History ScrewedByTheNetwork / VideoGames

* For whatever reason, Bandai Namco is very adamant on screwing over Creator/CyberConnect2's ''Little Tail Bronx'' series, as not only have the games received little to no advertisements, their western launches were also outsourced to other companies like Atlus and XSEED, rather than handling it themselves. They've also repeatedly denied [=CyberConnect2=]'s wishes in making more games in the series, with a Bandai Namco producer reportedly throwing out a pitch for ''Tail Concerto 2'' right in front of Creator/HiroshiMatsuyama without reading it, while refusing to relinquish all rights for the series back to [=CyberConnect2=], preventing ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'' and ''{{VideoGame/Solatorobo}}'' from seeing any form of re-releases, remakes, or direct sequels. Even when [=CyberConnect2=] were able to work around Bandai Namco and make [[VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel a third game without their involvement]], it was still screwed over thanks to Bandai Namco holding onto partial ownership of ''Tail Concerto'' and ''Solatorobo'', preventing them from directly referencing past characters and events in ''Fuga''.

** ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': Even Sega's CashCowFranchise is not immune to this, as many of these examples could show you:

** ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
*** Even Sega's CashCowFranchise is not immune to this, as the much-reviled ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' is one of the most infamous examples of this trope in action. The game, meant to highlight Sonic's fifteenth anniversary, was ChristmasRushed due to said anniversary, and [[ObviousBeta it shows]]. Inconsistent camera, long load times, and incomplete game mechanics (to the point where many of the things in the manual are incorrect) were only a few of the problems the game suffered from due to its rushed release. Decisions such as taking half the development team off the project to start work on ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings'' and outright ignoring the quality assurance staff's reports of the game's numerous glitches didn't help matters.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicXTreme'' is one of the most infamous examples. The game was already stuck between a rock and hard place with its [[TroubledProduction troubled development]], but the point when the development of the game fell apart was when the head representatives of the company [[TaintedByThePreview arrived at STI's headquarters to check on the game's progress]]. Long story short, the team that worked on the engine for the game's main levels saw their work thrown out the window [[PoorCommunicationKills because of the representative's negative impressions of an outdated engine]] (the head of the staff even pleaded them to wait as the team was almost done polishing the current engine, but they refused); while another team that worked on the engine for the boss levels were ordered to use their engine as the basis for the entire game and complete it in nine months in time for the holiday season. A HopeSpot appeared when the company allowed the developers use the game engine of ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'' for the game so the developers could reach the deadline, [[PoorCommunicationKills but because the company didn't secure permission from the creator of the engine]]--''Sonic'' creator Yuji Naka, who then threatened to leave the company on grounds of plagiarism--[[YankTheDogsChain the development team was told to stop using it after they had grown accustomed to the engine for about two weeks)]]. Not surprisingly, the lead programmer of the remaining ended up overworking himself to the point of falling ill with pneumonia shortly afterwards, which subsequently led to [[{{Vaporware}} the game's cancellation]] and developer Sega Technical Institute's disbandment.

* 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}}''. 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.

* ''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]]; [[VideoGame/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/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'' were screwed at the get go. After Nintendo ditched Sony and partnered with Philips to make CD based games, Nintendo allowed Philips the right to develop games based on some of their IP. Unfortunately,''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' were both developed on a strict one year time limit (one year for each game) and had only a budget of $600,000 per game. As such, the developers were forced to go the cheap route by hiring non-union voice actors and several Russian animators that were fresh from graduating college. While the games back in 1993 were seen as average by critics, the discovery of the laughably bad cutscenes led the internet of today creating many YouTubePoop videos.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicXTreme''. The game was already stuck between a rock and hard place with its [[TroubledProduction troubled development]], but the point when the development of the game fell apart was when the head representatives of the company [[TaintedByThePreview arrived at STI's headquarters to check on the game's progress]]. Long story short, the team that worked on the engine for the game's main levels saw their work thrown out the window [[PoorCommunicationKills because of the representative's negative impressions of an outdated engine]] (the head of the staff even pleaded them to wait as the team was almost done polishing the current engine, but they refused); while another team that worked on the engine for the boss levels were ordered to use their engine as the basis for the entire game and complete it in nine months in time for the holiday season. A HopeSpot appeared when the company allowed the developers use the game engine of ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'' for the game so the developers could reach the deadline, [[PoorCommunicationKills but because the company didn't secure permission from the creator of the engine]]--''Sonic'' creator Yuji Naka, who then threatened to leave the company on grounds of plagiarism--[[YankTheDogsChain the development team was told to stop using it after they had grown accustomed to the engine for about two weeks)]]. Not surprisingly, the lead programmer of the remaining ended up overworking himself to the point of falling ill with pneumonia shortly afterwards, which subsequently led to [[{{Vaporware}} the game's cancellation]] and developer Sega Technical Institute's disbandment.

*** Even Sega's CashCowFranchise is not immune to this, as the much-reviled ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' is a more visible example of this trope in action. The game, meant to highlight Sonic's fifteenth anniversary, was ChristmasRushed due to said anniversary, and [[ObviousBeta it shows]]. Inconsistent camera, long load times, and incomplete game mechanics (to the point where many of the things in the manual are incorrect) were only a few of the problems the game suffered from due to its rushed release. Decisions such as taking half the development team off the project to start work on ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings'' and outright ignoring the quality assurance staff's reports of the game's numerous glitches didn't help matters.

