9 Promising Video Games That Were Totally Ruined By Publisher Meddling

5. Perfect Dark Zero

Perfect Dark Zero
Microsoft

A lot of people back in the early 2000s thought that Microsoft's acquisition of Rare would spell disaster for the beloved developer, and they were seemingly proven right when their first big release for the publisher, Perfect Dark Zero, hit shelves in 2005.

Originally in development for the first Xbox, the sequel to the classic shooter was instead changed to be a launch game for Microsoft's new console late in production, essentially meaning that the studio had re-do everything for a game that was nearly feature complete already.

Not even having access to the full, finalised dev kits though, Rare were only working with a third of what the Xbox 360 was actually capable of. Not only that but the mad dash to hit the new deadline meant that the title was also littered with bugs, making the title's sluggish combat even more frustrating than it already was.

Not living up to the promise of delivering the next generation of graphical power, Zero's hampered development resulted in a false start for Microsoft's new console.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.