10 Recent Video Games Sent Out To Die
1. Crash Team Rumble
You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but sometimes all you need to see is a single trailer or hear a one-line premise to know a game is gonna go down in flames. And, I hate to say it, but that was always the case with Crash Team Rumble.
Following an all-timer set of remakes in Crash N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fuelled, alongside a new original game in the form of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time which rivalled the quality of the original trilogy, it seemed as though Crash was back and, more importantly, that Activision had a vision for the franchise's future.
And then the company revealed Crash Team Rumble, a live-service multiplayer spin-off.
You'd be forgiven for forgetting this thing even came out, as it seemed like such a soulless attempt from the Activision brass to turn one of the most beloved franchises of all time into a monetisable cash cow. It actually reviewed decently (it was developed by Toys For Bob, a genuinely great studio), but the interest wasn't there for a live-service Crash, and few were enticed to pony up the $30 to see if it was more than a quick cash-in.
In fact, according to reporting by TrueTrophies.com, Crash Team Ruble's PS5 player count was nearly 70% lower than another game that hit the console in June 2023 No, not Final Fantasy XVI, but rather... My Friend Peppa Pig. Tragic.
This is probably another case of Activision being too greedy for its own good; Crash Team Rumble might have won players over if it was free-to-play, but the publisher's hubris got in the way yet again.