12 Video Games Too Big To Fail (That Did Anyway)

4. Anthem

Why It Was "Too Big"

Even though the marketing suggested that EA's attempt to create its own Destiny would probably end up a bit generic and hollow, it nevertheless seemed like a game that would score broadly positive reviews and pull gangbusters business in its opening week alone.

With a clearly humongous production budget and possibly even larger marketing costs, Anthem seemed like a competent if uninspired AAA looter shooter that would serve the casual crowd just fine.

Why It Failed Anyway

Members of EA's Access Premier program were able to play Anthem a week early, and given that all of its meaningful content could be easily rinsed in a weekend, word quickly got out that the game wasn't really worth a full retail spend.

Reviews were slow-coming but largely apathetic, criticising the lacklustre multiplayer elements, forgettable story and characters, appalling loading times and general soulless nature of the gameplay grind.

Even before Anthem's release, reports emerged that development was troubled, with several prominent BioWare employees quitting the game mid-production. Post-release, it's now apparent that large sections of the game ended up looking decidedly lesser than advertised.

The Damage

Anthem wasn't a commercial failure, but its retail sales on launch week were just half that of Mass Effect: Andromeda, a figure that isn't entirely compensated for by the rise in digital gaming globally.

There have been talks of Anthem making $100 million digitally since release, but given that EA wanted this to be their Destiny - which generated $325 million of revenue in its first five days - that's not quite the splendid figure it might seem.

The week-long period of early access negativity combined with mediocre reviews were probably to blame, and above all else, when you can play everything the game has to offer for a month of Access Premier, why would it ever perform as well as Destiny?

More than all this, though, Anthem's dispiriting end result has severely dented the already dwindling reputation of BioWare, who between Andromeda and this are in desperate need of a win.