* Of the "main" branch series in ''Franchise/TheIdolmaster'', ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM'' is one that often has its games fare unluckily. Its RhythmGame spinoff, ''Live on St@ge!'', had lower production values than its fellow contemporaries ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterMillionLive Million Live! Theater Days]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage]]'', and ended service after three years in favor of an overhauled game, ''GROWING STARS''. However, despite faring well against other male idol games, ''GROWING STARS'' too ended service within a year, and unlike ''Live on St@ge!'', did not allow its cards to be transferred to the original Mobage game, which itself was announced to end service the same year. This choice ended up leaving ''[=SideM=]'' the only main branch without a running installment.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'' were screwed at the get go. After Nintendo ditched Sony and partnered with Philips to make CD based games, Nintendo allowed Philips the right to develop games based on some of their IP. Unfortunately,''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' were both developed on a strict one year time limit (one year for each game) and had only a budget of $600,000 per game. As such, the developers were forced to go the cheap route by hiring non-union voice actors and several Russian animators that were fresh from graduating college. While the games back in 1993 were seen as average by critics, the discovery of the laughably bad cutscenes led the internet of today creating many YouTubePoop videos.

* Both ''Silent Hill'' and ''Metal Gear'' got the shaft in 2015. Not only did Konami cancel the much hyped ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' despite a fantastic response to its demo ''P.T.'', but Konami also found ways to screw over its most prolific game director Creator/HideoKojima during the development and release of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''. Konami forced Kojima to rush out ''The Phantom Pain'' with an incomplete 3rd act, [[{{Unperson}} scrubbed his name off the game's cover]], barred him from receiving the awards that the game won, and finally fired him.

** 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 SH2 and SH3 while trying to reverse-engineer the retail builds to fit with the outdated source code they’d been provided. That’s all without going into the debacle of Guy Cihi, voice actor of SH2’s protagonist James, mistakenly insisting he was owed royalties and forcing Konami to hire new actors to entirely redub the game.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem's'' remake, "New Mystery", 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. Especially since ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'''s remake (Released in NA&PAL territories in 2009) was hit ''hard'' by SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem's' remake, "New Mystery", 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. Especially since ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'''s remake (Released in NA&PAL territories in 2009) was hit ''hard'' by SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'''s remake, "New Mystery", 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. Especially since ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'''s remake (Released in NA&PAL territories in 2009) was hit ''hard'' by SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'' were screwed at the get go. After Nintendo ditched Sony and partnered with Philips to make CD based games, Nintendo allowed Philips the right to develop games based on some of their IP. Unfortunately,''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' were both developed on a strict one year time limit (one year for each game) and had only a budget of $600,000 per game. As such, the developers were forced to go the cheap route by hiring non-union voice actors and several Russian animators that were fresh from graduating college. While the games back in 1993 were seen as average by critics, the discovery of the laughably bad cutscenes led the internet of today creating many WebAnimation/YouTubePoop videos.

* Between corporate infighting between the US and Japan branches as well as incompetence in several of their departments as a whole, we could make a ''whole page'' out of {{Creator/Sega}}'s bad decisions their Western divisions have made. :

* We could make a ''whole page'' out of {{Creator/Sega}}'s bad decisions their Western divisions have made:

* ''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 become independent studio Creator/PlatinumGames.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends 3'' was announced in a blaze of publicity with lots of hype about how fans would be able to participate in its development. Then it got canceled about a year later after Keiji Inafune's departure from Capcom. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Which the company had specifically denied]]. To further pour salt into the wound, Capcom was going to release a demo of the game to gauge fan interest. They then canceled the game ''without even realizing that demo''. Only one man outside of Capcom, a member of ''Magazine/NintendoPower'', got to play it.

* Creator/SquareEnix's American branch seems content with giving the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series the shaft, with Creator/{{Nintendo}} ultimately stepping in to localize ''IX'', the remake of ''VI'', and ''DQ Monsters: Joker 2''; the franchise was then relegated to mobile ports until ''DQ Heroes'' was released and Nintendo brought over the ''VII'' and ''VIII'' remakes. Much of this comes from the fact that ''Dragon Quest'' games have historically been {{Sleeper Hit}}s, rather than immediately successful in the [=US=]. Demand for the series has increased, but it isn't the CashCowFranchise in the [=US=] that it is in Japan. And Nintendo was the one to localize ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'', the SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyThe4HeroesOfLight'', as well. Square apparently had no faith in a Western release despite the game's absolutely massive success in Japan and the relative lack of role-playing games on the 3DS platform. It's gotten to the point of absurdity. Some insider info revealed that SE outright ''blackmailed'' Nintendo in order to prevent the localization of the 3DS version of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' by threatening to strip Nintendo of their rights to localize ''Bravely Default'' if they decide to localize the ''VII'' remake. Nintendo eventually did get permission to release ''VII'', but years later at about the time ''Bravely Default''[='s=] ''sequel'' was released.

* Though companies such as XSEED have offered to translate some of the ''Tales'' games left in Japan, Bandai Namco adamantly refuses, wishing to be the only company to release games in the franchise. And even if the games do see foreign releases, they tend to get poor advertisement, causing them to sell poorly. In fact, this was such a problem, that it created a cycle where Namco would localize a game, let it fail, and then essentially use it to justify why they shouldn't, and it would take ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' for them to finally stop the cycle and become better at releasing them.

* The ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' franchise was coming out of a DorkAge before Creator/CriterionGames' ''Hot Pursuit'' and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' came along and brought critical praise and renewed interest in the franchise. Yet, during the development of ''Need for Speed Rivals'', EA would siphon-off several of Criterion's staff to form the new Ghost Games studio as the de facto developer for the franchise. This would backfire when the 2015 reboot and its followup, ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedPayback'', were both met with mixed reception from critics and a poor response from fans. EA would quickly bring oversight of the franchise back to Criterion, but by then, two of its founders would leave to form Three Fields Entertainment and develop SpiritualSuccessors to the ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' series.

* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' was hit hard by this [[TroubledProduction during the development of its sequel]]. Studio ZA/UM was a [[RebelliousSpirit socialist punk collective]], but [[ExecutiveMeddling their investors weren't]] and pushed the core team out of the company when they disagreed with the direction they wanted to take it in. In a rather [[LoserProtagonist on-brand move]], founding member Martin Luiga [[https://www.pcgamer.com/founding-member-of-disco-elysium-developer-claims-core-team-members-involuntarily-left-the-company/ after explaining the situation]] claimed to be residing [[DespairEventHorizon at a psych ward in Estonia]].

