10 Biggest Video Game Botches Of 2021
1. EFootball 2022 Live Service
For years, Konami were regarded as the 'older brother's go-to' for football simulation titles. Their Pro Evolution Soccer series was often seen as more innovative and better value than their Fifa counterpart, so their decision to rebrand to 'eFootball' ahead of their 2021 release brought a lot of interest initially.
The game was announced to be free-to-play in what was a first for a headline football simulation title, but it soon became clear that eFootball was going to be one of the biggest disaster stories of the year.
Using the Unreal Engine 4 for the first time in the franchise, right from the initial trailer, eFootball was panned by fans and critics alike for some of the most 'atrocious'-looking visuals, laggy engine, poor gameplay, and messy control responses for the genre. The screenshot of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Scott McTominany, in particular, made the game one of the most infamous of the year, and even the final release wasn't able to save it from drowning in negative feedback.
To date, eFootball 2022 holds a 92% negative reception on Steam and Konami have had to publicly come out and apologise for the release, promising to fix the many issues present (fixes which keep getting delayed).