3 Games So Bad They Killed the Companies That Made Them

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1) The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Image courtesy of Daedalic Entertainment

Surprisingly, a AAA game based on The Lord of the Rings killed a studio, which is what happened with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. In the game, the player controls Gollum as he searches for Bilbo Baggins and his Birthday Present across several well-known locations from the franchise. All the while, he’s pursued by the forces of Sauron and the ever-watchful eye atop Barad-dûr. The game was released in 2023 across various systems and ranked so poorly that it holds the record for the lowest Metacritic score for 2023. Daedalic Entertainment canceled plans for a sequel, then laid off its development team, and is now a publishing-only operation.

2) APB: All Points Bulletin

Image courtesy of Realtime Worlds & Electronic Arts

APB: All Points Bulletin is a 2010 open-world online game set in urban sprawls, where factions, the Enforcers and Criminals, fight it out. Players could create sub-groups in either faction and play the game from there. It was not successful upon launch, and its servers were shut down the same year of its release. That’s not a good sign for any online game, and it sealed the fate of Realtime Worlds. Despite the death of its developer, another company purchased the IP, and the game was re-released as APB: Reloaded as a free-to-play game. It found some success in this new model, but Realtime Worlds couldn’t survive the first iteration.

3) Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Image courtesy of Electronic Arts

The Medal of Honor franchise was once a major player in the FPS genre, but it was quickly overshadowed by Call of Duty. Regardless, it continued, and in 2012, Medal of Honor: Warfighter was released as a sequel to 2010’s Medal of Honor, which rebooted the franchise. The game flopped hard commercially and was torn apart by critics over several bugs, crummy AI, and a confusing plot. As a result, Electronic Arts, which published the Medal of Honor franchise, shelved the IP. That decision led to the death of Danger Close Games, which shut down less than a year after the release of Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

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