Some games are smash hits because they’re great. Others make millions for reasons that still baffle us. Sometimes, it’s marketing hype. Other times, it’s because of sheer luck. Either way, these titles raked in cash despite being broken or boring. And we’re not talkingcult classicsormisunderstood gems. We mean games that critics and players widely agreed were just bad, at least when they launched (yet they flew off the shelf).
In some cases, the developers even doubled down and made sequels. So let’s look at some games that didn’t deserve success, but got it anyway. You might have even bought one without realizing what you were walking into.
On paper, this should have been a slam dunk. Gearbox had the Aliens license, a huge fanbase, and years of hype. But when it was finally released in 2013, players were met with clunky AI and a story that barely made sense. Critics tore it apart.
Still, thanks to preorders and aggressive marketing, it reportedly sold over 1.3 million copies. Many fans didn’t realize how unfinished it was until they’d already spent the money, and by then, the damage (and profit) was done.
This was just functional enough to be fun for a weekend, especially if you were a kid in the early 2000s. But beyond the yellow paint job and voice clips, Road Rage was a shallow knockoff of Crazy Taxi with janky controls and reused assets. Sega even sued over the similarities.
Despite this, the game sold over one million copies. Nostalgia and The Simpsons brand did all the heavy lifting, proving that fans will show up even when the game barely does.
After 15 years in development, the bar was low, but somehow Duke Nukem Forever still limbo’d under it. The game felt stuck in a time capsule, complete with outdated humor and endless loading screens. It was critically panned across the board.
But curiosity sells, and decades of “is it real?” coverage built up a surprising launch. Take-Two claimed it turned a profit, thanks largely to the marketing and the meme-level notoriety.
Even loyal wrestling fans had trouble defending this one. WWE 2K20 launched with horrifying glitches, broken physics, and models that looked worse than previous years’. It quickly became a laughingstock online.
But despite being borderline unplayable at launch, the game sold well, likely because of diehard fans and annual-buy habits. It performed well enough commercially that it kept the franchise afloat, though the backlash forced 2K to skip a year entirely.
This game somehow managed to turn one of the most iconic action heroes of the ’80s into a sluggish, on-rails shooter. Released in 2014, Rambo: The Video Game was mocked for its dated graphics and laughable design.
And yet, it was a commercial success, especially in Europe. A limited release strategy and a low budget helped it turn a profit quickly. It’s living proof that slapping a recognizable name on a box can still move units, no matter the quality inside.
5Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)
Known simply as “Sonic ‘06,” this was supposed to reboot the franchise. Instead, it became infamous for bugs, baffling storylines, and loading screens that could test your patience. Sonic kissing a human princess? That happened.
And yet, it sold around 2 million copies. The strength of the Sonic brand (and holiday release timing) pulled kids and nostalgic adults in before the reviews hit. Sega may have taken a reputational hit, but financially, Sonic ‘06 did disturbingly well for such a trainwreck.
You can’t talk about bad games without mentioning E.T. It’s literally blamed for the 1983 video game crash. With only five weeks to develop it, Atari ended up with a game so incomprehensible that millions of unsold cartridges were buried in a New Mexico landfill. But here’s the twist.
Before the crash, it sold over 1.5 million copies.Marketing hypeand the popularity of the movie helped it become a short-term hit before becoming one of gaming’s greatest cautionary tales.
At launch, Fallout 76 was a bug-filled wasteland, and not in the fun, post-apocalyptic way. Players were baffled by the lack of NPCs and endless glitches. It felt more like an early beta than a finished game.
But thanks to the Fallout name and Bethesda’s loyal fanbase, it sold millions of copies anyway. Even the controversial $100/year subscription didn’t stop the money from rolling in. It’s been patched since, but few launches haveever gone this poorly, or this profitably.
Battlefront 2 looked amazing. But fans quickly realized the game was practically built around loot boxes. Progress was painfully slow unless you paid. The backlash was so intense that EA triggered a worldwide conversation about gambling in games.
But even after pulling the microtransactions (temporarily), Battlefront 2 sold over 9 million copies in just a few months. The combination of Star Wars and stunning visuals proved too tempting for fans. It was a PR nightmare, but a financial win.
Few launches have ever been this messy. Cyberpunk 2077 was hyped for nearly a decade, but when it dropped in 2020, it was riddled with bugs, especially on consoles. Sony even pulled it from their store. But preorders alone topped 8 million copies, and CD Projekt still turned a profit within weeks.
The marketing was so good, people bought the game before knowing it barely worked. It’s been improved over time, but the launch remains a lesson in overpromising and still cashing in.
