10 Reasons AAA Video Games Keep Bombing

For every incredible new game that we're treated to, there seems to be an increasing amount of blockbuster titles that have failed to impress. Despite the excitement surrounding them, Gotham Knights, The Callisto Protocol, and Forspoken each crashed hard upon release with disappointing gameplay and lacklustre receptions.

However, it's not difficult to see why AAA titles keep bombing after looking at the reasons behind their failures. Whether it's troublesome development practices or tired tropes studios can't let go of at the risk of losing profits, the same issues continue to rear their heads whenever a highly anticipated game flops.

Nobody wants a game to be bad, especially one that fans have been eagerly waiting for. Unfortunately, if audiences so much as get the slightest whiff of any of these factors, the odds of said game doing well are severely decreased.

While the appearance of any of these issues aren't an automatic death sentence, the following reasons are nevertheless harmful to a game's enjoyment and the health of the industry itself.

If developers and publishers can move past these bad practices and tired tropes, we could see a massive improvement in the games we play.

With so many huge game releases constantly being announced, there's always something to look forward to. The problem is that we, as an audience, are incredibly impatient and would prefer to have these new titles sooner rather than later.

However, video game development is a complicated procedure that requires massive amounts of work from passionate teams. Especially as games are getting bigger and more advanced, ensuring they work as intended subsequently becomes a greater undertaking.

But deadlines need to be met to please shareholders and customers. Consequently, too many games are being released unfinished.

While day one patches can mend some of the issues, many AAA games nevertheless arrive in a sorry state, with Cyberpunk 2077 being one of the worst offenders.

Just as bad is when games release with only a fraction of the content that was promised. Halo Infinite releasing without campaign co-op or forge mode proved to be a huge misstep for 343.

The games industry needs to learn to take its time and be more patient in future. As Shigeru Miyamoto said, "A delayed game is eventually good, but a bad game is forever bad."