virtues and flaws at their best, this has essentially left further patching up to the mod community. Furthermore, in 2024 the entire game was declared non-canon by the [[Series/Fallout2024 tv series]], further reinforcing rumors about Bethesda being spiteful over being upstaged.

** A minor case of "malice" possibly applies when Bethesda was rumored to have ordered Obsidian to stop releasing official patches for ''New Vegas'' when ''VideoGame/{{Skyrim}}'' came out, because they didn't want their big in-house hit overshadowed by FNV, in addition to [[ChristmasRushed cutting their development time from 2 years to 18 months]] which contributed to the amount of bugs present in the first place. As New Vegas is an example of "Bugsidian"'s virtues and flaws at their best, this has essentially left further patching up to the mod community.

* ''VideoGame/{{Allegiance}}'' averted this -- the game is so good, that it has lasted for ten years thanks to its fans despite Microsoft dropping all support for it soon after its original commercial release.

** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' did much better, coming out complete (though minus two {{romance sidequest}}s and a couple of cutscenes) and getting two {{expansion pack}}s and a [[DownloadableContent premium module]]. [[http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=79556187 Then Hasbro sued Atari over breaches of the D&D and Forgotten Realms licensing agreements]], and the updates stopped when there were still several irritating bugs left. It also resulted in the Platform/{{Steam}} version being pulled, though it has since been rereleased on Website/GOGDotCom.

*** Obsidian was somewhat screwed over as well with the money they received for the game; in addition to the flat pay, Bethesda offered Obsidian a bonus to the pay if it got a review score of 85 on Metacritic. It got 84. One point off. Meaning they only got paid the flat sum for the game.

** Also inadvertently forcing the cancellation of the sequel ''Risky Revolution'' due to [=WayForward=] not being able to find a publisher due to low sales numbers of the first game.

** Another issue was that Nintendo, famous for designing its games and hardware in tandem, did not allow this to happen during the development of the Wii U. Instead the hardware team simply made whatever they wanted without receiving any feedback from developers. The console's unveiling to the public in 2011 was also its unveiling to ''many of Nintendo's own developers''. This meant that, similar to the Sega Saturn, Nintendo didn't have any interesting games to show off during the console's reveal nor any to launch it with early in the system's life, which caused the public to lose interest even when more interesting games started coming out.

* ''VideoGame/GodHand'', ''VideoGame/Killer7'', and ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', all of which were published by Creator/{{Capcom}}, did not receive a sliver of marketing in Western territories. Non-existent advertising, in addition to poor reception from critics regarding ''[=Killer7=]'' and ''God Hand'', were what led to their demise. ''Ōkami'' only got advertising when it was re-released for the Wii and [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork PlayStation Network]]. As for its original [=PS2=] release, nothing. What's also strange is the fact that ''Ōkami'' has received two re-releases, but ''[=Killer7=]'' and ''God Hand'' have not received a single one, despite huge fan demand to get them re-released, as well as fan demand causing ''Ōkami'' to be re-released in the first place. And Creator/{{Suda 51}}, the creator of ''[=Killer7=]'', has said that he is interested in making new games based in the world of that game (if not an outright sequel), but because Capcom owns the rights he'd have to go through them to make it happen, and Capcom's simply not interested in working with Suda again because most of his games only ever reach CultClassic status and never sell really high numbers, which is why Clover was dissolved in the first place and became independent studio Creator/PlatinumGames.

** The ''VideoGame/MegaManX Collection'' was meant to have various improvements to the games in it, such as replacing the atrocious dubbing of ''X4'' and smoothing out the BlindIdiotTranslation of ''X6'' along with several gameplay changes. They were canceled at the very last minute due to planned remakes for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable that never panned out, with the final product just porting the games with no fixes or changes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'', while developed by Creator/WayForwardTechnologies, was held back by Capcom for a year to let the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance get off the ground. Problem was, ''Shantae'' was a UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor game, which killed a lot of sales due to the console's fleeting user base.

* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' got hit with this when Capcom thought that it would be a good idea to release the game in an unfinished state (they wanted the game out before their annual EVO tournament in order to give players a chance to master the characters) with promises to patch in the rest of the game later. But this resulted in much lower sales compared to the previous games, as many fans were turned off at the prospect of buying what was essentially an EarlyAccess AAA title, and now even with the features implemented, the game's popularity is relatively low compared to "IV" and sales are still relatively slow. The game also suffered from disconnects and lag for online matches. Capcom also made the decision not to release the game on the UsefulNotes/XboxOne in exchange for taking Sony's money despite them clearly being more than capable of funding SFV themselves.

