8 Video Games That "Couldn't Fail" (That Still Failed)

Square Enix categorically knocked it out of the park with their first stab at a Final Fantasy MMORPG, given that by 2012, Final Fantasy XI had become the most profitable game in the entire franchise.

It simply made sense that their MMO follow-up, Final Fantasy XIV, would repeat the very same success, and with all the resources that Square Enix has, it'd be one of the few MMORPGs which could possibly hold a candle to the king of the genre, World of Warcraft.

However, FFXIV was widely panned on launch due to its buggy gameplay, atrocious interface, and the general feeling that Square Enix sent an unfinished game out into the world.

The fallout was immediate - key personnel were swiftly removed from working on the game, a planned PS3 version was delayed and later cancelled, and Square Enix dropped their fiscal expectations for the year by a brutal 90%.

But the real shock came the next year, when the company decided to scrap this iteration of the game and rebuild it from the ground-up. Ultimately FFXIV was closed in November 2012, with its replacement, A Realm Reborn, launching the next summer.

To Square Enix's credit, they were contrite about the first iteration's failure and worked hard to make the second attempt worthy of the franchise's good name.

As of last year, Final Fantasy XIV racked up an impressive 30 million players and surpassed Final Fantasy XI as the series' most commercially successful release.