While this past year has been an absolute triumph for certain titles and game companies. But it’s also created quite a few problems that are hard to overlook. From the drama surrounding The Game Awards to the disappointment of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there was a lot to overcome.

But what were the most problematic things in gaming this year? Well, we’ve got a list that pretty much sums everything up. Let’s go!

  1. The erasure of Game Informer

It has been a tough year for online gaming publications this year. But the one that hurts the most is Game Informer, which has been around for decades. They covered every aspect of the industry, including the indies, with professionalism and charm. And then, poof, they were gone. GameStop not only shut them down, but removed them entirely from the Internet. You can’t even look up archives. They deserved better – at the very least, preservation. C’mon.

  1. Star Wars Outlaws

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There was a great deal of excitement for Ubisoft’s new Star Wars property at one point. And upon release, we dove right in to see what it was about. However, we discovered a myriad of problems that even an Emperor couldn’t fix. Poorly planned stealth missions, a lacking story, and ridiculously glitchy gameplay killed our hopes quickly. Not to mention Ubisoft’s ridiculously bad pricing model. I mean, $30 for an extra Jabba the Hutt mission? No thanks. Despite the team trying to fix the mess, this one feels like Bantha Fodder.

  1. Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Drama

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I don’t think I’ve ever seen the level of hatred for an Assassin’s Creed game as I have Shadows. That’s odd, considering we’ve been waiting an eternity for a release in a Japan setting. But Ubisoft has a lot wrong here. It attempted to introduce a collector’s edition item with a controversial piece from Japan’s history. What’s worse, it can’t get its details straight about Yasuke, who was actually a real figure in history. It threw off everything so much that Ubisoft had to delay the game from its release, pushing it to February 2025. (And possibly answering to Japanese parliament as a result.) But can it still succeed? It’s hard to tell, but the company still has a world of work ahead of it.

  1. South Park: Snow Day!

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Let’s say you come off the success of not one but two hit RPG’s based on a hit TV show. Wouldn’t you want to continue said success with a third chapter? Or something along those lines? Well, that’s not what THQNordic thought. Instead, we got South Park: Snow Day!, which follows Cartman and company into multiplayer territory. There was potential here. However, it’s immediately squashed by poor gameplay and crappy visual design. On top of that, it’s just not that fun. And when something from South Park isn’t fun, it’s time to flush it like Mr. Hankey.

  1. PlayStation 5 Pro

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Sony announced the PlayStation 5 Pro in time for its recent anniversary, and expected tech heads to order it immediately. However, they didn’t expect backlash. That’s because the hardware has a few problems. First, it doesn’t run every game efficiently. Secondly, it leans way too heavily on the push for ray tracing, which is a minor feature. At best. But the big thing? The $700 price tag. And keep in mind that’s for a system that doesn’t even have a disc drive built into it. (You need to pay an extra $125 for that.) If this is the future, maybe Sony should put more focus on what matters more – the games.

  1. Skull and Bones

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We waited several years…for this?! After its announcement wayyyyy back years ago, Skull and Bones finally hit the open seas. And it did so with Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot promising the first “AAAA” gaming experience. Instead, what we got was a watered down pirate affair that gets old fast. It’s polished, sure, but its gameplay feels repetitive. And what’s more, it does very little to entice us for later sea battles. Honestly, if you want pirating at its best, go with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag instead. It’s way more affordable and a lot more fun. Not to mention it runs way better.

  1. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

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Talk about squandering an opportunity. What could’ve been a neat alternate take on the DC Universe ends up shooting itself in every vital organ. Kill the Justice League is a mistake-laden mess. The run and gun gameplay gets old fast; the live-service demand is a bit much; and the storytelling is off. Not to mention some choices made with characters, including the unnecessary death of Kevin Conroy’s Batman. The addition of Deathstroke and an offline mode in the end of its life span weren’t bad. But the damage is done, and, well, Suicide Squad suffered a deserved fate. Shame, because Samoa Joe kills it as King Shark.

  1. Concord

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We’d say that the PlayStation 5 Pro is Sony’s biggest bungle this year. But…it isn’t. Not by a long shot. The company introduced Concord in the second half of 2024, expecting it to take off like a rocket. And it did have some interesting world-building aspects. Unfortunately, it nuked them under the guise of a poor man’s Overwatch, and failed to generate interest. Despite pushes and efforts to get players excited, Concord failed. As a result, Sony pulled the plug in just two weeks and dismantled its developer, Firewalk Studios. Maybe the company should reconsider its live-service gameplan before it costs them another half a billion dollars. What a wreck.

  1. Dustborn

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Probably the worst game we laid hands on in 2024, Dustborn is a failure on every level. It attempts to introduce quirky characters and a “words can hurt” battle system. However, it thrives way too much on the wrong message. It just isn’t that fun to play and has the most terrible Guitar Hero-style minigame since the days of Rock Revolution. But worst of all, it asks players to embrace hurtful tactics. It actually cheers on cancelling people as a weapon. That’s a no-no, especially considering what happened to Al Holowka. Do yourself a favor and leave this one in the dust – as most of the game community has.

  1. Layoffs

The biggest problem that plagued gaming this year has to be layoffs. So many people got needlessly laid off this year, and legendary studios like Arkane Austin, the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team and Roll7 Studios bit the dust. What’s more, a lot of the jobs could have been saved if CEO’s like Paul Parsons and Andrew Wilson took a paycut. But they didn’t, and so many talented people are now scouring for work. Not to mention gaming websites scuttling jobs as well. I mean, how in the world does IGN get rid of a talent like Kat Bailey?! It makes no sense. Here’s hoping the trend reverses in 2025, and we see these talented people get work again. They deserve it.

BONUS: Whatever the hell the Borderlands movie was 

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This one just hurts. We’ve been waiting an eternity for a Borderlands movie and got…whatever this wet Eli Roth noodle was. Featuring a miscast group of actors, poor directing and even worse storytelling, Borderlandsis an absolute mess. It’s way too safe for its own good (rated PG-13!). It’s also not very funny (Jack Black is wasted here), loaded with terrible visual effects and instantly forgettable characters. Plus they did Gina Gershon’s Moxxi so dirty. That’s unforgivable in its own right. Do yourself a favor and stick to the games instead. You’ll feel way better and, hopefully, forget this exists.