** ''[[VideoGame/AfterBurner After Burner Climax]]'' was announced for delisting on UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade and UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork on December 24th due to a contract between Sega and Boeing expiring. But for unknown reasons, the game was pulled from the marketplace eight days earlier on the 16th.

*** The in-development sequel to the critically-acclaimed ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'' was canceled by Sega before it could get anywhere, mainly because they were experiencing a financial crisis at the time. When Nintendo partnered with Platinum for ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'', they [[NetworkToTheRescue came to the rescue]] by buying the publishing rights from Sega, thus allowing Platinum to finish development so the game could see the light of day, though becoming an exclusive on the UsefulNotes/WiiU. It is rumored that Sega were the ones responsible for the box art change, however; the ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'' box art was initially supposed to have Bayonetta in front of a shrouded moon, but the final box art depicts a bright moon instead, a change which Creator/HidekiKamiya has expressed disgust toward. The Nintendo Switch rerelease would fix this.

** Sega was originally going to launch the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn on "Saturnday", September 2, 1995, so it would be in direct competition with the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, but they changed their minds at the last minute and decided to launch it on May 11 instead, a time when most developers didn't have their games finished yet, so only a few games (almost none of them good) existed at launch. Then came the "Theater of the Eye" ads which were largely promoted on FOX and MTV; they were [[DadaAd bizarre and surreal ads]] depicting the human body's reaction to playing the console, and were meant to catch people's attention and convince them to buy a Saturn, but instead, potential customers ended up finding them incredibly frightening; ''especially'' in comparison to the Japanese advertising campaign of the now-memetic ''Advertising/SegataSanshiro''. And then came Bernie Stolar, whom Sony already fired, and had somehow been accepted into Sega. He refused to let most of the really good games come to America,[[note]][[SmallNameBigEgo He had a particular dislike for 2D games, a major dislike of third-party games, thinking that first party games were the superior ones, and he favored sports titles.]] The most notable game hurt by this was the video game adaptation of ''Anime/MagicKnightRayearth'', which was set to be a release title but didn't show up until six months ''after'' support for the system ended in 1999.[[/note]] so the American Saturn game selection ended up being average, and most gamers found themselves buying a [=PlayStation=] or Nintendo 64 instead. Many great games that were planned for release (like ''Sonic X-treme'', seen below, and an English version of Creator/HideoKojima's ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'') were soon canceled, and the console finally gave out in 1998. Many non-import American gamers claim the Saturn [[AmericansHateTingle to be one of the worst consoles ever]] because of all these problems, whereas in Japan, Saturn was a success, and has become immensely popular in Japanese culture. There were accusations that this was deliberate vengeance against Sega of America [[InterserviceRivalry for outperforming the Japanese side during the Genesis era]].
** ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' also went through this. The first game [[WordOfGod reportedly]] had the biggest budget that any game in ''existence'' had at the time, was very ahead of its time, was one of the most impressive games on the console, and got rave reviews from critics and [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] fanatics. However, it failed to be a best-seller since most people knew about the console's lack of copy protection, so most ended up pirating it. Then came its sequel, which was released for Dreamcast in Europe and Japan ([[RegionalBonus The PAL version even had the original Japanese voice tracks rather than the hammy English dubbing]]), but due to Sega having already pulled the plug on the system in America, they released it as an UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}-exclusive. The Xbox, the console in which mainly FPS and sports games sold well. Because of this, it wasn't until [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2015 when Yu Suzuki, free from Sega's grasp, was finally able to announce that a third game would come to UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and PC, tying up some very loose ends.