* Creator/{{Activision}} screwed over ''True Crime: Hong Kong'' by cancelling 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.
* And then they did it to ''VideoGame/GuitarHero''. In 2010, Activision cancelled ''the entire series,'' just because the multibillion-dollar franchise sales have gone down, [[CapcomSequelStagnation due to constant sequels and spinoffs.]] It wasn't until 2015 that they would bring the series back with ''VideoGame/GuitarHeroLive'', and even that's struggling.
* And in 2010, it happened to ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' as well. Due to being a platformer, it wasn't quite as big as ''Call of Duty'' or other cash cows, but was a fairly popular and well thought of series. In 2010, however, Activision fired half the staff working on the next game and cancelled said new game. The guy in charge has said he loved the series, but the only games that have come out are cellphone/mobile spinoffs. (Until [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy the N Sane Trilogy remake]] in 2017, to much rejoicing and praise... on Vicarious Vision's part.)
* Not even its [[AdoredByTheNetwork beloved]] ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise is exempt from getting messed up thanks to Activision's desire to milk as much money as it could from the franchise.

* Creator/{{Capcom}} keeps cancelling 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]]:
** 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 cancelled 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.
** ''Mega Man Universe'' was announced as a celebration of all things ''Mega Man''. It was then unceremoniously cancelled about a year later. This might have been for the better though, since most who had played the beta version had nothing but negative things to say.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends 3'' was announced in a blaze of publicity with lots of hype about how fans would be able to participate in its development. Then it got cancelled about a year later after Keiji Inafune's departure from Capcom. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Which the company had specifically denied]]. To further pour salt into the wound, Capcom was going to release a demo of the game to gauge fan interest. They then cancelled the game ''without even releasing that demo''. Only one man outside of Capcom, a member of ''Magazine/NintendoPower'', got to play it.
** And on Mega Man's 25th anniversary, Capcom releases ''VideoGame/RockmanXover'', a social game for the iOS. The Western release was actually cancelled because of how much anger the game generated in ''Mega Man'' fans.

** When Seth Killian was working for Capcom he attempted to find out exactly why ''Mega Man'' was getting so little attention from the company (specifically why ''Mega Man Legends 3'' was cancelled). He was told that many people in Capcom were of the opinion Mega Man simply wasn't worth the cost because it wasn't popular outside Japan (absolutely bogus [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff as the series is well-beloved there since the first game]]). [[http://www.siliconera.com/2011/03/31/capcom-japan-doesnt-believe-mega-man-is-popular-in-the-u-s/ Seth's reply was a disbelieving "..... Really?"]]

* Meanwhile, ''VideoGame/Killer7'', ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', and ''VideoGame/GodHand'', all of which were published by 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 lead 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 become independent studio Creator/PlatinumGames.
* ''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/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]]; [[VideoGame/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.

* After EA bought them, ''every'' Creator/OriginSystems game that wasn't ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline''. According to Richard Garriott, the many bugs and plot holes in ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII'' and ''[[VideoGame/UltimaIX IX]]'' were due to EA insisting the games be released at the scheduled date. ''IX'' was the most egregious because by then EA dropped support for everything but Online, drove out many of the game's developers and still demanded the game be released on time. When ''IX'' bombed EA threw Origin under the bus - they cancelled all further projects including ''Ultima Online II'', drove out Garriott and laid the groundwork for shutting down Origin in 2004. The final insult is that EA decided when launching their online distribution program, that they would call it ... ''EA Origin''.
* Even ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' was ScrewedByTheNetwork...at first, since marketing projected lifetime sales of, at most, 30,000 units. After a year and a half of pitching 'Multima,' as it was originally called, EA gave him a quarter million dollars to make a prototype, and would only let him assign developers nobody else wanted. When they finished, they didn't have enough money left to send beta copies to testers, so they set up EA's first ever web site, advertising that for $5 (the cost of printing and shipping the CD), you could be in the beta. This paid beta sold over 50,000 copies. Of course, this led to the screwing of Ultima IX, which EA wanted to cancel, so Garriott was understandably irritated with EA over this.
* Also since the purchase, ''absolutely every Creator/BioWare franchise'' that hadn't already ended.

** In regards to [=BioWare=] after the EA buyout, ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' had it worse being completely rushed out the door just so EA could cash in on the hype generated from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening''. For [=BioWare=] to make a better game than ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' within a limited 11 month timeframe just wasn't going to happen.

** Downplayed with ''VideoGame/Anthem2019'' according to [[https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964 Jason Schreier's insider article]]. While the biggest issues with ''Anthem'' were caused by Bioware's (lack of) decision-making on the project until the final 18 months of development, EA certainly didn't help matters by pushing Bioware to develop the game using the Frostbite engine. Frostbite was designed for more traditional FirstPersonShooter experiences offered by the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series and was ill-suited for the WideOpenSandbox "Looter Shooter" with RPG Elements that Bioware was making with ''Anthem.'' This was further exasperated by EA refusing to send the Frostbite support team to Bioware, opting to send them to help develop the latest entry in the CashCowFranchise that is ''VideoGame/FifaSoccer'' instead. That said, it was ultimately Bioware's, not EA's decision, to make Anthem an always-online shooter in the vein of ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'', a game they vehemently refuse to even learn a thing or two during the development of the game due to their belief that their game was "different".
* Creator/TimSchafer of Creator/DoubleFine ''thought VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' had a safe haven under EA... until they completely and intentionally advertised the game as a single player adventure game, rather than its proper genre of a multiplayer RealTimeStrategy game, and forced Double Fine to keep quiet about it against their wishes. Schafer did his best to get the word out on his own, but was essentially drowned out by EA's hype machine. Making it worse was the [[TaintedByThePreview single player demo]]. Though the game's reception was still largely positive, EA was very unhappy with the game's sales ([[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134654/schafer_admits_fantasy_of_.php?page=3 it sold 1.4 million copies a year and four months after release]]). They refused to release a highly-requested patch for the [=PS3=] that Double Fine had already completed that fixed [[OneHundredPercentCompletion a 99% completion bug]], cancelled the sequel, and let Schafer take all the blame for the MisaimedMarketing. The move almost caused Double Fine to go out of business.

** Then there was the intended sequel to ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' - after alpha testing didn't get the sort of feedback they wanted, it was cancelled and ''the entire team they had behind the C&C series for the previous decade was shut down''.

* Not even EA's fabled ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' is safe from this.
** In an attempt to directly compete with Activision's ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series that began with ''VideoGame/Battlefield3'', EA released ''VideoGame/Battlefield4'' just two years later. Not only was ''Battlefield 3'' screwed since it will no longer receive further support, but ''Battlefield 4'' was rushed out the gate and riddled many game breaking bugs. While the game improved over time with fixes, its poor launch tarnished the franchise's image and landed EA with multiple lawsuits.
** ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' was badly screwed over by EA and studio DICE. The game received a terrible marketing campaign[[note]]It was advertised with wacky ''Fortnite''-esque cosmetics despite being a World War 2 game, gameplay footage was barely shown at conventions and one EA executive dared anyone who dislikes the game's [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory politically correct approach]] to not buy the game[[/note]] and rushed it out just 2 years after ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'', resulting in an unpolished, bug-ridden title that performed below financial expectations. Post-launch support wasn't any better with DICE abandoning several promised updates to game modes like Grand Operations and Firestorm (see below for more details on the latter), while making several unpopular gameplay changes like increasing the time-to-kill ([=TTK=]) that only infuriated existing fans. Eventually, EA decided to cut its losses by prematurely ending support for ''Battlefield V'' and pivoting all DICE developers towards the next ''Battlefield'' title. Subsequently, ''Battlefield V'' ended its life cycle with fewer maps than its predecessors and without much requested theaters of war like the Eastern Front and the Italian Campaign.

** When developing ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'', EA outsourced development on the Starfighter Assault mode to Criterion Games while DICE worked on the base game. However, after launching in the November 2017 with the base game, Starfighter Assault received no updates since July 2018 even as DICE added new ground-based maps, modes, and heroes into 2020. Criterion Games was pivoted to ''Battlefield V'''s Firestorm battle royale mode instead of updating Starfighter Assault, leading to players abandoning the mode.
** The battle royale mode Firestorm was mismanaged thanks to DICE and EA. Firestorm can only be played if one bought the full-priced base game and was released 5 months into that game's lifespan when many of players at launch have moved on, making it less accessible and more difficult for populating matches. When DICE took over maintaining the mode after its release, the studio neglected it like what happened with ''Battlefront II'''s Starfighter Assault. Aside from transferring some guns over from the base game, Firestorm didn't receive any major updates while issues like rampant cheating and the bad looting system were not addressed. EA didn't help matters by releasing the mode just a month after the launch of their other battle royale game ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'', which ended up drawing players away from Firestorm thanks to being free-to-play. Subsequently, Firestorm became unplayable for many, especially in sparsely populated player regions like Australia and New Zealand.
* Wondering why the Wii U had a somewhat mediocre library at release? There were more than five planned games from companies under EA to be released on the system, but then Nintendo refused EA's offer to have the system's online run on the Origin system. Feeling snubbed by this, EA cancelled any Wii U ports of games that weren't already out, and [[DisproportionateRetribution threatened any company that goes against their wishes with closure.]]
* Creator/{{Suda51}} decided to partner with EA to publish the psychological-horror/comedy shooter ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheDamned'' worldwide in hopes of making sure the game would be noticed by many. But EA gave the game no marketing whatsoever and it ended up being a flop in EA's eyes. Coincidentally, ''Shadows of the Damned'' also had Shinji Mikami acting as producer. After this, Suda broke off with EA and instead decided to partner with Warner Bros. Games and XSEED when it came to publishing his next big releases (''VideoGame/LollipopChainsaw'' and ''VideoGame/KillerIsDead'' respectively).
* After being turned down by Microsoft, EA picked up the Xbox launch title ''VideoGame/CelDamage''. Pseudo Interactive ''thought'' that EA would treat it well...but they didn't. The only advertising it got was a trailer that appeared on one of the earliest Xbox demo discs, and a two-page magazine ad that was printed in very few magazines. All pre-launch promotional material for the system was focused on ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' and ''VideoGame/AmpedSnowboarding'' instead, with no ''Cel Damage'' in sight, despite it being a much better demonstration of the Xbox's capabilities than ''Amped''. To make matters worse, it lost its Xbox exclusivity two months later when it was ported to Gamecube, and it took until the Gamecube launch in Europe for the game to be released over there, [[note]]In Europe, the Gamecube launched in May 2002, two months after the Xbox did there[[/note]] with the European release being published by a ''budget'' publisher known as "PlayIt!" It went FromBadToWorse with the planned ''Cel Damage 2''. [=CD2=] was set for a 2003 release, and was to improve on many of the aspects that were criticized in the first game, in addition to introducing new features. EA gave it the axe before it could get very far into development, and Pseudo was not allowed to release any concept art or footage of it until the studio's closure, five years later. [=CD2=] was then replaced with an UpdatedRerelease of [=CD1=] for the [=PS2=], titled ''Cel Damage Overdrive'', but EA prevented it from being released in North America until '''eleven years later''', with the HD release.

