10 "Next Big Thing" Video Games That Completely Flopped
2. No Man's Sky
Despite only being created by a small team of people, hype and expectations for No Man's Sky quickly spiralled out of control. A procedurally generated sim that invited players to explore a vast infinite universe, the title sparked the imagination of players around the globe who were all desperate to find out what possibilities lay at the heart of this ever-expanding world.
For months speculation ran rampant about what you could and couldn't do in the game, with the promise of space combat, warring alien races and multiplayer all being included when No Man's Sky shipped.
However a team as small as Hello Games couldn't possibly create all of these different features, and the expectation of what the game could be started to eclipse what the game actually was.
Of course the developers didn't help themselves either, never attempting to temper expectations or be clear as to which features were actually going to make it into the game.
Consequently No Man's Sky received instant backlash when it turned out to be another run of the mill survival and crafting sim that happened to be set in an infinitely explorable galaxy. Players weren't happy, but with the wires as crossed as they were, they were never going to be.