20 Trailers So Bad They KILLED Video Games
Sometimes a trailer is so terrible, a game can just never recover from it
How a video game is promoted can be just as crucial as the game itself, if not more so. SplitGate 2's director, Ian Proulx, figured this out tthe hard way when he showed off the sequel at 2025 Summer Game Fest while wearing a hat reading "Make FPS Great Again."
Learning that a platformer, RPG, or shoot 'em up has failed because of sloppy advertising can be soul-crushing, especially if the title in question is phenomenal.
Now, poor marketing doesn't necessarily breed failure. The teaser for Street Fighter 6 was mixed at best, but Capcom's fighting sequel went on to be astoundingly successful, critically and financially.
But certain titles weren't so lucky. Sometimes, a trailer is so dire, misleading, or cringey, it destroys positive buzz with immediate effect. Even if later commercials are viewed favourably or the reviews are solid, the initial footage may be embedded too deeply in the gaming community's psyche, preventing them from giving the property a chance.
Regardless how the finished product turned out, there's no doubt the trailers on this list sabotaged these games when they were supposed to be hyping them up.
20. Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Call of Duty was regarded as the quintessential shooter franchise almost immediately after the original debuted. However, it seemed like COD lost touch once it began incorporating fantastical elements like jetpacks and sci-fi weaponry.
Rather than acknowledging this reasonable criticism, Activision and Infinity Ward doubled down, releasing a trailer for a space-faring sequel called Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Instead of fighting grounded enemies (literally), the first trailer showed the heroes taking part in zero-gravity fights and interplanetary warfare.
Within days, the promo amassed millions of dislikes on YouTube, briefly becoming the most disliked gaming video on the entire site. It didn't help that Battlefield 1's teaser released days prior and was praised for its realistic tone and lack of space battles.
Despite Infinite Warefare's infamous reception, it ranks at the bottom of the list, since this COD entry was still a top-selling game in the UK and US. Nevertheless, Activision admitted the cosmic shooter sold less than expected and failed to resonate with fans. Learning the error of their ways, Call of Duty reverted to the "boots-on-the-ground" approach afterward, which it has maintained since (for the most part).