Usually, the apparent success or failure of a video game can be seen almost immediately. High sales, positive reviews, and cultural impact can be measured instantly, especially in the age of the internet. Many games, especially those from triple-A studios,are instantly fast-selling and go on to become huge successes. Other games, however, hardly make a splash at launch and seem to fade into obscurity.
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However, just because a game fails at launch doesn’t mean it isn’t worth playing. And it definitely doesn’t mean that it won’t eventually find its audience of dedicated and loving players. Sometimes, a game fails to meet financial expectations at launch, only to resurface years later as a hidden gem within the medium.
6Nier
A spinoff of theDrakengardgames, the originalNier,unfortunately, didn’t fare nearly as well as its sequel upon release. The action role-playing game,which combined an epic science-fiction narrativewith multiple styles of gameplay, underperformed compared toDrakengard, selling roughly 500,000 copies.
The game has become a cult classic in the years that followed, however. Positive fan reception eventually convinced the game’s original developers to go ahead with a sequel. Released roughly seven years later,Nier: Automataended up surpassing expectations, selling 6.5 million copies worldwide. The unexpected success ofNier: Automataprompted a remaster ofNier, titledNier: Replicant, which ended up selling 1 million copies.
5Psychonauts
DespitePsychonautsbeing considered to be one of the best video games ever made today,it was a huge financial failure at the time. When it first came out in 2005,Psychonautshad only sold roughly 400,000 copies. The game was such a massive disappointment that it became a huge financial loss for publisher Majesco Entertainment. Despite this,Psychonautswas a huge critical success, winning several end-of-the-year awards.
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Psychonautsmay have failed to find its audience at the time, but eventually, the game was able to sell copies in the millions. Thanks to its fun gameplay and unique art style, the game’s quality spread via word-of-mouth. Developers Double Fine eventually released the game for digital distribution, and by December 2015, it had sold 1.7 million copies. A sequel,Psychonauts 2, was released in 2021.
4Beyond Good & Evil
The critically acclaimed and influential action-adventure game from the creator ofRaymanhad originally gotten off to a rocky start. The initial release ofBeyond Good & Evilwas met positively among critics and was the recipient of several Game of the Year awards and nominations. Despite this, the game failed to meet financial expectations. Releasing in the holiday season of 2003, a combination of an over-saturated market and lack of quality marketing from Ubisoft resulted in the game performing poorly.
Eventually, positive reception led to the game garnering a cult following, and the Xbox 360 release eight years later ended up surpassing expectations in terms of sales. Creator Michel Ancel originally envisionedBeyond Good & Evilas the first installment in a trilogy; the initial failure of the supposed first game seemed to destroy any sequel possibility. However, due to the game’s cult following,a sequel is currently in production, as well as a Netflix film adaptation.
3Spec Ops: The Line
The soft reboot of theSpec Opsfranchise was reviewed positively at its release, but it, unfortunately, didn’t share the same success commercially. Despite positive reviews and several award nominations for its story, the game failed to meet sales expectations, resulting in a financial loss for publishers Take-Two Interactive, ultimately resulting in the company’s low financial results in the following fiscal year.
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Spec Ops: The Linehas been highly received,especially for its thoughtful and dark narrative. Because of this, the game was able to garner a strong cult following in the years since its release. The initial poor sales, however, led to the end of theSpec Opsfranchise.
2Deadly Premonition
Despite poor sales and polarizing reviews,Deadly Premonitionhas been able to find a cult following that some may say it deserves. The open-world horror game was met with highly divisive reviews upon release, even holding the Guinness World Record for being the most critically polarizing survival horror game of all time. This may have led to the underperformance of sales, selling only 50,000 copies after the first three months of release.
Gamers have been a lot kinder toDeadly Premonitionin the years since its release. The widely varying opinions among game critics, combined with the odd quirkiness of the title, eventually got the game noticed. The cult following has only grown stronger in the years since, with some publications even going as far as to name the title as an example of video games as an art form. A sequel,Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise, was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2020.
1Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
The positive reception and several awards were unfortunately not enough to push the sales ofEnslaved: Odyssey to the Westtowards anything noteworthy. Loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese novelJourney to the Westand originally envisioned as an animated film,Enslavedsaw the pairing ofsci-fi screenwriter Alex Garlandand acclaimed voice actor Andy Serkis in a unique video game project. Unfortunately, that creativity didn’t translate into sales. While publishers Namco Bandai hoped to sell over 1 million copies,Enslavedhad only sold 730,000 by the next year.
Developers Ninja Theory and director Tameem Antoinades have fortunately grown in popularity in recent years, thanks to the critical and commercial successes ofDmC: Devil May CryandHellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. As such,Enslavedhas also enjoyed newfound popularity among fans in the years since its release. Due to the initial poor sales, however, any potential sequel was scrapped.
