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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at video games that were clearly created to
00:14squeeze life from an IP, or drain money from their consumer base.
00:28Before we begin, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring
00:32the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:36Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
00:47Remakes and remasters are a common trend in the modern era of video games.
00:51While some of them come with welcome updates, others are only viewed by how much money they
00:55can make.
00:56After a remastered bundle of Crash Bandicoot's first trilogy was well-received, Activision
01:00revealed his racing game would be getting the same treatment.
01:04Fans were delighted, and the game was certainly fun, but the problem came post-launch.
01:09Microtransactions are another common trend, and one that's usually met with a wave of
01:14vitriol.
01:23Activision seemingly knew this, and waited until after the game got positive reviews
01:27to include them in a patch.
01:29And it rubbed pretty much everyone the wrong way.
01:36Dead Rising 4
01:46There was a time when Capcom upheld shady DLC practices.
01:50Street Fighter X Tekken was met with backlash for charging players for characters already
01:55in the game's files, and Asura's Wrath was criticized for locking the real ending
01:59behind a price point.
02:01In the case of the latter, Capcom tried something similar with Dead Rising 4.
02:13Not only was the game disappointing in comparison to other entries, but it ended on a cliffhanger,
02:18and you had to buy the very poorly received DLC to find out what happened.
02:23The studio learned its lesson, but at a steep price.
02:26A fifth entry was cancelled after Capcom Vancouver closed down in 2018.
02:36The House of the Dead Remake
02:46In the late 90s and early 2000s, the House of the Dead series dominated arcade shooters.
02:51On top of zombies, it had fantastic gothic creature designs and blisteringly fast mechanics
02:57that made it a blast to play alone or with a friend.
03:00Sega remade the first game in 2022, but most of the magic and nostalgia was lost.
03:15Post-launching on the Switch, it supported inaccurate motion aiming, and could be beaten
03:19in less than an hour.
03:21Even when it was ported to other platforms, it strangely never added online co-op, and
03:26barely had anything new to keep players coming back.
03:29It may not have been a full-price game, but it still wasn't worth it.
03:41Skull & Bones Despite it taking over a decade to release,
03:51Ubisoft's Skull & Bones reeked of corporate greed.
03:54Beginning as DLC for Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag, it became a standalone title to
03:59cash in on the popularity of that game's naval battles.
04:02However, by the time it finally released, everyone could tell how shallow the experience
04:07actually was.
04:12The sole focus on ship combat meant there were no interesting story or action-adventure
04:16elements.
04:17Even though it was undeniably less of a game than Black Flag, Ubisoft still had the audacity
04:22to charge $70 and call it a quadruple-A game, much to the internet's amusement.
04:28The price tag was made even more derisive through live service elements that asked players
04:33for even more money.
04:40Super Mario 3D All-Stars Announced for Mario's 35th anniversary,
04:52this collection compiled three classic 3D adventures for Switch, Super Mario 64, Sunshine,
04:59and Galaxy.
05:00What made it hard for fans to get excited, however, were the details surrounding its
05:04release.
05:05Nintendo charged $60 for the collection, despite the newest game being from 2007.
05:16There were little to no improvements to gameplay or graphics, and no additional features outside
05:21of soundtracks.
05:22Furthermore, Nintendo only made it available for a limited time, concocting a faux collector's
05:27edition approach to drive sales.
05:30Unfortunately, it worked.
05:31By the end of the six-month period it was said to be in stores, it had sold over 9 million
05:37units.
05:44Marvel's Avengers A brand-new Avengers game released during
05:57one of Marvel's most popular periods in history should have been a generation-defining
06:02experience.
06:03Sadly, we know that wasn't the case.
06:06Cashing in on the popularity of superheroes wasn't shameless, but tacking on a ton of
06:11live service elements and microtransactions certainly was.
06:24This design and the narrative just didn't mesh well together, especially since the game
06:29didn't launch as free-to-play.
06:31Post-game support never turned things around, with Avengers getting delisted in September
06:36of 2023.
06:37Square Enix would claim Crystal Dynamics the wrong fit as developer, which anyone familiar
06:42with the studio's past work could have seen.
06:45Regardless, no amount of talent in narrative-driven games would have stopped the publisher from
06:49getting greedy.
06:54Radical Heights
07:00Turns out chasing trends and straining to keep one's company afloat don't exactly
07:05mix well.
07:06That's certainly how it looks with Radical Heights, the game-show-themed battle royale
07:10title developed by Boss Key Productions.
07:13Promoted as being very early in development, it drew little excitement due to its plethora
07:18of bugs and uninspired design elements.
07:21Not helping matters was the fact that Radical Heights was announced not long after the financial
07:26losses and player hemorrhaging of Boss Key's previous game, Lawbreakers.
