20 Recent Video Games That Were Sent Out To Die
5. Tron: Catalyst
With the Tron franchise having such a passionate fanbase, top-down action adventure game Tron: Catalyst should've basically sold itself.
It certainly didn't hurt that the game was developed by legendary Thomas Was Alone designer Mike Bithell, and had the mighty backing of publisher Devolver Digital, who typically do a stellar job of marketing their games.
But Tron: Catalyst launched near-silently last June, where it peaked at a brutal 56 players on Steam and still has less than 100 reviews on the platform, suggesting absolutely dire sales.
This was likely caused by an unfortunate combination of the Tron brand's fading popularity, the niche nature of the games Bithell develops, and the fact few Tron fans were seemingly in the market for a "AA" top-down action game.
Devastatingly, the game's commercial failure combined with Bithell's struggle to find more work for his team led Bithell Games to lay off the majority of its full-time staff back in August.