Video Game Flops That Bankrupted Studios

If there's one thing that gaming fans have learned over the years, it's that it can sometimes be impossible to determine what will and won't be successful. Sometimes expected flops turn out to be huge hits. Other times, it seems like nothing could have saved a particular game or console from crashing hard. But for every overlooked gem or overrated hit, there's a game out there that just didn't sell enough to meet expectations. And unfortunately, in those instances, someone pays the price.

It can be especially difficult for a developer to recover after a game underperforms. The failure of one game can lead to a lack of funding or enthusiasm for the project that is meant to follow. There have even been times when a game has flopped so spectacularly that it's spelled the end of the development house that made it. Here are a few examples of video game flops that bankrupted studios.

The Last Express was an interesting game. Created by Prince of Persia mastermind Jordan Mechner, The Last Express featured an interesting rotoscoped style of animation and told the story of a murder mystery on the Orient Express. This production from Broderbund Software and Smoking Car Productions had such a classically intriguing concept that it's hard to believe it failed as badly as it did.

Sadly, this is due to the fact that Broderbund's marketing staff left the company mere weeks before the game was released. This resulted in a non-existent marketing campaign, meaning that nobody knew this game that had taken four long years to make was even out. The game sold so poorly that Broderbund was forced to sell its assets to The Learning Company, which allowed the game to fall out of print. The Last Express ended up being the only game produced by Smoking Car Productions, which folded after this game's failure. 

While the game was briefly rereleased by Interplay a few years later, according to Destructoid, that version also quickly went out of print.

Set during a violent revolution in South America, Tale of Tales' Sunset was an interesting take on the adventure game genre. It was also the beneficiary of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. Sadly, the general public did not seem to have the same passion or interest in Sunset as the folks who donated to the Kickstarter did. The game ended up receiving mixed reviews and only sold around 4,000 units total — a number that included the copies given to Kickstarter backers.

Having spent more money on the game than it had raised and being unable to recoup those costs through sales, Tale of Tales had to close shop. For what it's worth, the game's creators did their best to maintain positive and hopeful attitude following the closure of their studio. In a blog post detailing the end of Tale of Tales, studio founders Michaël Samyn and Auriea Harvey expressed a willingness to move forward, albeit outside of the gaming industry.

They wrote, "Creativity still burns wildly in our hearts but we don't think we will be making videogames after this. And if we do, definitely not commercial ones."

Developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision, Blur was a racing game with realistic graphics and arcade-style gameplay. It played like the bonkers love child of Forza and Mario Kart, so it seemed like a sure-fire hit.

Blur received pretty decent reviews, but saw sales that fell well below what Activision had hoped. Following Blur's disappointing retail numbers, Activision put Bizarre Creations' staff on temporary leave while the publisher reportedly tried to find a buyer for the developer. Unfortunately, the studio was ultimately closed. The closure of Bizarre Creations also led to the cancellation of a pretty great-looking Blur sequel, which would have incorporated new weather mechanics and power-ups.

A few months after the closure of Bizarre Creations, some of the former studio heads were very candid about their disputes with Activision. In a piece published in Edge (via GamesRadar), it was revealed the publisher interfered with just about every aspect of production. Former Bizarre Creations Managing Director Martyn Crudely said that the partnership with Activision negatively affected the team's morale, which in turn led to a compromised final product.

It cannot be overstated just how much of a flop APB: All Points Bulletin was. APB was an ambitious GTA-style MMO (that predated Grand Theft Auto Online) The game was in production for about five years and reportedly cost over $100 million to produce. In other words, it had to be huge or developer Realtime Worlds was in big trouble. 

Following a series of delays, the game was released to mediocre reviews. However, APB was also subject to a controversy over the review embargo enforced by Realtime Worlds. In a move that was heavily criticized at a time, Realtime asked that critics wait until a week after the game's release to publish their reviews.

It also just didn't sell well enough to recoup the money put into it. Less than six weeks after APB's release, the company filed for bankruptcy and let go of most of its employees. Less than three months after the release of All Points Bulletin, Realtime Worlds announced that the game's servers would be shut down and that it would be discontinuing support for the game. Luckily for fans, the game was eventually rescued and relaunched by GamersFirst as APB: Reloaded.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines deserved better, as did the developer that made it, Troika Games. Bloodlines was an ambitious game, but it was unfortunately released in an incomplete form. Even worse, due to cutbacks at Troika, the remaining staff were unable to patch all of the game's problems. Also, to add insult to injury, Bloodlines came out on the exact same day as Half-Life 2 and with little in the way of marketing.

As Bloodlines lead writer Brian Mitsoda described to Eurogamer, "It was dumped on the market at the worst possible time — most people didn't even know we were out. Both fans and the Troika devs are always going to wonder what the game could have been like with another six months [of work]."

Following the colossal failure of Bloodlines, Troika Games couldn't secure funding for any further projects. The developer closed its doors for good very soon after Bloodlines' release. However, the game became regarded as a cult classic. The fledgling vampire franchise is due to rise from the dead in the form of an upcoming sequel from developer Hardsuit Labs.