* A lesser example in ''VideoGame/Titanfall2'', which EA decided needed to be released at the same time as ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyInfiniteWarfare'' and their own ''VideoGame/Battlefield1''. Needless to say, despite the high reviews, the game was an AcclaimedFlop. Some suggest that EA did this out of fear that ''Battlefield 1'' would bomb due to [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI its unconventional setting]] and attempted to hedge their bets, only for their plan to backfire. The fact that EA has stated that they will support the Titanfall series in spite of this - the exact opposite reaction they've ever had to such a situation before - suggests this wasn't an intentional case of this trope.
* The ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' franchise was coming out of a DorkAge before Creator/CriterionGames' ''Hot Pursuit'' and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' came along and brought critical praise and renewed interest in the franchise. Yet, during the development of ''Need for Speed Rivals'', EA would siphon-off several of Criterion's staff to forum the new Ghost Games studio as the de facto developer for the franchise. This would backfire when the 2015 reboot and its followup, ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedPayback'', were both met with mixed reception from critics and a poor response from fans. EA would quickly bring oversight of the franchise back to Criterion, but by then, two of its founders would leave to form Three Fields Entertainment and develop SpiritualSuccessors to the ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' series.
* The ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' series got this ''hard'' in the early 2010s. The first game was a massive critical and commercial success, and is widely considered a classic of the SurvivalHorror genre, and some would even say one of the greatest games of all time. [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 The sequel]] was similarly critically acclaimed, but did not sell quite to EA's expectations, partially due to the ''incredibly'' MisaimedMarketing that was the "YourMom Hates Dead Space 2" ad campaign. This led to EA severely messing with the development and advertising of [[VideoGame/DeadSpace3 the third entry in the series]], making what was intended to be a SurvivalHorror game into a cooperative action-heavy shooter with very few horror elements. [[FromBadToWorse And the advertising was, again, misaimed]]. As a result, ''3'' sold even worse than ''2'', and EA shut down the studio, Visceral Games. It's a miracle that [[VideoGame/DeadSpaceRemake the remake of the original game]] got the greenlight almost ten years later.
* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdgeCatalyst'', a reboot of a cult classic video game, received almost ''no'' advertising in the build-up to its release, which happened to be at the time of E3, effectively shooting the game's chances of success in the head. The ''Mirror's Edge'' series has been dormant ever since, with absolutely no future projects being hinted at.

* Koji Igarashi, director of the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series since 1999, was forbidden to continue working on the "Metroidvania"-style games that have not been profitable since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin''. In response, Igarashi departed from the company after ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' to create his own studio to develop a Metroidvania-styled SpiritualSuccessor called ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight''.

** The ''Silent Hill HD Collection'' was a disaster as it released in one of the worst state 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 SH2 and SH3 while trying to reverse-engineer the retail builds to fit with the outdated source code they’d been provided. That’s all without going into the debacle of Guy Cihi, voice actor of SH2’s protagonist James, mistakenly insisting he was owed royalties and forcing Konami to hire new actors to entirely redub the game.
** ''VideoGame/SilentHillBookOfMemories'', a dungeon crawler spinoff exclusive to the PS Vita, received absolutely no promotion whatsover. Jim Sterling, a huge fan of the franchise, interviewed the studio's leads to give the game some publicity... only to have Konami, apparently [[InvisibleAdvertising afraid of people actually knowing about the game]], ban him from publishing said interview (bear in mind as well this was ''before'' Konami blacklisted Jim), even though it actually gave relatively positive coverage of the game and was not only the highest-profile coverage the game would get before release, but also the '''''only''''' coverage the game had gotten by that point. Subsequently, not only was the game a commercial bomb, but it also robbed the PS Vita of a much needed game to boost its languishing sales figures.
* ''Blades of Time'', a personal pet project of Tak Fuji, was ignored completely by Komani as if it never existed.
-->''"This game's launch date was announced a week before launch. The game was unavailable in most stores in the U.S. until a week ''after'' launch, and {{Creator/Konami}} issued a press release announcing the game's availability three days ''after'' the game came out. Producer Tak Fuji, while in the States, couldn't even find a copy of his own game in the store, and called it a 'big shame' on him as a producer. THAT'S HOW MUCH KONAMI CARES!"''
--> '''Creator/JimSterling''', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynl4sIFazmM#t=153 "Konami is Konami"]], discussing ''Blades of Time''
* Both ''Silent Hill'' and ''Metal Gear'' got the shaft in 2015. Not only did Konami cancel the much hyped ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' despite a fantastic response to its demo ''P.T.'', but Konami also found ways to screw over its most prolific game director Creator/HideoKojima during the development and release of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''. Konami forced Kojima to rush out ''The Phantom Pain'' with an incomplete 3rd act, [[{{Unperson}} scrubbed his name off the game's cover]], barred him from receiving the awards that the game won, and finally fired him.

** The Sega 32X. Sega wanted this thing to succeed, and according to draft papers for the cancelled ''Sonic Mars'', they thought that [[http://info.sonicretro.org/images/1/15/Sonicmars48.png "The 32X adapter, along with quality dedicated software, may greatly extend the lifetime of the Genesis."]] However, they screwed it by releasing it in November 1994 (only six months before their next console, the Saturn), giving it a poor launch, having no killer apps other than ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'', and a lot of great/interesting games that were planned for release were later cancelled. Not to mention, the TV and magazine ads were completely focused on sexual innuendos, which was another cause of its death.
** Even worse was the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn's treatment by them. Sega was originally going to launch the system 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 cancelled, 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/ToejamAndEarl 3: Mission to Earth'' was another Xbox-exclusive Sega sequel (notice a recurring trend going on here?), bringing the series [[VideoGame3DLeap to 3D]] and [[ExecutiveMeddling changing the theme of the series from funk to hip-hop]] as a weak attempt at targeting the console's demographic. Naturally, it failed miserably.
** While the original ''VideoGame/JetSetRadio'' got a heavy amount of promotion from Sega, the sequel ([[MindScrew or possibly]] AlternateContinuity) ''Jet Set Radio Future'' hardly got any in the states (at first, anyway, but we'll get to that in a moment). As opposed to the original, which got a commercial, a two-page magazine ad, and a few blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos of Beat in a commercial for the [=SegaNet=] service, the only pieces of advertising JSRF got was on [[http://gameads.gamepressure.com/tv_game_commercial.asp?ID=602 an Xbox ad]] in which it showed beta footage [[note]]Notice how Yoyo has a smaller health capacity, and how the spray can icon is not green, meaning that he could originally hold a higher spray can capacity than 30[[/note]] but didn't mention what the game was, and a commercial for the game itself that got very little air time, because Sega was more focused on advertising the Gamecube port of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' instead. Thankfully later, in an example of NetworkToTheRescue, Sega realized that the game was suffering from poor sales, and decided to put this and ''Sega GT 2002'' on one disc together and package it with Xbox consoles during the Holiday season of 2002. And although the sales were still overall poor despite their best efforts, it initially worked. Go on eBay and you'll notice that the promotion pack sells for cheap, while buying the game on its own doesn't. Also, Gamestop's website (and the store too, back when they used to carry original Xbox games and accessories) carries used copies of the bundle for 99 cents.

