Are these really failed esport games?
Esports is a funny one. One day you are the most popular game around the next you’re apparently dying.
Over the years, there have been plenty of games that took the esports scene by storm, only to fall by the wayside as other flavours of the week took them over.
So which are those once-popular titles that have actually stopped being quite the powerhouse they once were? Well, here are five games that have since lost their esports pizzaz.
1. Team Fortress 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibw19sykPLo
Don’t get me wrong, TF2 is still withstanding the test of time even with the likes of Overwatch and Paladins moving in on their player base.
That being said, there was once a time when TF2 really was an excellent example of esports, once hosting a tournament with a $28m prize pool back in 2008. In fact, TF2 had a huge advantage over many games because, well, it is a Valve title and has Gabe Newell (including his bucket of fried chicken and billions of dollars) behind it. Counterstrike and DOTA2 have both managed it, but TF2 really lagged behind.
One of the biggest reasons for this was the fact that competitive TF2 is actually very different to what you play on casual servers. Oh, and of course the fact that Valve is surprisingly unsupportive of esports unless they are gaining huge advertising from it.
TF2 is still an esport but nowhere near where it should be, especially considering the success of Overwatch and the Overwatch League.
2. Umbrella Corps
Resident Evil as an esport? What could go wrong?!
Over the years, Capcom’s horror franchise has had some of the best shocks and spooky scares in all of gaming – but this might be the worst.
Trying to cash in on the FPS esports market, Umbrella Corps had something different… Zombies! Yep, trying to also cash in on the Zombie craze that happened in the early 2010s, Capcom was only about five years too late with this one.
Umbrella Corps was basically your run of the mill team-based shooter. Except it looked and ran horribly, had near to no player-base and is now considered one of the worst games of all time.
3. Lawbreakers
When even the influence of CliffyB can’t save you, you know you have really messed up.
Another game that was released about four years too late, Lawbreakers looked to swoop in to the very popular legend-based shooter scene. Except for the fact that we already had Overwatch, Paladins and TF2 who were all doing the game much better.
Big things were expected from the games competitive side and with the closed-beta peaking at more than 7,500 players, it looked positive. However, three months after launch and more than 40% of players had left the game and it soon slid down the Steam top 100 chart.
That being said, it was briefly fun to play when you could actually find a game with people in it.
As failed esport games go, this one is really up there.
4. Infinite Crisis
A game that was added to the MLG as an official esports title while it was still in closed beta.
*Slow claps*
Who really thought that was a good idea? Especially considering I played the closed beta and it wasn’t exactly enthralling. However, I can see their thought process – who wouldn’t think that a MOBA based on one of the best DC storylines wouldn’t do well?
Just like Lawbreakers, the games player base totally fell off even before the official release in 2015 meaning it became one of the many failed esport games.
5. Evolve
Take a game format that has no real competitive aspect and then force it to become an esport. Yeah, that doesn’t really work, does it? And it didn’t work for 2K’s failure that was Evolve.
Now, Evolve was actually a pretty fun game to play, especially with some friends, but not as a competitive video game.
Again, player-base fell off – especially on console – and any chance of a fledgeling esports market went with it. Things got so bad in fact that 2K cut all ties with the game effectively leaving it in limbo regarding a potential sequel.
Not even sure if this is the top of the failed esport games because it was never really an esports title!