10 "Assumed To Fail" Video Games That DESTROYED Expectations

Pokémon almost didn't make it at all.

By Taylor Linyard /

Making a video game is by no means an easy feat, much like writing a book or directing a movie. Those who actually take the super difficult first steps on the long and treacherous road of content creation should be applauded.

Advertisement

In the video game industry, like most industries, there are often two kinds of groups focusing on creating the products we interact with almost on a daily basis:

The creative video game developers who do all the hard work building the unique digital worlds we experience, and the corporate executives who fund and edit the final product with an overall goal of appeasing shareholders and making a huge return on their investments.

Thus we sometimes get games overproduced by those who only want high returns on their investments, only to create a flop, or games undersold by their production companies that are actually some of the most popular games ever made.

With that in mind, the following are video games sent out to die, that surprisingly achieved near-universal acclaim from players, shocking developers and executives alike with massive monetary returns.

10. Fortnite

Believe it or not, there was a time few people knew what Fortnite even was. The game was basically EPIC Games’ attempt at making a Left 4 Dead clone with the goal of convincing people that they should start looking outside of Steam for places to buy computer games digitally.

Advertisement

People received Fortnite rather lukewarm. The story was fundamental, the gameplay was lackluster, and many people actually hated the art style, complaining that the game was clearly marketed towards children who weren’t even old enough to play due to the game's initial T rating.

In fact, the only thing people kinda liked about Fortnite was its unique building mechanics, creating custom first to hold off the undead mutant hordes.

Then in a last-ditch attempt at drawing in players, Fortnite decided to take from the then-famous PUBG and apply its battle royale system as a separate game mode.

And for some reason, this propelled Fortnite from a relatively unknown game into one of the most popular and lucrative games ever made.

The new battle mode became appealing to players of all ages, it drew in professional battle royale gamers, it practically funded the EPIC Games Store launch, and it has slowly evolved into a worldwide phenomenon.

Fortnite nowadays is a multiversal playground. The spin-off mode is ever evolving and is chock-full of characters like Rick and Morty, Marvel, DC, Dune, The Rock, Travis Scott, and even Ariana Grande.

Advertisement