10 Biggest Scams In Gaming History

9. Atari Jaguar

THE DAY BEFORE
Atari

The Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo dominated the gaming industry during the early '90s. However, Atari hoped to steal their thunder with the first 64-bit console, the Jaguar, which was released in 1993.

Just to be clear, the Genesis and the SNES were 16-bit and the 3DO was the only 32-bit system on the market at the time. The Jaguar sounded too good to be true, since it was leagues ahead of the competition.

Surprise, surprise, it was all a big fat lie. The Jaguar was powered by five processors, two of which were 32-bit, hence why it was referred as a 64-bit system. But since the processors don't work in tandem, the Jaguar was 32-bit.

Sadly, anyone who purchased the deceptive hardware quickly realised it was nowhere near as powerful as the brash promotions suggested. 

To be fair, the Jaguar wouldn't have faired much better if it was advertised accurately, due to its limited and bland library. Due to its abysmal sales, some die-hard gamers were oblivious of the console's existence for its entire run.

Less than three years after launch, the Jaguar was discontinued, encouraging Atari to abandon the console market for good.

 
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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows