8 Popular Video Games That Fell Apart After Incredible Openings

Weirdly, various studies have shown that the majority of people - 9 out of 10, in fact - don't finish video games. Though, the gaming industry itself is forever searching for that perfect sweet spot between 'value for money', pacing and a given game's mechanics evolving over time.

Very, very few games actually get this balance right, with the likes of Ubisoft's more recent output giving you every possible attack animation and item within the opening couple hours, only for the back half to regress into wash, rinse, repeat. But hey, at that stage you've got more than a movie's worth of time from said game and Ubi have your cash, so who cares if it falls apart, right?

Wrong. We care. I care, and I'd wager after dropping 60 bones on a new game that should last you a few weeks, starting to feel as though the developers just gave up can really hurt a title's reputation in the long run.

First impressions count for a lot - they count for pre-orders and justifying full price at launch the most - but honouring that initial rush of positivity is something even some the biggest games have failed to do...