10 Video Games That Tried To Be The Next Big Thing (And Failed)

Spore was a 2008 game designed by Will Wright, who worked on SimCity and The Sims. The title had an interesting premise as players were responsible for developing a species and seeing it evolve into an intelligent lifeform through various stages.

But despite its unique and interesting premise, Spore's gameplay just didn't live up to Will Wright's initial reveal. The 2005 tech demo featured complex stages with an emphasis on science that really seemed revolutionary. But because of a schism between Maxis about the science aspect versus appealing to children, Spore ended up streamlined in the final release.

This led to the game feeling too linear with a child-friendly art style which was a departure from what fans saw in the demo. Stages like the aquatic stage were cut while the ones present in Spore just felt too short and monotonous.

Another controversial aspect of the game was its use of SecuROM which is a DRM product developed by Sony. This feature led to a class action lawsuit filed against EA as the software could potentially harm players' computers.

Overall, despite the vast ocean promised by the developers, Spore ended up being a shallow puddle with terrible DRM software adding to the chaos.