12 Most Disastrously Disappointing Video Game Launches In History

7. Mass Effect 3

One of the most infamous examples of public outcry following a game's launch, Mass Effect 3 went down about as well as bacon-scented bath bombs on a vegan honeymoon.

People (read: everyone) were p*ssed, the result seeing thousands of fans who felt completely betrayed by the game's finale taking to Consumerist's online pole and voting EA the "Worst Company in the World."

The larger issue came from the huge disparity between pre-release interviews and real-world execution, as the developers seemed to be painting a completely different version of Mass Effect 3 than we actually got.

A rather incendiary forum post entitled "Bioware's lies condensed" can be read over here, but sufficed to say if you've played ME3, the following pre-release quotes from Associate Producer Mike Gamble will make your blood boil:

“There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets?""Every decision you've made will impact how things go [...] You'll get answers to everything [...] Because a lot of these plot threads are concluding and because it's being brought to a finale, since you were a part of architecting how they got to how they were, you will definitely sense how they close was because of the decisions you made and because of the decisions you didn't make”

Bioware eventually caved and released free DLC entitled the "Extended Cut" to placate those who wanted further explanation for the randomly celestial way ME3 went, but the damage was done. Mass Effect 3's launch period and subsequent months were dogged by negative press, and the series had to go dark for years, just to escape the volleys of arrows being sent its way.