These are the mistakes that had long-term effects.
Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Video Game Fails.
"Now, let's just see our latest trailer of the Ninety-Nine Nights II. Rock and roll!"
For this list, we're looking at the business decisions of gaming companies that affected the company in a significantly negative way.
We've already released three videos highlighting the fails of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft respectively,
so most of their fails will be on those lists. Although we will be covering anything we missed herein.
"Until now, the television viewing experience has been a one-way street for the viewer."
Capcom may have some of the biggest fan favorite names under their belt,
But their business decisions in recent years have been questionable.
When Street Fighter x Tekken came out, it was discovered that extra characters and costumes were locked on the disc,
and that Capcom tried to resell them as DLC,
with the total content going for over a hundred bucks.
(Jim Sterling) "There's no defending on-disc DLC because developers don't have to do it.
"So any issues with compatibility are issues they started in the first place."
They got caught and said they wouldn't do it again.
Except they did with Resident Evil 6.
In 1982, Coleco became Atari's biggest rival with the launch of the ColecoVision,
but a year later, when the industry started to implode,
the company turned their attention to the computer market with the release of the Coleco Adam.
(Advertiser) "Now, command the powers of Adam.
"That's a game?"
Unfortunately, a string of problems with that system,
most notably the fact that an electrical surge on startup erased any disks in the drive,
- led the system to be a commercial flop. - "Is that legal?"
A few years later, the company filed for bankruptcy.
- "Adam, my launch sequence. - "Is THAT legal?"
The ironically named system that never appeared, the Phantom promised to offer a PC-like gaming experience in the living room for 2004.
"The new game service since I came on board as CEO and president company,
"is, is to have more flexibility, and have a more diversity (sic) of where we can - where we can get the product into the people's hands."
It would also have been well ahead of its time, by relying solely on a digital distribution service.
However, the console kept getting pushed back repeatedly,
until the company's website finally stopped updating.
In the end, the company Infinium Labs lost over $62 million building a console that was never released.
Youch.
"We want to work with players that can really get that down to a sort of a mass product box.
"And the best way to do that is to license that out."
Nintendo released its HD successor to the Wii, a full year before Microsoft and Sony had their next-gen consoles ready.
"It's different from anything you've played before.
"It's infinitely complex, and yet perfectly simple."
Unfortunately, their head start was squandered with a marketing failure over the confusion about the GamePad,
a lack of strong titles, and third-party developers releasing shabby ports.
Nintendo has proven it can turn the market around, as evidenced by the 3DS's recovery.
But whether or not it can do the same with its big brother remains to be seen.
"We're so convinced of it that we put that pronoun right in the name."
While its predecessor, the PSP, was able to get a small chunk of Nintendo's market share,
the Vita should have been the ideal handheld system.
"'Vita' means 'life', and we're confident that PlayStation Vita will be the first product
"that truly blurs those lines between entertainment and your real life."
But Sony's failure to tell the difference between the handheld and console markets,
along with the expensive proprietary memory cards, have led to a disappointing cycle for the Vita.
Another console with a lackluster library, strong titles like Killzone and Tearaway have yet to boost sales significantly.
"And of course, my favorite feature: front and rear cameras allowing for augmented reality experiences never before seen,
"completely blurring the lines between reality and interactive entertainment."
"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Xbox One."
Microsoft's successor to the 360, the confusingly named 'Xbox One', was a disaster from the first curtain rise.
Mostly with a reveal that showed the system more like a glorified cable box, and a heavy focus on:
"TV." "TV." "Watch TV." "TV." "TV..." "A TV remote."
"Sports." "Sports." "Sports." "Sports." "Sports."
But it was information that came out after that that sparked a backlash.
With privacy concerns with the always-on Kinect,
preventing the sale of used games, a large price tag,
and a certain business measure that we'll get into a bit later, things were rough.
"This is the beginning of a new generation of games entertainment,
"this is the beginning of truly intelligent TV."
While they've since reversed many of these controversial decisions,
the stigma of thinking that they could have gotten away with it definitely affected their launch sales.
"Xbox is about to become the next water cooler."
"Hey!
"You still don't have a Sega CD?"
During their rivalry with the SNES, Sega felt that stronger hardware was the way to go,
first releasing the Sega CD add-on, which had a few good games, but sold poorly.
Then two years later, they brought in the 32X add-on, which also sold poorly.
"Just stick it in your Genesis!
(Seductively) "Awriiiight, baybeh...
"Can we see that again?"
But if that wasn't bad enough, Sega rushed the Saturn to market,
resulting in a system that was overpriced and difficult to develop games for.
Sega finally got it right with the Dreamcast, but the damage had been done.
- [slightly disturbing laughter] - "What's happening? What's happening?"
With the success of the Famicom in Japan, Nintendo was interested in bringing their system to North America.
So in 1983, with the industry on the verge of collapsing,
Nintendo approached Atari to bring the system to North America.
But at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show, when the deal was supposed to be signed,
Atari found Donkey Kong running on the Coleco Adam.
And since that was an intellectual property promised to them, they broke the deal.
So, Nintendo went at it alone, and created the NES.
Funny how history later repeated itself when Nintendo similarly snuffed Sony, which led to the birth of the PlayStation.
(Advertiser) "The Nintendo Entertainment System!
"Now you're playing with power!"
While DRM, or Digital Rights Management, has been around since the 1980s,
the most recent trend of always needing to stay connected to the Internet has been creeping into games
to the point of making many of them almost unplayable.
"And every time I try to log in, all I get is [bleep] ERROR 37! ERROR 37!
"I keep trying to log in and I get ERROR 37!!"
Notably, the launches of Diablo 3 and SimCity, which used this DRM, were both disasters,
since overcrowding of the servers meant many people couldn't even play the game on launch day.
(Reviewer) "Work. DAMN IT. Work. DAMN IT. Work. DAMN IT.
"Well, what the hell?!"
Microsoft also attempted to use this measure on the Xbox One.
Now you see why there was a backlash?
(Reviewer) "I'd like to quote now from a statement made by Maxis, which I will read in an insulting, dismissive voice.
(Insulting, dismissive voice) "SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can't get a stable connection, you're not having a good experience."
Before we get to our number one pick, let's take a look at some Dishonorable Mentions.
- (Duke Nukem) "Hail to the king, baby. - (Babe) "What about the game, Duke? Was it any good?"
No failure could ever top the moment that almost destroyed video gaming as a whole.
Between 1983 to 1985, revenue from video games dropped almost 97%.
The reasons for this included a lack of quality control, resulting in terrible games,
oversaturation of systems on the market, and the failures of highly marketed games,
such as the 2600 port of Pac-Man and E.T., which had all but destroyed consumer trust.
It wasn't until Nintendo came into the market in 1985 to revive the industry single-handedly that things improved.
Do you agree with our list? Which boneheaded business decision made you facepalm?
"So um, each boss has a different weakness points as well.
"So, we have developed this world."
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"Now you may return to the world as you know it."