07:31With Boss Key shutting down as of May 2018, it's safe to say this project did not pan
07:37out.
07:42Capcom Fighting Evolution
07:50Sometimes what's broken can't be fixed.
07:53Such is the case with Capcom Fighting Evolution.
07:55Known outside of North America as Capcom Fighting Jam, the game draws upon various Capcom mascots
08:01and brings them together to battle one another in two-on-two fights.
08:05All well and good in theory, but the game's blend of awkward controls and underwhelming
08:10character design proved divisive.
08:12It's been heavily speculated that Fighting Evolution was actually a salvage job, constructed
08:17from the mechanics and artwork left over from the abandoned project, Capcom Fighting
08:21All-Stars.
08:22Regardless, it doesn't look good when Capcom puts out a product that feels so much like
08:27an exploitation of fan appeal and audience goodwill.
08:40Skylanders
08:51Unfortunately microtransactions have proven very profitable for Activision, but it also
08:56squeezed money from consumers through its toy-to-life series, Skylanders.
09:01Beginning as a spinoff of Spyro the Dragon, the franchise really took off in the early
09:052010s.
09:06Kids loved the multitude of creatures you could purchase in-store and seeing each one
09:11come to life in-game.
09:13Of course, Activision took full advantage of this.
09:20From 2011 to 2016, a new game was released every year, along with a ton of new figurines
09:27for kids to buy.
09:28Or, more accurately, get their parents to buy.
09:31The idea was bled until nothing was left.
09:34Imaginators fell short of sales expectations, and the series has stayed quiet since its
09:39last release, a mobile game, in 2018.
09:48Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy The Definitive Edition
09:59Similar to Nintendo's Mario compilation, Rockstar charged $60 for a trilogy that was
10:04released on the PS2.
10:06While this collection did have updated graphics and gameplay, it also had a lot of other problems.
10:12Prior to launch, the original versions of the games were removed from digital stores,
10:16and only made available again after the studio received a wave of backlash.
10:25The updated graphics actually made characters look worse, while there were a slew of technical
10:30issues and bugs.
10:31These issues made the collection everyone's punching bag, and rightfully so.
10:36But the backlash also reportedly stopped plans to remaster Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead
10:41Redemption.
10:42If they were going to turn out like this, we'd say that's a good thing.
10:51Evolve When it launched, this 4 vs 1 beast hunting
11:02game from Turtle Rock Studios definitely showed promise, yet felt strangely lacking in content.
11:08Looking back to its promotion, the reasoning becomes clear.
11:11Turtle Rock and Publisher 2K spent much of their time shilling the pre-order bonuses
11:16ahead of the actual game.
11:18In-game monsters and hunters were being sold well before Evolve hit store shelves, with
11:22Turtle Rock themselves saying the game was designed with DLC implementation and sales
11:27in mind.
11:28With Evolve getting multiple special editions and a season pass on top of all that, it became
11:34crystal clear how steeped in industry malarkey this game was.
11:43Final Fantasy All the Bravest Square's landmark role-playing franchise
11:52might have its ups and downs, but this feels like an especially noteworthy low for them.
11:58All the Bravest seemed promising in concept, a mobile reworking of classic Final Fantasy
12:04combat mechanics, with many of the franchise's most beloved characters as selectable party
12:09members.
12:10Fortunately, at release people were greeted with a repetitive, grind-heavy experience
12:14where one's party could be utterly wiped out in seconds, yet took several minutes to
12:19respawn.
12:20Unless you spend cash.
12:22Furthermore, the advertised legacy characters were walled off behind a randomized shop system,
12:28creating a drive to spend more money and maybe get one's party of choice.
12:38Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival Such a cute world.
12:49Not so cute business decisions.
12:51Deviating from the home renovation and town management of past titles, Animal Crossing
12:56Amiibo Festival was pitched more as a variation on the party game model popularized by Mario
13:01Party.
13:02It certainly doesn't lack for charm in its characters and visuals, but the game faltered
13:06when it came to providing quality minigames and a consistently engaging mood.
13:10It became apparent that the game was made more as a means of selling Nintendo's signature
13:14Amiibo figurines than as a genuinely worthwhile creative endeavor.
13:18Hell, the director of Amiibo Festival freely admitted that the Amiibos were a factor in
13:23the game's development.
13:24Not that the honesty makes it any more acceptable.
13:32Diablo Immortal Ever since the advent of games on phones,
13:42players have been voicing their dissatisfaction of their favorite franchises getting watered
13:47down mobile entries.
13:49Nowhere in the history of video games is that more true than with Diablo Immortal.
13:54Receiving a world-famous negative reaction upon announcement, its controversy only spread
13:59wider when it was released.
