Video games became popular in the late 80s when titles like The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros, and others became household names. From then to 2022, thousands of games have come out on various platforms, some of which have become cult classics. While the consistency of the releases has stayed the same, things have changed a lot from a developer's standpoint.
Modern-day gaming differs from before, as every new title nowadays requires 3-5 years of development. Hence, the game makers must spend many hours shaping their vision if they want it to be a sure-shot success. Unfortunately, not every hard work pays off, especially when the games play terribly in their beta state. Let's take a look at a few such examples.
10 Overwatch 2
Overwatch is Blizzard's magnum opus and one of their best multiplayer shooters. It is an extremely popular game series that first came out on Windows, PS4, and Xbox One in 2016 and Nintendo Switch in 2019. While the team-based multiplayer fps is still perfectly functioning, Blizzard has decided to move on and replace it with Overwatch 2.
As happy as the players are, they're also disappointed that they won't be able to preserve the original game and play it after the 2nd game releases. Moreover, the rise of the new game will also give birth to new issues. Some of which are already plaguing the Overwatch 2 beta.
9 Marvel's Avengers
When the first trailer for Marvel's Avengers came out, most players expected it to be a beautifully polished and fun game like Marvel's Spider-Man. After all, it had so many superheroes, including Captain America, Black Widow, The Mighty Thor, The Hulk, Iron Man, and more.
Unfortunately, all the hopes and dreams died when people learned the game would be a live service title with dozens of microtransactions. What made it worse was the terrible beta full of issues and glitches that made everyone know it wasn't a good game.
8 Predator: Hunting Grounds
Anyone who has ever played a Predator game knows the series never really outshined the Aliens Versus Predator 2 from 2001. Hence, when the developers first announced Predator: Hunting Grounds, everyone was hopeful for a true next-gen Predator experience. The multiplayer title first came out in 2020 and looked like a nice fps shooter.
Unfortunately, it wasn't, which was further proven by its terrible beta, as players took to Reddit and discussed how bad the visuals looked on PS4. Moreover, the game ran sluggish, which turned off a lot of players from buying it.
7 Fallout 76
Old Fallout games are among the best role-playing titles on the market. From the original top-down titles to the utterly impressive sci-fi open-world of Fallout 3, the Bethesda game series has truly been one of a kind. However, nobody can disagree that the popular franchise has been on a downward path since Fallout: New Vegas.
First, the popular Fallout 4 reduced the in-depth conversation options with simple prompts. Then, Bethesda's attempt at cashing in on online play failed miserably due to too many issues. Fortunately, Fallout 76's terrible issues were already present in its atrocious beta. Hence, a few players dodged the bullet by not purchasing the game.
6 Anthem
EA's Anthem was supposed to be their magnum opus that would truly revolutionize the world of gaming. It was supposed to be a next-gen experience unmatched by every other game in the market. Unfortunately, the online multiplayer action role-playing title failed to do what players expected it to do and more.
From visuals to gameplay design, the playable version of Anthem looked like a vague resemblance to the scope EA showed when they first announced and shared the trailer. Moreover, the terrible beta also played a big role in the game's ultimate failure.
5 DayZ Standalone
The story of DayZ is quite amazing, as it started as a mod for ARMA 2 and got so popular that the developers decided to cash in and make it a standalone title. DayZ is a multiplayer survival video game set in the post-Soviet Republic of Chernarus. It carries many detailed elements from the realistic military simulation gameplay of ARMA 2 and forces players to use them to survive in a zombie apocalypse.
DayZ isn't bad, but it stayed in Alpha for over 1700 days, and by the time beta rolled around, it failed to impress the players. Moreover, players hated some early beta concepts of jumping, inventory, UI, etc.
4 Umbrella Corps
Umbrella Corps is a Resident Evil spin-off that was supposed to be the ultimate tactical shooter game that innovates the multiplayer side of the franchise. While the concept of the game wasn't bad, the gameplay design is what most people disliked. Some even thought the game meandered too far away from the basic idea of Resident Evil and felt it was just another shooter game.
Umbrella Corps also offered a single-player mode, which failed to catch players' attention. But overall, most of its issues were visible in the beta stage, from clunky and robotic movements to restrictive gameplay mechanics.
3 Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare
The Call Of Duty series is one of the most popular shooters out there, but despite that, they sometimes fail miserably due to terrible pre-release betas or underwhelming trailers. Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare sailed in the same boat as it came out at a time when players were tired of sci-fi shooters and wanted a breath of fresh air.
But that isn't really what disappointed the majority of the player base. Instead, the bad map design, unbalanced gameplay, and weapons that felt like they didn't belong in the COD universe turned people off.
2 The Division
Ubisoft was aiming high when they first showed the gameplay trailer of The Division and wowed everyone. The scope was huge, from gameplay to graphics and the overall setting. Moreover, players were happy to see the amazing user interface, the tight gunplay, and the unique gadgets, which made them anticipate the game with sheer enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, everything became clear when the beta came out, and players saw that Ubisoft had filtered down much of the next-gen gameplay they showed in the trailer. If that isn't enough, the game was nothing more than mindlessly shooting bullet sponge enemies and running around.
1 Battlefield 2042
Electronic Arts wanted to expand the multiplayer experience with Battlefield 2042, and their goal was to give players more freedom. Unfortunately, they couldn't, despite wowing everyone with a nice gameplay trailer. While betas in the franchise's history always showed problems, Battlefield 2042 took it to another level as it was flawed at the core.
Everything was awful about the newest entry in the series, from weird gameplay modes to terrible level design, relegating the players to bad pre-build characters, and cringe-worthy dialogues. Some people even claimed the 12-year-old title Bad Company 2 is still better than 2042.