10 Games That Bankrupted Their Studios

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10 Games That Bankrupted Their Studios

It's hard to believe some of these games caused the fall of their studios. Here are 10 video games that bankrupted the studios that made them. The Video Game industry proved that it's capable of turning profits that would make major Hollywood studios blush, but there's a dark side to its lucrative model. Whether by mismanagement, poor timing or bad creative decisions, some games enter production which end up terminally poisoning their studios. Here's 10 games that ended up bankrupting their respective studios to the point of no return. Some are great, some are awful, but each one served up a knockout punch that sent its respective developer to the mat. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Medal Of Honor Warfighter Danger Close Games

Medal Of Honor paved the way for Call Of Duty. It's just that simple. However, the series would quickly lose steam when its main competitor came out in 2003, putting it in a very difficult position. Warfighter was supposed to be a bold new entry in the series, but negative reviews and poor sales nixed any hope for the franchise's recovery. EA decided to shift their focus onto the hugely popular Battlefield series of games, putting Medal Of Honor on ice. Simultaneously, the studio quietly put a bullet between the eyes of developer Danger Close Games, terminating its existence.

Daikatana Ion Storm

20 years later, John Romero's Daikatana still remains one of the most infamous video game bombs in history. It was mired in problems during its production, thanks largely to a rudderless team already working on several other projects, including Deus Ex. One terrible marketing campaign later, and Daikatana's fate was sealed. Ion Storm suffered a critical blow that led to a slow 4-year long death as they soldiered on with Deus Ex: Invisible War and Thief: Deadly Shadows. It wasn't enough to reverse their fate.

Mass Effect Andromeda BioWare Montreal

For a time, if you looked at BioWare directly, you risked going blind from their sheer magnificence as a . Then, things started to go pear-shaped. The developer wrapped up the Mass Effect trilogy with its third and final installment, which many fans felt was a disappointment compared to the near-perfect second act. Then came Mass Effect: Andromeda. By all accounts, the handling of its production was terrible. BioWare over-promised and under-delivered on everything from scope, to gameplay and graphical fidelity, ending up with a game that simply looked and felt too dated. Lack of communication between studio branches led to BioWare Montreal being absorbed into Motive Studios, while BioWare Edmonton went to work on the ill-received Anthem.

The Walking Dead Telltale Games

It's ironic that the final season of Telltale's Walking Dead series would end up being the head-shot that put it under for good. From the outside, things looked rosy, but the inside painted a different picture. Tales of mismanagement, lack of innovation and an unnecessarily difficult game engine began chipping away at the company. The critical praise extended to games like Guardians Of The Galaxy and Batman, but it wasn't enough. 90% of its 250 person workforce was laid off instantly with no severance pay, and given 30 minutes to exit the premises. It was an ugly end to a very unique niche developer.

Mavericks Proving Grounds Automaton Games

Automaton was best known for creating the hunter-killer game Deceit, but they didn't have as much success with their follow-up title Mavericks: Proving Grounds. Originally intended to be a massive squad-based action game with up to 256 players, it never saw the light of day. Early fan reaction was critical, which didn't help the game in the Fortnite/PubG era. Automaton Games shut down their U.K. office, and Mavericks was buried under the weight of other Battle Royale titles that had beaten it to the punch well in advance.

Kingdoms Of Amular 38 Studios

38 Studios ended their run following the release of Kingdoms Of Amular, which was critically praised and sold well, but was masked by funding mismanagement. The company faced massive legal troubles after it was reported that a loan from Rhode Island's Economic Development Corporation was insufficient to cover the game's production costs. By the time the story had broken, the FBI had become involved, and Rhode Island sued 38 Studios for a grand total of $4.4 million dollars. Even Wells Fargo and the EDC were dragged into the quagmire, resulting in a horrific legal mess.

Ghostbusters FireForge

If you've never heard of FireForge, don't worry. The studio only released one title before going belly up, which was Activision's 2016 Ghostbusters tie-in game to the failed box office remake of the same name. With rumors floating about that the game took a mere eight months to develop, the news was anything but a surprise. With two lawsuits under their belt, and $12 million in debt, FireForge bit the big one, filing for bankruptcy three days after Ghostbusters hit the shelves.

Too Human Silicon Knights

Silicon Knights is best remembered for bringing the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain to PC and the original PlayStation in 1996. It would later produce the excellent Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and oversee the development of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. However, it flew too high in 2008's action RPG Too Human, which released to lackluster reviews and hatred of the control scheme. The final nail in the coffin was a lawsuit between Silicon Knights and over the unlicensed use of Unreal Engine 3, which they lost. Silicon Knights never recovered and filed for bankruptcy afterward.

L A Noire Team Bondi

Love it or hate it, L.A. Noire was a pretty cool game that made a lot of advancements not just in storytelling, but the realism of character facial animations. It was well-received and sold great, which made everything that followed so much more confusing. Team Bondi sought a buyer in 2011 after it was revealed it owed over a million dollars to creditors, most of which was comprised of unpaid wages and bonuses for over 30 staff members. Unfathomable as it may seem, it served as a lesson regarding how deceiving appearances can be.

Guitar Hero Red Octane

Red Octane is another unfortunate victim of a parent company with less-than-stellar foresight. After being purchased by Activision, the decision was made to capitalize on the initial success of the franchise by flooding the market with follow-up Guitar Hero titles. Franchise fatigue set in at a shockingly fast rate, and with growing competition from Rock Band, the once-great Guitar Hero found itself in jeopardy. Lack of crossover support for peripherals didn't help matters much in an age when two kings were competing for the same crown, and someone had to go. Activision nixed Red Octane in 2010, while Rock Band continued up to 2017 with a VR release.