From negative numbers to 5 star.
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00:00The games on this list planted themselves firmly in the Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man's Sky school
00:05of proving you can stumble out the gate and still score yourself a respectable placement,
00:10if not absolutely blow the haters out of the water with a, um, podium finish. While that
00:15sports metaphor well and truly fell apart, these games managed to come back together,
00:20thanks to the tireless dedication of their developers and publishers. While lesser studios
00:25may have abandoned their problem children as soon as the audience turned on them en masse,
00:29that wasn't the case with these games, and given what they became, that's very fortunate for us.
00:34I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are the 9 Greatest Comebacks in Gaming.
00:39Number 9. Battlefield 4
00:41Kicking off with a game that really should have done better, Battlefield and Call of Duty have
00:45been battling for supremacy in the shooter realm for some time now. But Battlefield 4 really handed
00:50the win over to Call of Duty when it launched in 2013, because even saying that this game
00:55launched feels like an oversell. More accurately, it did whatever the video game equivalent is of
01:00that clip with the cat who goes for the jump and then second guesses it at the last minute and then
01:04it's like, woo, he like goes straight down with his arms out. It was like that for Battlefield.
01:09To say that Battlefield 4 launched pretty buggy doesn't quite hit the mark. The amount of game-breaking
01:14bugs and hilarious unintentional clipping and wild interactions with the environment, mechanics,
01:19and other players was nothing short of legendary. Developer DICE went as far as to halt work on
01:25all their other projects so they could get all hands on deck to fix Battlefield 4. The irate
01:29player base and criticism of the game's clearly unfinished shipped product went as far as to
01:34kick off multiple lawsuits investigating whether investors were intentionally misled by EA in their
01:39marketing of the game. The, and I think we can use these words, catastrophic disaster of a launch
01:45took an entire year and the development of a community testing environment to turn around.
01:50Once DICE and EA were able to get a handle on it though, the core of the excellent gameplay loop
01:54and engaging refined mechanics, compelling game modes, and phenomenal multiplayer were able to
01:59properly shine. Ultimately, Battlefield 4 did manage to outperform Call of Duty Ghosts,
02:05which came out in the same year and when it was all fixed up, polished, and ready to go,
02:09proved itself to be one of the greatest FPS games of modern years.
02:13Number 8. Diablo 3
02:15If the phrase Error 37 causes a bunch of unmistakable confusion, frustration, and rage
02:21to bubble up within you, then you were probably playing Diablo 3 back when it launched in May of
02:262012. Or, more accurately, you were trying to play Diablo 3. The error code was one of a handful
02:32of horrifying number combinations that meant you weren't going to be able to play the new hotly
02:36anticipated Blizzard RPG, but instead would contribute to an infamous meme that resulted from the game
02:41servers being massively overloaded. Of course, as embarrassing as it was, this wasn't the worst
02:47thing for Blizzard, as it meant a lot of people were keen to check out the game. Unfortunately,
02:51there were more complaints once they did. The frustrations that even single-player mode was
02:55always online, overly grindy RNG mechanics, and a full experience that just couldn't match up to the
03:01masterpiece entries in the series that had come before it. Enter 2014's Reaper of Souls, and two years'
03:07worth of updates and patches in between, and Diablo 3 had become a totally different beast.
03:12From quality of life changes, including the way loot works, grinding works, and the addition of
03:17transmogrification, as well as the Crusader class, and a bunch of new narrative tidbits,
03:22this now felt like the fully-fledged Diablo experience we'd been hoping for.
03:26Seasons were added on top of new modes that let you play how you wanted, and most importantly,
03:31those bugs were being squashed and quickly. Essentially, it elevated what was a promising and solid
03:36experience into an excellent one, and for a series with the pedigree of Diablo, it really deserved
03:42nothing less. Number 7. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
03:46Games as a service tends to get a bad rap, and that's for a lot of very valid reasons, but at least
03:52in the cases of many of the games on this list, it does mean there's a dedicated team that are going
03:57to make sure they can continue to fix things and respond to player feedback over time. There are a few
04:02games on this list that fall into that category, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is certainly
04:07one of them. This one launched riddled with bugs and glitches, which has quickly become a trend on
04:12this list, and will absolutely be continuing that trend to the end of it. While a single-player game
04:17like Skyrim launching riddled with bugs is bad, occasionally funny but ultimately lets you play
04:23the game so long as you don't hit anything game-breaking, it's a different ballgame with
04:27multiplayer. Hit a snag with connection issues while you're playing a game that's multiplayer
04:31only, and the game is literally unplayable, which I think is the only time I've ever used that phrase
04:37earnestly. On top of that issue, the initially promising team-based shooter was peppered with
04:42balancing issues, rampant cheaters and no way to deal with them, and it was disappointingly thin on
04:47content. Flash forward nine years, and the game is as strong as it's ever been, thanks to a diligent
04:52team constantly tweaking, balancing, and injecting a slew of both free and paid downloadable content
04:58to bulk out the maps, modes, and operators, among other things. In what's a really interesting move,
05:03both IGN and GameSpot actually revised their initial review scores of the game to better suit
05:09the game in its current state, IGN bringing its 7.9 to an 8.5, and GameSpot bumping the 8 out of 10
05:15to a 10 out of 10. These adjustments were made as the service model turned the game into a totally
05:19different beast, and both outlets praised the game for being one of the best multiplayer shooters
05:24on the market, due to its tense and fast-paced matches. This has made all the more enticing
05:29through its unique requirement in mastering not only its combat mechanics, but also tactics,
05:34strategy, as well as team composition, cooperation, and communication. A wild 29 seasons in, and the
05:40game seems to be a hit with a bunch of different players. However, of course, there's still glitches
05:45and bugs like every live service game that's constantly getting new updates. Although,
05:49in this particular circumstance, at least fans who aren't happy with the way things are going
05:54came up with the fun phrase, Rainbow Fix Siege, which is honestly just fantastic.
