You can also check out our list of the biggest risks that paid off in gaming history here.
You need to take risks to succeed in the gaming industry. Of course, not every risk reaps rewards.
For every Nintendo DS and Steam, you’ll find a failure of equal proportions. Sometimes they can have a devastating effect on a company. Sometimes the creators can wipe off the rubble and continue on. Still, it’s interesting to look at these failures and see what the industry learned from them.
That’s why we decided to look at six of gaming’s biggest flops. Let’s see what went wrong, why it wrong, and what we learned from all that wrong.
PlayStation Home
Above: No one cares, ashleyNP.
Released: Dec. 11, 2008
What was it? PlayStation Home was a virtual space where PlayStation 3 users could create avatars and interact with each other while buying in-game items.
How did it do? PlayStation Home had 19 million users in 2011, according to IGN via Sony. While that sounds like a decent amount, Sony refers to anyone who ever logged into the free platform once as a user. By comparison, Second Life, a free PC game that enables people to create avatars and in-game worlds while socializing, had 36 million accounts created as of 2013.
However, Sony had huge hopes for PlayStation Home. It intended it to act as the social hub of the PlayStation 3 experience. However, despite attracting a small and faithful following, it never really caught on with a wide audience. Sony also announced plans to close Home in Japan.
(Note: This article originally stated that Sony stopped updating Home in 2012, but Sony has continued to create new patches for the service. In March of this year, Sony released an update that added trophies to Home. We apologize for this error.)
Why did it flop? PlayStation Home never found an identity. People originally thought it was a Second Life clone, but it lacked the opportunity for user-creation that game offers. It was also awkward to use as a social service. Why would you log into Home to find friends to play a game with when you can just look for people to play with inside the actual game?
Its legacy: Sony used a much more conventional approach for social features in its next system, the PlayStation 4. Friends can join parties and easily play games with each other without a single, creepy avatar in sight.
Sega Channel
Above: Well, at least the logo was cool.
Released: 1994
What was it?: Sega Channel was a pay-to-play service that accessed games, demos, and cheat codes over cable service.
How did it do? The Sega Channel had over 250,000 subscribers, according to IGN, although it was available for 20 million homes. Sega was hoping for a million subscribers by the end of the service’s first year.
Why did it flop? Timing was a part of it. The Sega Channel gave people access to Sega Genesis games, a console that was five years old at the time. The service also cost $15 a month, which many thought was too expensive at the time.
Its legacy: In many ways, the Sega Channel was a precursor to modern industry ideas like digital stores. At the time, playing a game without physically owning it seemed crazy, but now it’s incredibly common.
Nokia N-Gage
Above: The N-Gage was also known as “the taco.” You know your system might suck when that is its nickname.
Released: Oct. 7, 2003
What was it? The N-Gage was part mobile phone and part portable gaming system.
How did it do? Nokia sold more than two million N-Gages, according to the New York Times. Nintendo’s portable of that time, the Game Boy Advance, sold 81.51 million.
Why did it flop? While Nokia’s idea to combine a phone and a gaming system seemed good, the execution was poor. The first version of the N-Gage was awkward to use as a phone (you had to hold the thin side of it to your mouth and ear, causing people to mockingly call it “the taco”). It was also expensive, launching at $300.
However, it never developed a great library of games, which is a must when you’re going against the strength of Nintendo’s portable properties like Pokémon and Mario.
Its legacy: These days, smartphones host thousands of gaming apps, so every phone has doubled as a portable gaming machine.
Let’s keep looking at notable flops from the gaming industry’s past, including two from a company that’s had its fair share of successes.
I won’t spoil who I’m talking about, but it’s Nintendo.
Virtual Boy
Above: Yes, we’re literally looking down onto the Virtual Boy.
Released: Aug. 14, 1995
What was it? The Virtual Boy was a portable system from Nintendo that enabled players to see games in 3D.
How did it do? The Virtual Boy sold 770,000 devices according to a 2007 story from GamePro. For comparison, the Nintendo DS, a later handheld system, sold 158 million. Nintendo discontinued the Virtual Boy less than a year after its debut.
Why did it flop? The Virtual Boy was an awkward system. Despite being portable, you had to shove your face into the system while it held itself up on a short, wobbly stand. People also complained that using the system hurt their eyes. The graphics were also an issue, since the Virtual Boy only displayed games in red and black.
Its legacy: Nintendo would eventually release a successful 3D portable, the 3DS. Unlike the Virtual Boy, you could see the 3D effect just by looking at a screen.
Sega CD
Above: The Sega CD connected to the right of the Genesis.
Released: Oct. 15, 1992
What was it? The Sega CD was a hardware add-on for the Sega Genesis that played games off of CDs, one of the first console to do so.
How did it do?: The Sega CD sold 2.7 million devices worldwide according to the March 1995 issue of Screen Digest, compared to about 40 million Genesis consoles sold. Sega discontinued it in 1996.
Why did it flop?: First off, it cost an expensive $300. Keep in mind that the Sega Genesis was $190 at launch. And the Sega CD wasn’t even a new system; it was an add-on. Also, the Sega CD was only out for a couple of years when the Japanese company began working on a true successor to the Genesis, the Sega Saturn (which was a flop in its own right).
Its legacy: Unfortunately, the Sega CD was the first in a series of blunders for the company. Another Genesis add-on, the 32X, came out in 1994 and also failed. Sega’s next two systems, 1995’s Saturn and 1999’s Dreamcast, also couldn’t find audiences. Today, Sega makes third-party games and is out of the hardware business.
Nintendo e-Reader
Above: Why store data on chips and disks when you can use a glorified poker card?
Release: Sep. 2002
What was it? The e-Reader was a peripheral for the Game Boy Advance that could read data off of cards. This unlocked items and levels in existing games or played entire games (like classics for the Nintendo Entertainment System) straight from the device.
How did it do? Although it’s hard to find sales data for the e-Reader, Nintendo discontinued it just two years after its launch.
Why did it flop? The e-Reader was a neat experiment, but it ultimately never caught on. Scanning cards could also be cumbersome. Sometimes you needed two Game Boy Advances and a link cable to unlock levels for games like Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. Also, while it was cool to download full NES classics, you usually needed to scan multiple cards before you could.
Its legacy: Nintendo would later find a better way to capitalize on its library of classic games with the Virtual Console concept, digital stores that sell old Nintendo titles and download them to the Wii, Wii U, or 3DS.