8 Exact Moments That Killed Video Game Hype

The video game hype train is a wonderful beast.

A supreme piece of metaphorical machinery that possesses the power to whip our emotions and wallets into a frenzy as soon as we board the mighty beast.

As it rockets off from the station with promises of titles to come and features we've never yet seen before, it's easy to be pulled into your lush early access seat and sip on the heady brew known as pre-order punch, and as trailers whiz past alongside slices of gameplay, it sure might look like smooth sailing from here on out.

Yet what's this? A rock of reality on the tracks? The social media metal of the rails warping? An unforeseen delay to our diesel powerhouse? Oh no!

Looks like the ride is going to be a bit rougher than expected, and just like that, the hype is killed stone dead, replaced with the crushing realization that we might have just sunk a tonne of cash into something that might not even make it to the next station.

This moment of awakening is a painful one, turning our most promising dreams into potential nightmares, and we can pinpoint the exact moment it happened for these titles. Enjoy.

When 2K were dragged over the coals with gusto by fans and critics thanks to their abysmal WWE2K20 offering, it was clear that enough was finally enough.

Lambasted for its atrocious bugs, piss-weak dialogue, recycled and outdated animations and complete lack of modes, the massive negative response sent the publisher into damage control and forced them to pull out of the annual release cycle.

This move alone was like a ray of hope for many, that by speaking with their wallets, fans might have enacted a positive change for the ailing franchise, giving the devs time to address the cracks in the foundation rather than just stacking more and more cards on top.

Sweetening the deal, 2K even promised that they would still release a wrestling game in the interim, and that it would be like nothing we've ever seen before.

However, that modicum of hype was replaced with utter horror once we saw what monster we were going to have to grapple with. The first gameplay reveals of WWE 2K Battlegrounds was enough to tombstone any hope we had of a good game into the mat, with nightmarish visuals, clunky animations, and of course gameplay that looks somehow hectic and boring, alienating both the hardcore crowd and kids in a single move.

Fingers crossed this never gets a sequel and isn't indicative of how 2K's future WWE content is going to be treated.