5 Recent Video Games that have Died in 2024

Not every video game ever released can withstand the test of time. Sooner or later, their player bases will eventually burn out post-launch. However, the real question is: How long will it take them to decay once they’ve left the packages?

There are many ways a title could lose steam almost immediately after launch besides awful design. Some might be quite popular right out of the gate until the honeymoon period has run its course. Others might outright fail to scare up so much of a player base due to poor marketing.

Whatever the case, these video games failed to clear whatever bar was set for them, and were quickly put on life support. In fact, they may already have died. Here’s a list for reference:

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (Released: Jan 2024)

For the past few years, Warner Bros. and Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series has been on the decline. The latest entry in the DC action-driven IP, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seemed like the one that could turn things around; relying on the star power of the titular supervillain team this time around.

Unfortunately, thanks to a pesky leak, fans quickly learned that SSKTJL would also mark the first entry to feature a live service model — something that has been frowned upon by the gaming community, and for good reason. These types of games are made to favor monetization; hyperfocusing on the add-on content more than the core one as a result.

Though Rocksteady had delayed SSKTJL, it didn’t help its case. That and the fact that game journos confirm everyone’s fears after sampling the game during the live beta phase. In the end, SSKTJL would eventually launch to lackluster sales and is now struggling to maintain at least a hundred players, potentially driving the final nail in the BA franchise’s coffin.

Starfield (Release: Nov 2023)

Bethesda wasn’t always a company known for releasing titles doomed to fail on launch. But once the 2020s rolled out, it was clear that a paradigm shift had occurred within its tenure. Starfield, the company’s latest RPG, is the latest victim in that trend, though things did seem different at first.

Surprisingly, Bethesda’s new RPG, set in outer space as opposed to ground zero, not only managed to soar in sales but also received a standing ovation from critics. But the game is far from perfect given its lack of innovations and some technical issues akin to its predecessors. And once the honeymoon period dried up, Starfield quickly plummeted back to Earth.

Though Starfield’s player base managed to peak at a whopping 350K during its honeymoon phase, that number has since dropped to an Earth-shattering 98%. Hence, what was initially considered a new frontier for Bethesda turned out to be a brutal culling instead. That is unless the company can roll out some meaningful expansions soon.

Payday 3 (September 2023)

When it comes to being an underwhelming threequel to one of the most popular game franchises of the century, Payday 3 is an interesting case study. The third installment to the co-op heist fest had finally been released after a rugged decade-long hiatus. But before it could stomp the streets, fans were already put off by what was stirring during pre-development.

Among the details that emerged, the one that rubbed fans the wrong way was that it would be a full-on “game with live service experience,” complete with an always-online requirement attached. This didn’t bode well for those who were used to playing the previous installments solo/offline. That and many could already see the ensuing server blackout on launch day.

On launch, Payday 3 did suffer the dreaded server congestion that has brought down many a franchise before it. It also suffered from a lack of popular features; a downgrade from what Payday fans had expected with the now $70 price tag standard. Soon after launch, Payday 3 found itself scraping by with just an average of a hundred players per month–not the score anyone expected it to turn out to be.

Redfall (Released: May 2023)

Though Bethesda had closed out 2023 with one of the most overrated RPGs to come, that wasn’t the only title the company sent to an early grave that year. Previously, Bethesda, with the help of developer Raven Software, also managed to throw out the worst horror game as well: Redfall.

As a co-op first-person shooter where players team up to slay vampires in a bordered-off town, Redfall didn’t seem to understand its hook. Thanks to some horrifying design choices and instability issues, the horror title was put out to die. The truth was devs were uninterested in making Redfall in the first place and even wanted the publisher to cancel it before launch.

Unfortunately, Bethesda had other plans and the title found itself unsurprisingly doxxed by critics and players around the world the moment it went live. Though the devs are still rolling out updates to patch Redfall following its horrendous launch, the game barely cracks above a hundred players every month since launch. What a waste!

Evil Dead: The Game (Released: March 2023)

When it comes to longevity, movie tie-in games seem to have the worst luck of all the genres. Despite some notable gems, many have instantly caved to the crippling grip of Father Time. Take The Lord of the Rings: Gollum for example. Joining the ranks of the fallen is Evil Dead: The Game, though it faired much better than most.

EDTG was the twisted creation of Saber Interactive. It’s a third-person, team-based PVP experience where players could group up Ash and his famous allies or the infamous Kandarian demons in a head-to-head battle over possession of the Necronomicon within the unholy universe of the titular horror movie franchise. And it was fantastic for a while.

Unfortunately, despite almost a year of meaningful updates, the word “Dead” in the title has now taken on a far more cryptic meaning. These days, EDTG can’t even scare up close to a hundred players. That’s quite the tragic fall since it’s one of the year’s best multiplayer horror games. Moreso, it’s also one of the few movie tie-in games that stood out for being just that. Hopefully, an expansion is released to get the impure blood pumping again.