10 Video Games Probably Made Out Of Spite
3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5
Sometimes publishers decide to greenlight games not because they've got a particularly worthwhile idea, but simply because they want to make the most of their licensing rights before they expire.
That's precisely what happened with the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise. Though the series had been flagging for many years, Activision opted to rush a fifth mainline game through production before their deal with Tony Hawk expired in 2015.
Like most of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games made by Robomodo, THPS5 was near-universally panned by critics for its janky, bug-filled gameplay and how obviously it wasn't anywhere close to being complete.
It was painfully clear that Activision wanted to squeeze a little extra cash out of the series without any care for the actual quality of the release, further tarnishing the once-good name of Tony Hawk's video games in the process.
But Activision made good with Hawk last year with the release of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remaster collection, which received strongly positive reviews and became the fastest-selling game in the franchise.