*** ''VideoGame/AnarchyReigns'', which was 100 percent completed, translated, ready to go, came out July 2012 for Japan. Sounds fine for them, right? America and Europe got it in ''early 2013''. Platinum wasn't even informed until as soon as the announcement was made. The hold up was done because they apparently wanted it released alongside some ''big named games'', and released it for $30 (rather than the standard full price of $50/$60), which in effect, effectively killed the chances of the game being noticed, and [=GameStop=] dropped the price by $10 not too long afterwards.
*** The in-development sequel to the critically-acclaimed ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'' was cancelled 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.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicTheFighters'' saw a limited release in American arcades because Sega of America found it to be "[[MoralGuardians too violent]]" (although all of the "violence" is comical and played for laughs, and is on par with what you'd see on a SaturdayMorningCartoon), and that it would tarnish their mascot's image. The game even got very negative reception upon original release, and a planned Sega Saturn port that would include a character named Honey the Cat was soon cancelled. Made even more glaring in that around the same time as the release of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', SEGA released ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'' for the Game Boy Advance, a fighting game with moves that were not ''nearly'' as comedic as ''Sonic the Fighters''. [[NetworkToTheRescue At least Sega was nice enough to release an HD XBL/PSN port of the game that re-implemented Honey the Cat into the game years later]].

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

* ''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.
* ''Hunt Horrors of the Gilded Age'' was a hunting game about a co-op team of 1900's American bounty hunters trying to kill supernatural monsters and fiends using near-WWI-era tech and rudimentary magics. By the E3 demo three years later, the game was now called ''VideoGame/HuntShowdown'' and had undergone a radical change: instead of working together, pairs of hunters are hunting each other to claim the bounty for themselves. It's also first person, the enemies move rigidly, the graphics are dark, and the map is open-spaces instead of linear.

* Jack Tramiel's takeover of Creator/{{Atari}} was seen by many as the beginning of the end for the company. Since he was the creator of and had a controlling stake in Commodore, he tried to kill off the gaming side of Atari and turn them into a budget computer outfit to complement his maiden company (which explains most of the aborted and/or half-assed attempts at making Commodore 64 clones in the late 1980s). He would sue lesser companies into oblivion, employee turnover became insane because the millions wasted on computer development meant they couldn't keep anyone around, and nepotism was rampant within the company.
* 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}}''. The TV commercial ended with the scene where Dogen sneezes out his brain, which lead 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.

