10 Beloved Video Games Series That Have Been Ruined By The Industry

5. Command & Conquer

Franchises Ruined
EA

"Cha-ching!" Ahhh, the sweet, silly sounds of early Command & Conquer games. Nothing quite like 'em, and certainly nothing of comparable charm in more recent outings. Command & Conquer spawned the real-time strategy genre as we know it today, with Red Alert quite literally changing the game in 1996.

The series had a pretty steady run for over a decade after that. It was only in 2008, with the eagerly-anticipated Red Alert 3,that the classic C&C formula was beginning to look a bit tired. EA subsequently tried updating it with Command & Conquer 4, but a horribly paced single-player campaign, and EA's as-ever ill-advised dabbling with 'Always Online' DRM ruined it.

EA tried rebooting the series in 2013 with the simply-titled 'Command & Conquer', but that was doomed from the moment the words 'free to play' were mentioned. Fans were furious that the game wouldn't have a single-player campaign, to which EA benevolently responded that it would in fact include one.

Not that this ever happened, because EA unceremoniously canned the game, blaming it on the multiplayer aspect while the developers attributed it to "corporate shenanigans". For now, at least, the once-great series is completely off the map.

Contributor
Contributor

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.