** ''Videogame/ValkyriaChronicles'' was hit by this in America. While the first game came out with some success, the sequel suffered from reduced graphics due to the jump from [=PS3=] to PSP and a change from Pseudo-World War II to a [[AcademyOfAdventure lighthearted military academy]]. ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesII'' was not well received in America and as such, the third game, which returns to the first game's wartime setting, [[NoExportForYou was not ported across]]. Even more so, games such as ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed]]'' tend to forget the franchise's existence. The fourth game and spinoff, ''VideoGame/ValkyriaRevolution'', had a public demo pushed out hastily while development was still in a pre-Alpha stage in order to push copies of Valkyria Chronicles Remastered using the Azure Revolution demo as a pack-in similar to Crackdown's Halo 3 beta, despite the game clearly not being ready for primetime. [[TaintedByThePreview Fan reactions to the demo in the state it released in were... Adverse at best.]] Rather than salvage the situation, the game's budget was slashed and the target platform of the game was shifted to the UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita, with the final retail product on [=PS4=] being visually downgraded compared to what was initially playable, and gameplay that was little better, if not worse than the initial demo, topped off with the majority of the game's cutscene direction being generally lifeless scenes of characters standing in place motionless reading off lines of dialog for minutes on end with nothing in the way of expression or animations beyond their idle breathing.

* When presented with a completely reworked ''Conker's Quest'', now titled ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', Nintendo of America was reportedly horrified to discover that the aggressively cute, child-aimed ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' clone had been replaced by something inspired by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', R-rated movies, and the ''Itchy and Scratchy'' cartoons from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. In response, they gave the game [[InvisibleAdvertising very little advertising]] (sticking mostly to men's magazines, whose target demographic probably wasn't interested in cartoon talking squirrels) and a warning on the game's box stating that it was very clearly "not for anyone under 17". Creator/{{Rare}} was understandably upset with this treatment. The game was similarly screwed over in regards to its UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} remake, ''Live and Reloaded''. Ironically, this version of the game was heavily censored, thereby losing much of its appeal. This wasn't helped by all the multiplayer games being completely replaced with a new mode called "Xbox Live & Co." based heavily around online play.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem's'' remake, ''New Mystery of the Emblem'', was denied an international release due to multiple factors--one of which was that the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS was coming around the corner and at the time, ''Fire Emblem'' wasn't exactly a household name outside of Japan and thus it was deemed too much of a risk.
* Early in the life of the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]], Nintendo intended for the console to incorporate online features in order to match its competitors. Much like the early models of the [=PS2=], they produced a network adapter to achieve this. But why do many fans believe the [=GameCube=] had no online whatsoever? As it turned out, the first game to take advantage of the system, a port of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'', was exploited by hackers in order to enable ROM dumping. In response, Nintendo completely swept the broadband adapter under the rug, leading to its lack of online support for most of its life.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} Disk Drive was done in by poor sales of the parent console, not problems with hardware or software as popular belief has often dictated. In a 1998 interview featured on extremely obscure[[note]]as in, totally nonexistent on the Internet and print copies are hard to come by[[/note]] ''Digital Heroes'', it was said that Nintendo would not release the 64DD until sales of the N64 itself had reached 6 million. Naturally, that never happened, and what was ultimately released as the 64DD at the turn of the millennium was a heavily stripped-down version that only featured software that absolutely required use of the 64DD.

* Sony, [[AmericansHateTingle at least outside of Japan]], seemed to really dislike the UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita - as did a lot of major retailers sans Best Buy and Toys'R'Us, doing pretty much the bare minimum to market the system beyond its connectivity to the Playstation 3 and 4. The fact that [[ScrewedByTheLawyers there was a lawsuit against Sony in the UK at the time of its launch]] didn't help either.

** The similarly-acclaimed sequel ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' suffered the same fate, as Ubisoft delayed the (originally UsefulNotes/WiiU exclusive) title from its postponed February date for ''half a year'' so they could make it {{multiplatform}}, despite being already finished. Add to that Legends' inability to rebuild the hype it accumulated prior to its February release and the chosen release month--September--being a month that held a handful of big-name releases, including the highly-anticipated juggernaut that was ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' effectively meant the game was dead in the water, compounded by ''Grand Theft Auto V'''s [[CurbStompBattle numerous video game sales records it smashed upon release]]. The sales report of Legends's low sales revealing that [[{{Irony}} the game sold best on the Wii U]] was nothing more than a handful of salt rubbed in the wound. To rub the salt even deeper, the game was ported to [=PS4=] and Xbox One two months after those systems launched, making the multiplatform delay incredibly pointless.

** The PSP version, while it sold much better than the PSX version, had the unfortunate timing to release outisde of Japan in February 2011 on the Playstation Portable. While it wasn't exactly "dead" in 2011 in North American and PAL territories, many audiences weren't exactly looking for new games on the PSP - especially not with the international release of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' and the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS right around the corner.