05:59Number 6, Sea of Thieves. Sea of Thieves, or the pirate game, just not the one made by Ubisoft
06:05or Sid Meier or the one with LeChuck, falls pretty neatly next to Rainbow Six Siege in that they're
06:10both examples of games that have benefited enormously from the divisive games-as-a-service
06:15model. And not only that, they've made it far more worth your while if you dropped your dollars
06:19on them when they first hit storefronts. When Sea of Thieves set sale in 2018, a bunch of people were
06:24saying, sure, this looks cool, but what do I actually do here? To which developer Rare said,
06:30hold my banana. Because, because you eat bananas in the game. I realized phrasing that came off
06:35really weird, but I'm two lines down in the Google Doc now, so we're going to have to keep going.
06:38That made more sense in the scripted version than the video version, but again, we're too far in.
06:44Let's keep going! As you'd have expected by now, if you didn't experience it for yourself,
06:49this one launched with more than a few dings in the hull. The bones of a solid experience were there,
06:54but without any skin or flesh or blood on them, yep, sorry, that got weird, players were lamenting
06:59that there was little of substance driving them to play beyond messing around with friends,
07:03having the odd cool emergent gameplay moment in a ship battle, and eating the aforementioned bananas.
07:08Two years down the line in 2020, an IGN would chuck the No Man's Sky Classic phrase at the game,
07:14stating it's the perfect time for players to give it another go, as a result of a number of
07:18infrastructure fixes, bug patches, and buckets of new content. All of this was looped under the
07:23anniversary update, which was seen as something of a relaunch for the game as a whole. Come 2024,
07:28and that improvement train is kept on chugging, introducing new modes, free expansions,
07:33a seasonal format, and story-driven live events called adventures. Like Siege, constant updates
07:38will always lead to constant bug fixing, but for those who wanted to see the game become what Rare
07:43originally intended, it's certainly done just that. I'm sure the 30 million players in 2022,
07:48and five million units sold didn't hurt either. Number 5, For Honor. Skipping all the way down
07:54from shooting times and pirate times to the times of good old sword and board, or whatever the other
08:0033 heroes in this game were wielding, let's talk For Honor. Ubisoft's very first strategy action
08:05attempt didn't launch to the level of criticism that many of the other games on this list received,
08:10but its respectable sales and respectable review scores weren't exactly setting the game up to make
08:15waves for years to come, either. For Honor is again a game as a service, but it uniquely requires a
08:20high level of finessing, tactical know-how, and precision combat maneuvers from its players,
08:25something bound to alienate certain groups looking for a more casual experience. What also alienated
08:30pretty much everybody from the outset was the way the game appeared to launch unfinished, with bugs
08:36aplenty, more server issues than you could point a great sword at, and consumer-unfriendly nickel and
08:41diming. It was when Ubisoft released a $15 starter edition that drastically cut the price of entry,
08:47delivered a bunch of free updates, as well as substantial paid DLC, that it ensured its dedicated
08:52players would have reasons to keep coming back. Two new factions totalling nine new combatants later,
08:57all with different weapons and play styles, and the game has proven itself to be a great entry in the
09:02fighting genre, as well as having a pretty avid competitive scene. Number 4, Star Wars Battlefront 2.
09:08I keep running down these games and thinking I've hit the one that had the worst launch ever,
09:13but it's really hard to top Battlefront 2 in terms of hitting what can only be described as
09:18a perfect rhythm game streak of whacking every development, marketing, and launch faux pas on
09:23the head one after the other. That game with the really horrible microtransactions, as it was known
09:28for at least the first six months of its existence, EA fumbled a great IP yet again by getting a little
09:35too ambitious and a lot too gritty. Synonymous with such an extreme level of loot box controversy
09:40that it kicked off US lawmakers discussing if the mechanic should be classified as gambling,
09:45and some countries even banning the game outright after deeming the inclusion so insidious it couldn't
09:51be on shelves, EA couldn't have put themselves or Star Wars Battlefront 2 in a worse position.
09:56This is a massive shame, as ultimately this became a game that was absolutely worth playing.
