They say hindsight is 20/20 which is likely what these developers thought when they crafted up these video game titles. We’re going to showcase some of the video game titles which were either recalled or altered before being released or shortly after. Some of these games may have been simple mistakes to just poor decision making. At any rate, check out these video game titles and just why developers made the decision to tweak a few things.
#8 X-Men: Destiny
Going hand-in-hand with Too Human, Silicon Knights also released X-Men: Destiny, an action RPG where players go through the game making choices such as if they will join X-Men or the Brotherhood of Mutants. This title released in 2011 for the current generation platforms besides PC though when it did release, it was met with plenty of negative criticisms from critics. Again, like Too Human, this was a game that was eventually pulled from online and remaining copies in stores were recalled due to the court battle between Silicon Knights and Epic Games.
#7 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
We’re sure that you’ve heard about the infamous Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas title. This game follows the franchise in terms of its controversy as each installment doesn’t avoid the criticisms due to the violence and nature of the game narratives. However, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas released with a massive backlash when one mini-game was discovered. Apparently, Rockstar Games had developed a sexual relations mini-game for the main character and his in-game girlfriend of choice. However, prior to the game actually shipping out into the market, Rockstar Games decided against the use of the mini-game and removed it from being used.
Unfortunately for Rockstar Games, the PC version was modded to enable the mini-game and it took the internet by storm. Everyone knew about the title and adult mini-game featured within it which sparked outrage while news reporters had a field day covering the event. As a result, Rockstar Games quickly started to work on a patch while retailers were pulling the game from their shelves or replacing the Mature rating with a harsher Adult-Only rating. Likewise, Rockstar required a mandatory recall for all of the video games already sold but very few actually opted to return their video game title purchased especially knowing that the version would likely become more of a collectible down the road.
This title has since been brought back into the market with a patch that completely removes the mini-game with the online patch shutting the game down for anyone that attempts to bring it back out into the public. Regardless, there are still methods online that brought the mini-game back into action so it seems that the damage is not something could fully contain.
#6 Too Human
Too Human has an interesting story as it was a title that originally was set to release on the PlayStation in 1999 but didn’t actually make it out into the market until 2008 for the Xbox 360. This was developed under Silicon Knights and played as an action RPG with the narrative set in a futuristic Norse mythology world. While many would have written the game off due to its development hell status, when the title did release, it was set to be the first part of an epic trilogy. Overall, the critics online gave the title a mediocre score but it did leave an ending that may have brought the fans back in for a second installment.
That sequel was never in the works thanks to a large court battle. Without spending too much time into the fine details, Silicon Knights took Epic Games to court after claiming that their Unreal Engine 3 was not complete and that Epic Games was saving the full engine for their own video game releases. It didn’t take too long before Epic Games countersued and won the case after Silicon Knights were found breaching a contract and copyright infringement. As a result, Silicon Knights was forced to recall all of the copies of Too Human and remove the digital marketplace download.
Furthermore, it appears that this hit from Epic Games was too much and after the case ended Silicon Knights filed for bankruptcy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll get a sequel for Too Human anytime soon if ever.