14:06While many agreed that it could actually be fun, there was no denying what it was designed
14:10to do.
14:11Rake in cash.
14:12Some clever players have deduced it would take thousands of dollars to fully upgrade
14:17your character, due to the way the progression system was designed.
14:20We all know you don't have to do that, but that doesn't make it easier to stomach.
14:31Dungeon Keeper Way to drive a beloved IP into the dirt, Electronic
14:42Arts.
14:43Yes, few are keen to forget when EA sought to reboot Dungeon Keeper as an allegedly free-to-play
14:49mobile game.
14:50Launching in January 2014, it soon drew scorn for the way the series' signature dark humor
14:55and carefully considered strategy gameplay were mangled by the demands of a monetization-first
15:01business model.
15:02Any action undertaken could last over 24 real-world hours, only speeding up by spending an in-game
15:09gem currency, which you could naturally buy with real money.
15:13Between the disrespect paid to the source material and the cloying usage of microtransactions,
15:19this was an out-and-out disgrace.
15:28Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery Many long-time fans of the Harry Potter books
15:38and wider franchise were ecstatic by the prospect of a mobile title that dealt with the life
15:43and times of their own personalized Hogwarts student.
15:46Hogwarts Mystery quickly showed its hand as a clear-cut exploiter of those very hopes
15:51and nostalgic dreams.
15:53Its core gameplay loop of tapping on-screen prompts to progress is built upon energy currency,
15:58which can be earned in-game or, you guessed it, purchased instantly with real dollars.
16:04Per the free-to-play stereotype, Hogwarts Mystery contrives situation after situation
16:09where players are drained of energy points, with wait times sufficiently infuriating so
16:14as to make a quick cash injection seem reasonable.
16:17The infamous Devil's Snare segment comes to mind, which forces players to buy enough
16:22energy to escape, or wait and watch their character be strangled.
16:26For shame, Mr. Potter, for shame.
16:35Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes
16:44Once upon a time, a glorified prologue wouldn't have served as a full-fledged Metal Gear game.
16:50Ground Zeroes fell victim to the push for more profit, being the first of two games
16:54that encompassed the full Metal Gear Solid V experience.
16:58From its central plot being incredibly brief and controversial in content, to its side
17:03missions acting as shallow fluff, the entirety of Ground Zeroes felt superfluous to players.
17:08In interviews prior to the game's release, series creator Hideo Kojima claimed that the
17:13decision to release Ground Zeroes was made in light of development taking so long on
17:17the Phantom Pain.
17:19Not a great move in retrospect.
17:26Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remaster
17:29Well, this was a debacle.
17:372016's Infinite Warfare was already on its way to universal derision thanks to a widely
17:42panned announcement trailer.
17:44However, matters did not improve when said trailer also declared the highly anticipated
17:49remaster of Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare would only be available with special editions
17:54of Infinite Warfare.
17:56Many considered the decision to lock off Modern Warfare Remastered in this fashion to be a
18:00cynical and manipulative one, motivated by publisher Activision's push for constant
18:06rising profits.
18:07Other details, like added microtransactions and selling a decade-old map pack for a higher
18:13price, only further soured opinions and reinforced the image of a publisher driven by pure greed.
18:22EA's sports titles
18:27So we added these moves in defensive situations as well.
18:31And if a defensive player is in a good position, those desperation plays can be easily countered.
18:37There's no denying that Electronic Arts is one of the most hated publishers in gaming.
18:42But the company's most egregious acts of overcharging players come in its sports games.
18:48Many players have been complaining for years about how EA churns out entries every year
18:53with almost no changes to roster, gameplay, graphics, or anything really, yet still charges
18:59full price.
19:00That's not to mention its focus on lootboxes and microtransactions in more recent years,
19:14which push players to spend more money on things that could have helped the game stand
19:18out from past releases to begin with.
19:20From Madden to FIFA to NHL, sports fans deserve better.
19:25But with EA in charge, it isn't likely they're going to get it.
19:29Metal Gear Survive
19:44There had to be a better way to try and live up to Kojima Productions' efforts, right?
19:49Konami's first Metal Gear game after the departure of Hideo Kojima aimed to present
19:53a clear and enticing vision for the series' future.
19:56What the gaming public received was Metal Gear Survive, a post-apocalyptic survival
20:01game rooted in current design fads and built on borrowed assets from Metal Gear Solid 5.
20:07Many found Survive to be not only tiresome and lackluster, but also a lazy cash-in on
20:13lingering goodwill for Metal Gear.
20:15And let's not even get into Konami's inclusion of a microtransaction-based currency and selling
20:20of save slots for real-world money.
20:24Did you give your money to any of these cash grabs?
20:30Which ones did you avoid like the plague?
20:32Share your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Place for
20:35more great gaming videos every day.