10 Recent Video Games Sent Out To Die

EA's Immortals of Aveum had a rough ride in 2023. It garnered a lot of good will for being a rare original big game from the publisher, but it was sadly fighting an uphill battle from the get go. 

The next-gen exclusive never quite caught the attention of players, with trailers looking promising, but not exactly proving why Immortals should be considered the next big thing. Sold on its colourful magic-based first-person combat system and enthusiastically championed in trailers by actors said to be bringing to life a compelling story within the game, nothing particularly looked bad, but there was nothing that grabbed your attention either. 

Its $70 price point no doubt played a large role in players choosing to not gamble on a lukewarmly-reviewed debut project from an unproven studio, especially in a release window which saw the likes of Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, Mortal Kombat 1, Lies of P and Armoured Core VI vying for the audience's attention. All these factors resulted in a pretty disastrous launch, and were acknowledged by the studio when it announced that 45% of its staff were being laid off shortly afterwards. 

It's another sad story without a happy ending. Immortals of Aveum might not have ever been destined to do Elden Ring numbers, but it's hard to shake that it could have found its audience if it had been dealt a different hand, kind of like Dead Island 2 managed earlier in the year.