8 Amazing Video Games With TERRIBLE Marketing

8. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Let's kick this list off with a doozy. 

It's no exaggeration to say that the brilliance of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is basically inversely proportional to its utter dogwater marketing. Square Enix's incompetence with selling this game is so staggering it should probably be studied in universities the world over.

For starters, Mankind Divided swiftly received flak for using the phrase "mechanical apartheid" in its marketing to describe augmented humans being segregated from the rest of humanity, feeling that it trivialised the real-world system of racial segregation.

That was just the beginning, though - promotional concept art used the slogan "Aug Lives Latter", seemingly inspired by the real-life Black Lives Matter movement. Again, many found this tasteless and tone deaf.

And then there's the entire pre-order debacle, where Square Enix introduced a convoluted five-tier pre-order system and encouraged players to "augment" their pre-orders, with big spenders in the top tier being able to play the game four days early.

The backlash was so severe from journalists and players alike that the tiered pre-order scheme was ultimately scrapped, with all perks instead being made available to everyone who pre-ordered.

Yet despite how thoughtlessly the game was marketed, Mankind Divided is a mostly terrific follow-up to Human Revolution. 

However it ended up underperforming commercially, and the avalanche of controversies could certainly have played a part in that.