* ''[[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords The Sith Lords]]'', the highly-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', was completely screwed over courtesy of Creator/LucasArts pushing its [[ChristmasRushed release date to Christmas]], giving Obsidian barely a SINGLE YEAR to develop the game after Bioware handed it to them. Or, alternately, Obsidian tried to greatly expand the game after receiving tentative verbal permission from [=LucasArts=], only for higher-ups in the company to later insist on the original release date. As a result, the game was heavily unfinished, suffering from unresolved plotlines to noticeable chunks of the game missing outright. While this may be chalked up to standard ExecutiveMeddling, what happened next was what shot this into here: When Obsidian desired to release a whole patch that would, essentially, finish the game and fill in everything that was missing, [=LucasArts=] promptly ''denied'' that notion and, therefore, only fan efforts have been able to attempt to fill in the blanks. Since the original release wasn't Xbox Live-enabled, any patch would have been PC-only. The modding community eventually stepped in and restored most of the cut content; the mod in question is available [[http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/TSL_Restored_Content_Mod;111657 here]]. In 2015, however, the Steam version of the game was patched with controller and Steam Workshop support explicitly for the sake of this mod.
** ''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.
* [=LucasArts=] ended up on the receiving end of this with ''Star Wars 1313''. After being acquired by Disney, it was said that its upcoming releases such as this game would not be affected. Then came April 2013, where [=LucasArts=] was shut down completely and said projects were shelved. The trademark was dropped a year later.
* Creator/SquareEnix's American branch seems content with giving the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series the shaft, with Creator/{{Nintendo}} ultimately stepping in to localize ''IX'', the remake of ''VI'', and ''DQ Monsters: Joker 2''; the franchise was then relegated to mobile ports until ''DQ Heroes'' was released and Nintendo brought over the ''VII'' and ''VIII'' remakes. Much of this comes from the fact that ''Dragon Quest'' games have historically been {{Sleeper Hit}}s, rather than immediately successful in the [=US=]. Demand for the series has increased, but it isn't the CashCowFranchise in the [=US=] that it is in Japan. And Nintendo was the one to localize ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'', the SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyThe4HeroesOfLight'', as well. Square apparently had no faith in a Western release despite the game's absolutely massive success in Japan and the relative lack of role-playing games on the 3DS platform. It's gotten to the point of absurdity. Some insider info revealed that SE outright ''blackmailed'' Nintendo in order to prevent the localization of the 3DS version of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' by threatening to strip Nintendo of their rights to localize ''Bravely Default'' if they decide to localize the ''VII'' remake. Nintendo eventually did get permission to release ''VII'', but years later at about the time ''Bravely Default''[='s=] ''sequel'' was released.
* Though companies such as XSEED have offered to translate some of the ''Tales'' games left in Japan, Bandai Namco adamantly refuses, wishing to be the only company to release games in the franchise. And even if the games do see foreign releases, they tend to get poor advertisement, causing them to sell poorly. In fact, this was such a problem, that it created a cycle where Namco would localize a game, let it fail, and than essentially use it to justify why they shouldn't, and it would take ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' for them to finally stop the cycle and become better at releasing them.
* ''VideoGame/DungeonFighterOnline'' was after a certain point left to rot by Nexon NA, creating a lag in content updates and hackers running rampant, leading to the game's closure in NA. The cause is implied to be not making as much money as other games. Fans have not forgiven Nexon NA for this at all. A few years later, [[NetworkToTheRescue the game's creator revived it on its own]], and so far have given the game ''much'' better treatment in keeping it up to date, although there's still some problems such as small-scale marketting focused largely on Facebook.
* ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'', a critically acclaimed game that marks Rayman's return to the platforming genre, Creator/{{Ubisoft}} chose to release in the U.S. the same day as two of their more anticipated products, ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' and... ''The Music/BlackEyedPeas Experience''. Guess which games got the higher sales and larger amounts of advertising. [[SarcasmMode Said Black Eyed Peas game faded into obscurity in almost an instant.]]
** 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 videogame 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.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar 3'' was ready for an early summer release, but was forced by Microsoft into a September holiday release, putting it into direct competition with the blockbuster releases of ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3''. While the sales were still strong, the online multiplayer quickly dropped in population due to the competition and never recovered.
* Poor ''Nintendo Puzzle Collection''. It was hyped for a few months as receiving an English translation and even received an ESRB rating. Its Western release sat in limbo for a few more months before being mysteriously cancelled. No one will ever know why.
* Disney Interactive Studios, publishers of the racing game ''VideoGame/SplitSecond2010'', denied developer Black Rock Studio an opportunity to make a follow up, which ended up pushing the studio into closure. This comes after the game was ''left on a cliffhanger'' (which is unusual for a racing game) and on top of that received positive reception to boot.

** ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' was a fairly successful MMO developed by Paragon Studios that by August 2012 had established long-term plans for content for the next three to five years. However, at the very end of that month, [=NCSoft=] suddenly announced the game was to be shut down and [[CreatorKiller everyone at Paragon was let go effective immediately]], with the servers getting a final shutdown in November. The official reason for ''City of Heroes''' abrupt closure is still unclear, especially as the game was making a steady profit, though the most popular belief is that Paragon was let go in favor of their other ventures with more long-term profitability in their eyes like ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' and ''VideoGame/Lineage2'' (additionally speculated to be because [[AmericansHateTingle unlike]] ''City of Heroes'', they perform vastly better in South Korea).

* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' was hit with this in its early days, between Perpetual Entertainment's utter and complete mismanagement with funds to Atari yanking money the game had gotten to pay off its own debts. The game didn't flourish until Perfect World Entertainment bought it, but if you talked to the people who visit the forums, you'd thing PWE was trying to screw the game over as well.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames'' were screwed at the get go. After Nintendo ditched Sony and partnered with Philips to make CD based games, Nintendo allowed Philips the right of develop games based on some of their IP. Unfortunately,''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' were both developed on a strict one year time limit (one year for each game) and had only a budget of $600,000 per game. As such, the developers were forced to go the cheap route by hiring non-union voice actors and several Russian animators that were fresh from graduating college. While the games back in 1993 were seen as average by critics, the discovery of the laughably bad cutscenes led the internet of today creating many WebAnimation/YouTubePoop videos.
* 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.

* Ubisoft has screwed two games set in their [[VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicAshan new Heroes of Might and Magic universe]]:
** ''Heroes VI'' had a troubled patching cycle, and Ubisoft allegedly fell out with the developer, Black Hole Entertainment. Patching support ended less than 24 months after the game was released, and with outstanding bugs unresolved.
** Support for ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic X'' was dropped ''within three months'' of the game's release.
* 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.
* ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'' is a particularly painful example of this. ''Infinity'' was a billion-dollar Toys-to-Life franchise that was outselling ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' by its third installment, in part because of the well-done LevelEditor included in the game. Surely something this successful would last for years to come, right? Sadly, this was not the case. The root of the problem lies in Disney over-estimating how much the figures made for ''Disney Infinity 2.0'' and made too many of a number of characters, resulting in a several million dollar inventory write-up. Despite this, ''Infinity'' was still a money-making machine (especially ''3.0'') and everyone was still confident in the series, including the developers. There didn't seem to be any indication that anything was wrong, and upcoming releases were still being hyped up by the developers. In spite of the write-up, it seemed like Disney still felt that ''Infinity'' was worth supporting.\\
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.
* Creator/PlatinumGames had this happen when Microsoft cancelled ''{{VideoGame/Scalebound}}''. According to accounts from industry insiders, both PG and Microsoft had wildly different ideas for the game. Microsoft wanted the game to be a simple co-op action game and marketed it as such in the publicly released trailers, which were mostly met with lukewarm reception as a SoOkayItsAverage game. However, some insiders who were able to play the full game behind close doors claimed that the game had much more depth to it that Microsoft failed or refused to show, such as a massive open world, epic quests, the ability to swap between your human character and dragon, as well as the ability to fully customize your dragon. One theory is that the creative differences between PG and Microsoft were too great for the to agree on the direction of the game, while a second theory is that PG's ideas were too ambitious for the Xbox One to handle and Microsoft decided to cut their losses.
* ''VideoGame/RageOfBahamut'''s English version had millions of players, but a series of (what many believed to be intentionally bad) changes while completely ignoring any player feedback brought game to a crashing halt. Aside from some smaller unpopular changes (changing some rewards to make them only half-sized, for instance), there were two major things that resulted in the game shutting down: One was when they changed the main method of getting the item that players were using as currency so that you'd only get untradeable versions of it (including ''retroactively'' changing the tickets for it that you ''already had in your inventory''), meaning that the only way to acquire it (unless you were already in a high-ranking guild and could earn good enough reward cards to sell) was to buy the items with actual money. This effectively killed the economy of the game and drove away players who no longer were able to grind to buy better cards. The other major change was to get rid of all events aside from "Onslaught", which was an item-burner (and after questing events were removed, no way to build up inventory for it) and highly unpopular when introduced, especially as it replaced the universally-liked "Castle Crushers" event. When they shut down the game, they claimed it was because "card games were a niche genre outside Japan" and "the mobile games market has shifted" - despite their "''efforts to keep the app afloat''". Fans took comfort, at least, that they'd be able to see many of the cards in the game's SpiritualSuccessor, ''Videogame/{{Shadowverse}}'', though there were also theories out there that they made the game-destroying changes ''because'' they wanted to focus on Shadowverse instead.
* 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.

