10 More Video Games That Sold Millions (Despite Being Terrible)
4. Need For Speed: Payback
Goodness, EA have shown up rather a lot on this list, haven't they? It's equal parts disturbing and impressive that one company can produce so much crap while raking in so much money.
The fourth and final EA game on this list, Need for Speed: Payback represents an interesting contrast to Medal of Honor: Warfighter (a fellow EA stablemate). Like Warfighter, Payback represents the absolute nadir of its respective franchise. Like Warfigher, Payback somehow sold upwards of 3 million copies. Unlike Warfighter, Payback didn't represent the end of its franchise as Need For Speed games are still going strong to this day, with last year's Need For Speed Unbound being something of a series highlight.
Truthfully speaking, it's a relief that Need For Speed is still going. When it's on form, it's arguably the greatest arcade racing series in the world (Burnout fans may disagree), and it didn't deserve to go under because of one bad game.
Having said that, Payback was a ?????? bad game.
Payback unsuccessfully married the series' high-octane racing with one of the blandest open worlds ever created, and further self-sabotaged with the introduction of insidious micro-transactions. Both additions, somewhat ironically, slowed the game's pacing to a crawl and ensured that Payback was best left in the franchise's rear-view mirror.