28 Years, 28 Games

[ShiraNoMai]

...I'm going to need you to justify why Concord wasn't even considered for even a runner up.

[Maniakkid25]

Mainly because I hadn't even heard of Concord before it imploded, but Skull and Bones and Outlaws I did know about before they released. Plus, Skull and Bones I believe was in development hell for longer, and was the anticipated spiritual successor to Assassin's Creed: Black Flag.

[ShiraNoMai]

This is a retrospective of gaming in your lens specifically, right? Cuz brother, I could sit here all day and argue how Concord is single-handedly the worst financial flop that the gaming industry has seen since the infamous crash of 1983 and was literally shutdown 12 days after launch, cementing its failure into the graveyard. At least Skull and Bones is still live and playable! Concord is literally abandonware at this point. I pray to every god who would listen to let Sony learn from this experience and see that their carrot chasing and money-pumping tactics aren't it.

[Moonface]

To be fair, Concord was announced only three months before release whereas the two Ubisoft games had 2+ years of marketing time. I'd also argue that people did initially have hope for Skull & Bones because people had been asking for the pirate ship gameplay of Black Flag to be made into a standalone game for ages and thought this would be it, only for that to not be the case.

[Maniakkid25]

This is a retrospective of gaming in your lens specifically, right? Cuz brother, I could sit here all day and argue how Concord is single-handedly the worst financial flop that the gaming industry has seen since the infamous crash of 1983 and was literally shutdown 12 days after launch, cementing its failure into the graveyard. At least Skull and Bones is still live and playable! Concord is literally abandonware at this point. I pray to every god who would listen to let Sony learn from this experience and see that their carrot chasing and money-pumping tactics aren't it.

This list isn't about games that failed. It's about games that didn't live up to their hype. Skull and Bones is still playable, but it was also the anticipated spiritual successor to what is arguably the best Assassin's Creed game in the series -- which it did NOT live up to. If this list were just about games that failed, Final Fantasy XIV, Fable, Bioshock, and Destiny would not be on this list.

Look, people are pissed about Concord. I get that. But based on what I know now about the game, even if the game didn't crash and burn, it would probably still be a laughing stock. You can succeed and still be considered bad; just ask Resident Evil 6 -- no, I will not let that go! What happened to the development team is despicable, yes, but they also went through what Anthem did in 2019 -- down to the lack of leadership and waffling on ideas -- and NO ONE talks about Anthem's development cycle anymore! Concord is a stain on the industry, but we've been through this song and dance before, and I, personally, do not see why this is different from any other time a game has publically failed.

[ShiraNoMai]

Ah, yeah I see now, I completely whiffed the idea of the thread being very particularly about hype jading you over the years. Yeah Concord was the weakest fart for the people, but boy did those shareholders eat it the hell up. Well, until the aftermath of course

Yeah for sure then, Skull and Bones is a hell of a fucking ride just to achieve the most mid launch. Typical of Ubisoft

[Moonface]

I'm curious, if it were to ever actually leave Early Access and see a proper release, would Star Citizen ever end up on this list or no? It's been so long I doubt anyone has any hype left for it, but given the amount of crowdfunding it's achieved it's clearly kept up a high level of interest over the last decade.  Granted, we don't know how a full release would turn out but I can't imagine anything could be achieved that will make people who don't follow the game currently view it as worthy of the time and money invested into it.

[Maniakkid25]

Is there a possibility of Star Citizen ending up on this list? I don't think so, but not for the reason you are immediately thinking. See, I think Store Citizen is in a perpetual pre-alpha state, and the game is going to be vaporware with nothing to show for it despite it being the largest crowdfunded video game ever. If Star Citizen ever gets an actual release date -- not even released, just a date that they expect the game to come out -- I will eat my own shoes.

[Moonface]

Is there a possibility of Star Citizen ending up on this list? I don't think so, but not for the reason you are immediately thinking. See, I think Store Citizen is in a perpetual pre-alpha state, and the game is going to be vaporware with nothing to show for it despite it being the largest crowdfunded video game ever. If Star Citizen ever gets an actual release date -- not even released, just a date that they expect the game to come out -- I will eat my own shoes.

Would it be categorized under something different to vaporware though since that usually pertains to products announced but never made available to buy, whereas Star Citizen can at least be bought and played?

I don't know how interesting it would actually be, but I just had the curious thought of how the list in the OP would be if you were to pick games for each year by platform exclusivity?

[Maniakkid25]

Oh, don't be fooled. You can buy a bunch of stuff and play around with it in your own little base, but I have a good feeling that, after this long in development, that's gonna be the ONLY thing you can do. The basics you can mess around with. The actual, functional game is gonna be vaporware, and Wikipedia (currently) agrees with me, given it's on its list of Vaporware video games.

If I had to do it by platform? Oh god, I'd be here a while. The problem is, especially in modern times, there are so many cross-releases and ports of games that isolating them to one console becomes impossible. Hell, Resident Evil 4 was originally a Gamecube exclusive! Anyone remember that?! So yeah, it would be an absolute nightmare.