9 Prolific Video Game Developers That Released Absolute Trash
Quality not assured.
Not even the best and brightest creators in the games industry are infallible.
Keeping a perfect track record is nigh-on impossible, even for those developers that have etched out an impeccable one since their inception. For every Bayonetta and Dark Souls masterminded by top talent, there follows a dip in quality that none would expect from reputable institutions like Platinum Games and From Software, but it's not always the creator that's to blame in these unfortunate scenarios.
The Legend of Korra and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, created by the aforementioned bastions of quality respectively, arrived at a time when publishers had been forced to sit up and take notice of those past successes, wanting nothing more than to get their name behind a product with their name on it, whatever the cost (or lack thereof).
That's not always the case, of course. Self-sabotage too, is an all too common occurrence, especially when it comes to long-lasting players Nintendo and Sonic Team, but more on them later.
If a game has spent more than a decade in development hell, it's also probably for the best it stays that way. Gearbox wouldn't certainly agree, but they aren't the only ones...
9. Platinum Games
What a way to squander the talents of a developer renowned for providing consistent quality in the form of tight, deliberate combat systems à la Bayonetta and Vanquish. Activision, eager to get its name behind a similarly successful action title, chose Platinum to spearhead its game based on Avatar spin-off The Legend of Korra, naturally expecting a surefire winner.
Only, Activision neglected to consider the necessary funds and time requires by Platinum to craft something of the quality it had thereto been known for. The result, as if there could be any other, was an undercooked action brawler that very nearly stole the crown from M. Night Shyamalan for worst adaptation of Nickelodeon's famed series.
Next time it hires a reputable developer to do what it does best, Activision would do well not to smother its freedom with a tight budget and tight deadlines in order to make market in time for the lucrative holiday period.