* IO Interactive's development of ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' was a very messy, somewhat confusing one. While it received rave critical success, it was suddenly reported in May 2017 that Square Enix [[http://kotaku.com/square-enix-splits-with-hitman-creators-io-interactive-1795115574 decided to abruptly cut all business ties with IOI]], with the main purported reason being that the game had underperformed commercially, with many citing the biggest factor being the game's [[EpisodicGame episodic format]]. In a surprising twist for this scenario, however, IOI was allowed to keep the rights to the ''Hitman'' franchise, something almost entirely unheard of in a developer-publisher relationship of this sort, allowing them to independently develop and publish future ''Hitman'' games. With the release of ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' and ''VideoGame/Hitman3'' ([[MissionPackSequel effectively the future "seasons" that would've been DLC of the 2016 game]]), fully completing their intended ''VideoGame/WorldOfAssassinationTrilogy'', as well as reports of increasingly solid financial returns, it seems that IOI actually came out the other end fairly well.
* The original version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' bombed hard due to Square-Enix wanting to pump out the best kinds of graphics like they usually do with every ''Final Fantasy'' title. By having the developers use the same game engine that powered ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', the game was a massive unoptimized mess and it also didn't help that the developers had also made questionable game design during development. Reception to the game was so negative that it [[FranchiseKiller nearly killed the Final Fantasy brand.]] It took some new developers and a complete rework of the game to save it and the franchise, which it did with critical success.

* 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 oft 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.
* Creator/EpicGames ended up in a strange, self-inflicted but premeditated version of this that resulted in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' being removed by Creator/{{Apple}} from the [=iOS=] App Store in August 2020. Epic had deliberately violated App Store policy through their Mega Drop release (it contained a significantly discounted in-game {{microtransaction|s}} system that bypassed the 30% cut Apple receives from every in-app transaction), and once Apple removed the game from the App Store in response, Epic sued them, using the incident as precedent to claim Apple was holding a monopoly on distribution of software (including games like ''Fortnite'') through their App Store. As of September 2021, a judge gave a ruling that neither party was happy with[[note]]Apple was deemed in the wrong for their exclusivity of their biased payment system and were requested to henceforth inform customers of alternate payment methods outside of apps, but the App Store itself was not deemed monopolistic, and Epic was forced to pay damages for violating their platform policy[[/note]] and both sought to appeal, and it has yet to be seen if, let alone when, Apple will ever allow ''Fortnite'' or Epic to return to the App Store.
* For whatever reason, Bandai Namco is very adamant on screwing over Creator/CyberConnect2's ''Little Tail Bronx'' series, as not only have the games received little to no advertisements, their western launches were also outsourced to other companies like Atlus and XSEED, rather than handling it themselves. They've also repeatedly denied [=CyberConnect2=]'s wishes in making more games in the series, with a Bandai Namco producer reportedly throwing out a pitch for ''Tail Concerto 2'' right in front of Creator/HiroshiMatsuyama without reading it, while refusing to relinquish all rights for the series back to [=CyberConnect2=], preventing ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'' and ''{{VideoGame/Solatorobo}}'' from seeing any form of re-releases, remakes, or direct sequels. Even when [=CyberConnect2=] were able to work around Bandai Namco and make [[VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel a third game without their involvement]], it was still screwed over thanks to Bandai Namco holding onto partial ownership of ''Tail Concerto'' and ''Solatorobo'', preventing them from directly referencing past characters and events in ''Fuga''.

** ''VideoGame/ToejamAndEarl 3: Mission to Earth'' was another Xbox-exclusive Sega sequel (notice a recurring trend going on here?), bringing the series to [[PolygonCeiling 3D]] and [[ExecutiveMeddling changing the theme of the series from funk to hip-hop]] as a weak attempt at targeting the console's demographic. Naturally, it failed miserably.

* Though companies such as XSEED have offered to translate some of the ''Tales'' games left in Japan, Bandai Namco adamantly refuses, wishing to be the only company to release games in the franchise. And even if the games do see foreign releases, they tend to get poor advertisement, poor sales, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsoEmn2SjvQ idiotic censorship.]] This is implied with ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' in Japan where it was [[ChristmasRushed rushed]] to meet the anniversery date, resulting in a rather [[ObviousBeta incomplete game]] and backlash from japanese fans. Fortunately, around ''Xillia 2'', they started to get better - since this also happened after users stopped giving [=JRPGs=] the shaft for simply being [=JRPGs=].

* When presented with a completely reworked ''Conker's Quest'', now titled ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', Nintendo of America was reportedly horrified to discover that the formerly [[TastesLikeDiabetes 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 in 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.