10 Video Games Ruined By Overhype

Any game that's pushed as the "killer" of an existing market leader is basically setting itself up to be overhyped, and that's absolutely the case with 2011's MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.

After launching in 2004, World of Warcraft quickly became the most popular MMO of all time and reached a peak of 12 million subscribers shortly before The Old Republic's release.

The press and players alike considered that a BioWare-produced Star Wars MMO might finally have what it takes to knock Blizzard off its perch once and for all.

With the promise of glossier production values than any other MMO as well as a cinematic, fully voice-acted story for each of the game's eight classes, The Old Republic had as good a chance as any game to topple World of Warcraft.

But despite its strong launch, it quickly became clear that there just wasn't enough content in the base game to keep players subscribed for the long haul. As such, the player count soon enough fell off a cliff, causing it to go free-to-play less than a year after release.

Now to be clear, The Old Republic has turned a massive profit for EA regardless, having grossed almost $1 billion by late 2019.

But considering that World of Warcraft had grossed a stonking $9.23 billion by 2017, and The Old Republic has just a fraction of its overall player count, it never got anywhere close to threatening its spot.

Ultimately The Old Republic is an enjoyable experience, albeit one whose most worthwhile content could be quickly burned through, in turn failing to sustain long-term interest.