* According to its creator Creator/GunpeiYokoi, the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy was only a [[ObviousBeta proof-of-concept prototype]] when Creator/{{Nintendo}} halted its development because they wanted to devote all of their hardware development resources to the then-upcoming UsefulNotes/Nintendo64. However, rather than scrapping the project entirely like they should have done, they released the Virtual Boy as-is, ensuring its place in history as the worst piece of hardware Nintendo has ever made.
* When it came to launching and promoting the ''UsefulNotes/WiiU'' Nintendo made several poor decisions that contributed to its failure in sales.
** The Wii U's problems began with the name. Looking to build on the success of the insanely successful ''UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'', Nintendo resolved to keep that brand going into the [[UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames eighth generation]]. The issue with this is that gamers had already taken the Wii name as being equal to [[CasualVideoGame casual gaming]] by this point, and so were skeptical when told that the system was aimed just as much at them as the vast majority of those who bought the Wii. Meanwhile, naming it the Wii U[[note]]"It's a system we will all enjoy together, but also one that's tailor-made for you" was the marketing angle.[[/note]] instead of something like Wii 2 or Super Wii, meant that casuals thought that it was tablet peripheral for the previous console rather than a new gaming console in its own right. Foregoing regular marketing in favour of ViralMarketing ensured that this information wasn't properly conveyed to the audience that needed to hear it.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'''s initial North American release was sabotaged. Nintendo mistakenly allowed [=GameStop=] to have it as an exclusive. The problem was, [=GameStop=] also sells used games in addition to new games. Thus, since the retailer was able to control almost the entire supply, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lkgUQgjckU GameStop quickly capitalized on this]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHN3oOF2tvg lying about new copies not being in stock]] despite that the used copies being sold for a markup were new copies. Fortunately Nintendo learned from their mistake and did not allow any retailer to have an exclusivity deal for the [=3DS=] version (which also was downloadable), and it received another release on the UsefulNotes/WiiU Virtual Console.

* Capcom keeps canceling so much ''Franchise/MegaMan''-related stuff that many fans think they're ''deliberately trying to kill the series off''[[note]]at least, until ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'' was released[[/note]]:

* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'' is an odd example since the ones who apparently screwed the game were Disney (owners of Marvel), not Capcom themselves. The game was made to ride on the popularity of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which in practice meant replacing the iconic music from past games with dull "movie-style" tracks and going with a more realistic graphics engine, which ended up clashing badly with the ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' assets that Capcom reused to save money due to an extremely low budget[[note]]''Infinite'' reportedly only had ''half'' as much as the budget for a single season of DLC for ''Street Fighter V''[[/note]]; [[Franchise/StreetFighter Chun Li]] and [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] in particular suffered from the transition. The game was also made during the height of Ike Perlmutter's reign at Marvel, which meant Capcom wasn't allowed to use Franchise/XMen or ComicBook/FantasticFour characters, and spokesman Pete "Combofiend" Rojas was forced to come up with the infamous "functions" explanation[[note]]Saying that people like characters because of how they function in the game, not because of their appearance or history, therefore Magneto players would gladly shift over to any character who played like him[[/note]] since he couldn't just outright say "Disney won't let us use them." It was even screwed over in smaller ways, like the person making the game's trailers being under orders not to show Capcom characters beating up Marvel characters because it would make them look bad. While Disney isn't solely responsible for ''Infinite''[='s=] failures (it had direct competition in the form of ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterz''), their actively hamstringing Capcom certainly didn't do any favors and eventually the game was written off as a failure and abandoned only a year after its release.

** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' did much better, coming out complete (though minus two {{romance sidequest}}s and a couple of cutscenes) and getting two {{expansion pack}}s and a [[DownloadableContent premium module]]. [[http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=79556187 Then Hasbro sued Atari over breaches of the D&D and Forgotten Realms licensing agreements]], and the updates stopped when there were still several irritating bugs left. It also resulted in the UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} version being pulled, though it has since been rereleased on Website/GOGDotCom.

* The Linux port of VideoGame/Borderlands2 which was outsourced to Aspyr. Gearbox pretty much cancelled their contract with Aspyr and as a result the Linux version doesn't get the Commander Lilith DLC, and is no longer capable of cross-platform play with Windows users. This has led to a strange situation where Linux users are now running the Windows version using Proton instead of the native port, which is a shame because the Linux native port was really well optimized and was previously held as a shining example of how smoothly a game that has been properly optimized on Linux would run.

