10 Most Expensive Video Game Flops That Lost Millions

10 Gaming Disasters That Wasted Millions in Development

Making video games is a risky business. When it works, it’s a goldmine—billions of dollars in sales, pop culture domination, and sometimes even cinematic universes. But when it flops? It’s an expensive nightmare that sends studios crashing, executives scrambling, and entire franchises into the abyss.

Today, we’re diving into 10 of the most expensive video game failures of all time—games that had sky-high budgets but couldn’t make back their cash. Some were disasters from the start, while others were good games that just never found their audience. Either way, they all left a massive financial crater.

10. Shenmue (1999) – $70 Million Down the Drain

Dreamcast’s Most Expensive Experiment

At the time of its release, Shenmue was the most expensive video game ever made, with a budget of $47 to $70 million—an absolutely unheard-of amount in 1999. It was a revolutionary open-world game, featuring day-night cycles, weather effects, and immersive storytelling. The problem?

The Sega Dreamcast was already struggling, and Shenmue failed to sell enough copies to break even. While it’s now considered a cult classic, its massive budget and poor sales contributed to Sega’s downfall in the console business.

9. Too Human (2008) – 9 Years of Development Hell

The Game That Bankrupted a Studio

This sci-fi meets Norse mythology action game had potential, but spent nearly a decade in development hell. Originally planned for the PlayStation, then the GameCube, it eventually ended up as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2008.

The estimated $60-$100 million budget wasn’t the only issue—developer Silicon Knights sued Epic Games over Unreal Engine problems, lost the case, and had to pay millions in legal fees. The game bombed, and Silicon Knights was forced to shut down soon after.

8. APB: All Points Bulletin (2010) – $100 Million GTA Clone Disaster

A GTA-Style MMO That Went Nowhere

Before GTA Online, there was APB: All Points Bulletin, an ambitious online crime game that promised a living, breathing city where players could be criminals or enforcers.

With a $100 million budget, expectations were sky-high. But server issues, poor gameplay, and lack of content killed the game almost instantly. Within a few months of launch, the developers went bankrupt, and the game was sold for just £1.5 million—a tiny fraction of what was spent making it.

7. uDraw (2011) – The Peripheral That Sank THQ

A $100 Million Miscalculation

THQ was once a powerhouse publisher, but uDraw was their $100 million mistake. This tablet controller worked well on the Wii, but for some reason, THQ decided to port it to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360—where it made zero sense.

The result? 1.4 million unsold units sitting in warehouses, a massive financial loss, and THQ going bankrupt soon after. Even the company’s own executives blamed uDraw for its downfall.

6. Immortals of Aveum (2023) – $125 Million Magic Shooter Misfire

A Great Game Released at the Worst Time

This first-person magic shooter was something new and exciting—but it came out at the worst possible time. Released in 2023 alongside massive hits like Baldur’s Gate 3, it was completely overshadowed.

With a budget of $125 million, including a $40 million marketing push by EA, the game failed to sell enough copies. Within months, the studio was shut down, and the game was considered a major financial disaster.

5. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) – The Movie That Almost Killed Square Enix

A $214 Million Box Office Bomb

Okay, not technically a game, but Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was Square Enix’s most expensive mistake. The studio spent $137 million on a hyper-realistic CGI movie, thinking it would be the future of cinema.

It bombed hard, making only $85 million at the box office. The loss was so devastating that Square Enix had to merge with Enix just to stay afloat.

4. Marvel's Avengers (2020) – $200 Million Live Service Disaster

Superheroes Shouldn’t Be Boring

Marvel’s Avengers should have been a massive hit—it had huge Marvel characters, a big budget, and tons of hype. Instead, it was a boring, repetitive, live-service grindfest that nobody wanted.

Despite its $170-$200 million budget, the game failed to meet sales expectations. Square Enix reported a $63 million loss the year it launched. Even after adding free content, the player base dwindled fast, and the game was shut down in 2023.

3. Skull & Bones (2024) – $200 Million and 10 Years of Delays

A Pirate Game That’s Sinking Fast

Originally meant to be a spin-off of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Skull & Bones was delayed for nearly a decade, causing development costs to skyrocket to $200 million.

When it finally launched in 2024, the game sold less than a million copies within the first few weeks—a disaster for such an expensive project. Ubisoft has promised more content, but right now, it’s looking like a Titanic-level gaming disaster.

2. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024) – A $200 Million Flop

Another Live Service Game No One Wanted

From the makers of Batman: Arkham, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League should have been amazing. Instead, it was a generic live-service mess with cringy microtransactions and boring gameplay.

With a $200 million budget, Warner Bros. hoped it would be their next big cash cow. Instead, it sold poorly, had terrible player retention, and lost Warner Bros. hundreds of millions.

1. Gizmondo (2005) – The $300 Million Console Catastrophe

The Handheld That No One Bought

The Gizmondo was supposed to be a revolutionary gaming handheld, but it turned out to be one of the worst consoles ever made.

With only 25,000 units sold worldwide, the project racked up $300 million in debt and bankrupted Tiger Electronics. Oh, and did we mention the CEO was involved with the Swedish Mafia? Yeah. The whole thing was a wild mess from start to finish.

When Big Money Leads to Big Failures

Making a video game isn’t easy, and these multi-million dollar disasters prove that even big budgets and huge franchises don’t guarantee success. Some of these failures were bad games, some were just unlucky, and others were poorly managed from the start.

But one thing is clear—gaming history is full of expensive mistakes. And at this rate, we’ll probably see even bigger flops in the future.

Stay tuned for more deep dives into gaming’s biggest wins and fails—only at Land of Geek Magazine.

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