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

12. Mass Effect: Andromeda

Why It Was "Too Big"

No matter the controversy surrounding Mass Effect 3's less-than-stellar ending, the sci-fi RPG franchise was largely considered untouchable both critically and commercially, registering mighty Metacritic scores and totalling 14 million units sold.

The fourth game, Andromeda, was touted as an apology of sorts for Mass Effect 3's bungled ending, while soft-rebooting the series and introducing the now-pervasive open-world gameplay elements.

Pre-release, the game looked fantastic, and the easy consensus was that it'd be a hit consistent with its predecessors.

Why It Failed Anyway

EA rather foolishly allowed players to try the game a week early on EA/Origin Access, where it immediately became clear that new dev team BioWare Montreal was in way over their heads.

Players reported embarrassingly bad character animations right out of the gate, not to mention a wealth of bugs and a depressingly repetitive core gameplay loop.

It emerged in the wake of Andromeda's release that its production was deeply troubled, stemming from both a shift to EA's proprietary Frostbite 3 engine and constant personnel changes throughout development.

The Damage

Andromeda released to Metascores in the early-to-mid 70s across platforms, roughly 20 points below the scores of the three prior games, while its abundance of visual imperfections quickly caused the game to go viral and become a significant embarrassment for EA and BioWare.

EA has been fairly cagey about disclosing precise sales figures for the game, but it's been widely accepted by industry analysts that Andromeda likely under-performed significantly compared to the previous entries in the series, making a minor profit at best.

EA quickly put the series "on hold" following Andromeda's relative failure, though BioWare higher-ups insist that the franchise is still alive. Hmmm.