10:01Once EA and DICE swung back up from their rock bottom, illustrated by the most downvoted Reddit
10:07comment ever, where they suggested that making users unlock heroes gives them a better sense of
10:13pride, things started looking up. The pay-to-win mechanics were eliminated and the game had its
10:18own Sea of Thieves-style relaunch by way of the Celebration Edition in 2019. Excellent free updates
10:24that have added new content and ways to play have gone a long way to earning back the trust of players,
10:29as has the fact that underneath EA's bullsh**, there's actually a really great core game in there,
10:34particularly the thrilling battles, impressively restrung progression system, and the pitch-perfect
10:39capitalization on the Star Wars IP. Number 3, Fortnite. The middling launch and then explosive
10:46success of Fortnite is a story that pretty much everyone on Earth knows at this point, but if you
10:51miss the battle bus, then let's talk about this cash cow that somehow even outmatched the next game
10:56on this list. The $26 billion revenue-generating battle royale game with the llama began life as
11:02a humble mission-based tower defense game, where you would build up your defenses in the hopes of
11:07holding out against those who would see your destruction. This was all totally fine, albeit
11:11fairly mediocre, but upon seeing the success of PUBG in its battle royale format, Epic said,
11:16we could do that. And do that they did, amassing an unfathomable number of players and led the pack
11:22in pressuring the video game big dogs to enable cross-play between platforms. Between its emotes,
11:27esports competitions, constantly updated content, and undeniably enjoyable gameplay loop, Fortnite has
11:33done a stunning job of capturing a market that was clearly hungry for just this experience.
11:39Whether it's your thing or not, Fortnite is an epidemic. Or an icon. Or both. Either way,
11:44I think we can all agree this is a moment in video game history we won't be forgetting any time soon,
11:49so it's certainly a wonderful video game comeback.
11:52Number 2. Grand Theft Auto Online
11:54On to a game that would have a wildly impressive revenue stat for a live service property, were it
12:00not for the cartoon juggernaut I just mentioned, dwarfing every other online offering around,
12:05Grand Theft Auto Online also had to claw its way up to where it is today. The biggest issue here was
12:10that Rockstar decided they would release this online component just a couple weeks after they
12:15launched Grand Theft Auto 5, meaning it wasn't at all ready for the service land, and it was,
12:20say it with me, riddled with bugs. Patch after patch couldn't help this leaky ass ship from going down,
12:27as players started losing their characters due to back-end bugs, and player outcry was at an all-time
12:32high. Making matters worse, trolls were an enormous headache to players just trying to enjoy the action-adventure
12:38playground, and even when that wasn't an issue, there wasn't anything compelling to do in the
12:43multiplayer city. Luckily, like every other dev team on this list, Rockstar decided to put their
12:48heads down and get to work, handing out free updates, new enticing modes, more ways to play,
12:53extra content, plenty of patches, events, and features, which all served up a super compelling
12:58platter that players could return back to. All that said, I feel like this is an important moment
13:03to point out that a lot of live service games really badly gear themselves towards crunch culture
13:09in video games, which if you don't know is basically running devs into the ground, making them work way
13:14too hard to continue to get these updates out. That said, apparently it's getting better, but just feel
13:19like we should put that out there. Number 1, Final Fantasy XIV, A Realm Reborn. In what is probably the
13:26greatest comeback story in video games, even if we had put No Man's Sky on this list, the MMORPG Final
13:32Fantasy XIV launched, spectacularly failed for two years. Square's CEO stated the game damaged
13:38the entire brand, then they burned it all down, built it all back up again, rebranded, relaunched,
13:44and absolutely nailed it on the second attempt. Though the reveal that this second attempt A Realm
13:49Reborn would require players to subscribe, since that whole going back to the drawing board thing
13:53wasn't exactly cheap, it turned out to be an experience that was well worth paying for.
13:58The game offered cross-platform support and loads of small additions, as well as four incredibly
14:03substantial updates. 2015's Heavensword DLC, 2017's Stormblood, 2019's Shadowbringers,
14:11and 2021's Endwalker. These expansions both brought with them expansive and compelling campaigns
14:16consisting of hundreds of hours of new content, as well as new jobs, locations, dungeons, raids,
14:22and playable races. The reasons to return became relentless in the best way. Heavensword,
14:27in particular, literally doubled the amount of content from the base game. Of course,
14:31the game is also ridiculously lucrative for Square Enix. The gorgeous, sprawling setting,
14:36refreshing and engaging progression systems, and exciting lore-rich story more than worthy of its
14:41lofty franchise are just the tip of the iceberg in calling out the fan-favorite features of A Realm
14:46Reborn. Not only is A Realm Reborn now one of the best MMOs ever made, it's also one of the best
14:52Final Fantasy games ever made, even if multiplayer isn't your usual way to play.
14:57A Realm Reborn now one of the best MMOs ever made, even since cute is a Legend in Thanksgiving.
15:04It's been anWage. It's been a bad gift for a year and a half. And this is the main feeling of getting
15:10娃娃娃娃娃. It's been a hardな experience to attend places to teach that. So let's have created an
15:11interesting map. I prefer me that's pretty good at the first time that I think ever made, would have been people
15:14living in a future set up till the years. And so I like to prepare a 해야EEP. I hope to add one of the best
15:16steps I'm worried about, did youuration is a standard? So let's have her own. It can come up with me to focus on