Then came May 10, 2016, when Disney announced that the franchise was ending production, completely blindsiding not just the fanbase but even the developers. Ok, you might say, they're ending production. Surely they're going to go out with a bang and thank everyone for going on this ride with them and release some special figures to go out on, right? It's there that this trope really kicks in, as Disney simply dropped the series as though it had come down with a bad case of Ebola, without so much as a thank you to the fanbase. Everything came to a screeching halt, the lead developer's company was shut down, and everything that was coming to the game from July onward (such as figures and game modes based on ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', and ''Film/RogueOne'') was cancelled. The large fanbase ''Infinity'' had amassed over the past three years was left devastated and angry, especially when they realized that this meant that the Peter Pan and Mabel Pines figures specially chosen by the fans (the former by the Disney Artists and the latter being the winner of a Player's Pick poll) would likely be no more. Feeling that ''Infinity'' still had a ton of potential left, [[note]] especially since leaked details on WhatCouldHaveBeen for the game showed that they were finally starting to listen to the fans when the fans had been feeling that Disney was largely ignoring them in favor of [[ProductPlacement marketing new movies]]. [[/note]] [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow they began sending letters to Disney's CEO Bob Iger, campaigning to give the rights to Infinity to another company]] (such as Creator/SquareEnix or Creator/ElectronicArts) [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow on social media]], and [[https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-save-disney-infinity?recruiter=539743505&utm_campaign=signature_receipt_fb_dialog&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition a "Save Disney Infinity" petition started by a 13-year-old boy]] amassed more than 10,000 supporters in less than a month. Regardless, Disney seemed to stick to its guns, and ''Disney Infinity'' remains one of the most shocking examples of this trope in recent history.

* When presented with a completely reworked ''Conker's Quest'', now titled ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', Nintendo of America was reportedly horrified to discover that the aggressively cute, child-aimed ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' clone had been replaced by something inspired by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', R-rated movies, and the ''Itchy and Scratchy'' cartoons from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. In response, they gave the game very little advertising (sticking mostly to men's magazines, whose target demographic probably wasn't interested in cartoon talking squirrels) and a warning on the game's box stating that it was very clearly "not for anyone under 17". Creator/{{Rare}} was understandably upset with this treatment. The game was similarly screwed over in regards to its UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} remake, ''Live and Reloaded''. Ironically, this version of the game was heavily censored, thereby losing much of its appeal. This wasn't helped by all the multiplayer games being completely replaced with a new mode called "Xbox Live & Co." based heavily around online play.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem's'' remake, ''New Mystery of the Emblem'', was denied an international release due to multiple factors--one of which was that the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS was coming around the corner and at the time, ''Fire Emblem'' wasn't exactly a household name outside of Japan and thus it was deemed too much of a risk. It doesn't help that ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'''s remake (Released in NA&PAL territories in 2009) was hit ''hard'' by SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* Activision screwed over ''True Crime: Hong Kong'' by canceling it right when it was nearly complete because in their words "it just wouldn't sell enough copies." The game was since [[NetworkToTheRescue picked up by Square Enix]] and released as ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'', and the resulting game garnered tons of critical praise, was one of best selling games of 2012 and continued to gain sales from digital distribution sales long after its initial launch hype died down.

** The ''Silent Hill HD Collection'' was a disaster as it was released in one of the worst states for ''any'' game, let alone a remaster of two games that had been out for about a decade. The game suffered from audio bugs and had the fog effects removed to reveal unfinished textures. The game even needed a Day 1 patch despite the games technically being a decade old - a patch which only came out for ''one'' of the two platforms the game was available on, and didn't even actually ''fix'' much of anything. The studio tasked with the remasters was unfamiliar with the HD remastering process and lacked the resources to fix many problems they were aware of. Considering Japanese developers didn’t consider data preservation a priority during the early 2000s, the studio was essentially forced to simultaneously develop remasters of ''Silent Hill 2''and ''Silent Hill'' while trying to reverse-engineer the retail builds to fit with the outdated source code they had been provided. That’s all without going into the debacle of Guy Cihi, voice actor of ''Silent Hill 2'' protagonist James Sunderland, accusing Konami of redubbing ''Silent Hill 2'' to avoid paying him royalties.