10 Times In Gaming You Got SCAMMED
Battlefield 2042's refund petition has amassed more than 200,000 signatures.
As much as we all love video games, it's important to always remember that games are a business above all else, and even the most beloved developers are primarily fixated on generating profits.
While the majority of games tend to deliver more-or-less what players expect, sometimes games fall so egregiously far of the mark that players can't be blamed for feeling like they've been scammed or even flat-out ripped off.
These 10 video games all deviated far enough from what was advertised that those who enthusiastically threw down money day-one understandably felt like a corporation had tricked them.
Perhaps development was tougher than expected and the publisher desperately attempted to cover it up, or maybe the marketing straight-up deceived players into expecting a different, more compelling experience than the one actually on offer.
Whatever the motivation, these 10 games all categorically failed to deliver on player expectations and in turn left them feeling as though they'd been duped out of their hard-earned moolah.
In some cases the publisher was eventually pressured to provide refunds, or maybe the game was eventually whipped into shape, but each nevertheless serves as a cautionary tale: don't trust marketing, don't pre-order if you can help it, and read reviews before committing your cash...
10. Fallout 76
Though there was understandable skepticism that Bethesda could deliver on all of Fallout 76's ambitious promises, the allure of a multiplayer-centric Fallout game absolutely spoke for itself.
And while just about any Bethesda game launches with its fair share of jank, Fallout 76 took this to the extreme of gross incompetence, with game-breaking bugs preventing some players from even playing it, in addition to random crashes and ineffective measures against cheaters.
This is without getting into the game's core design, which consisted of boring, generic MMO quests in a world bereft of any human NPCs at all.
As a result, Fallout 76 felt soulless and barren upon launch, with many critics and players alike opining that it was basically a failed experiment.
Throw in egregious prices for in-game cosmetics, a Special Edition of the game that fell far short of expectations, and Bethesda's cheeky decision to launch a convenience-based subscription service (and a buggy one at that), and it was easy to feel like the publisher was showing utter contempt for its own customers.
Though Fallout 76 is certainly in better shape today - its Wastelanders expansion received mild praise - the fact remains that Bethesda tried to coast off the Fallout series' goodwill and take as many millions of players as possible for a ride without a quality product to back it up.
Ultimately Fallout 76 was a commercial disappointment for Bethesda, even as it limps on to this very day.