5 video games that failed at launch but are worth picking up now: Featuring Cyberpunk 2077, No Man's Sky, and more

There are multiple video game releases that had the fans jumping off their chairs back when they were announced or revealed, but ultimately failed to meet the audience's expectations. The reasons behind these failures varied from game to game. While some performed terribly at launch (poor optimisation), others failed to deliver what they initially promised.

There are a ton of games that performed terribly at launch or were unable to please fans. Here's five titles that we personally think were one of the biggest video game failures of all time at launch.

Note: Do take the entire list provided below with a grain of salt. This article is subjective and reflects the writer's personal opinions.

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5 video games that failed to meet gamers' expectations at launch

Before we get to the list, one thing that we would like to clarify is that by no means are these games are bad or not worth playing. In fact, most of the titles mentioned below are perfectly fine right now, and even some of the best titles that you can play.

1) Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 came out back in 2020 (Image via CD Projekt Red)

Naturally, this list can not begin without mentioning Cyberpunk 2077. The game was first announced back in 2012 and led to an absolute chaos amidst fans, thanks to the wonderful world and immersive experience that the developers promised. However, at launch, it failed to deliver. For starters, people got tired of the long wait. The game was delayed multiple times before it finally released globally in 2020.

Even though people tried forgiving CD Projekt Red and still gave the video game a shot, there disappointed only increased when they noticed that the game was almost unplayable at launch. There were a ton of glitches and bugs that made the experience terrible.

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2) No Man's Sky

No Man's Sky features over 18 quintillion planets (Image via Hello Games)

Another such video game was No Man's Sky, which came out in 2016. The game is now available on all platforms including PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Before launch. developer Hello Games promised multiplayer mode and deep explorational elements like 18 quintillion planets. However, all of this was missing at launch.

Gamers who spent their hard-earned money on this game felt deeply cheated. The developers also went silent after launch. Luckily, they soon made a lot of changes to the title. Thanks to multiple free updates, the game managed to regain its player count. No Man's Sky is one of the best video games today — you can actually enjoy 18 quintillion planets in the game now, with each one being noticably different than the others.

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3) Payday 2

Payday 2 now features multiple exciting heists (Image via Starbreeze Publishing AB)

Believe it or not, Payday 2 received major backlash back when it came out in 2013, as it had a lot of bugs and glitches. To make things worse, it also had an extremely weak AI, which ruined the overall experience. Fortunately though, the developers soon came out with a damage control plan.

There were a lot of updates that brought multiple new heists to Payday 2, along with characters. It is now an excellent co-op video game that you can enjoy with your friends.

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4) Star Wars Battlefront II

EA faced a lot of criticism for Star Wars Battlefront II (Image via Electronic Arts)

There is no doubt that Star Wars has one of the most loyal fanbases ever. Back in 2017, when Star Wars Battlefront II came out, fans couldnt hold their horses. However, all the excitement soon came to an end. The game featured pay-to-win loot boxes, which disappointed most people. Electronic Arts also faced backlash for this micro-transaction as people believed this to be a money-making tactic.

EA soon decided to remove these pay-to-win loot boxes and even added a lot of free items and content to make the game better. As soon as these changes were implemented, Star Wars Battlefront II became a fan-favorite yet again.

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5) Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves is still one of the best multiplayer games (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Another big video game that did not perform well at launch but is now one of the most beloved is Sea of Thieves. Released back in 2018, the game indeed featured a beautiful world. But the biggest issue was that there wasn't much content in it. The world felt extremely repeatitive, and even boring at times. Fortunately, it was soon fixed with a lot of updates and patches, and more and more enemies and quests were added.

Moreover, there were multiple exciting crossovers as well that led to the game gaining traction again.