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00:00 Welcome to Mojo Plays and today we're taking a look at 10 games that just totally vanished
00:10 in 2023.
00:13 Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to Mojo
00:17 Plays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:22 Marvel's Avengers
00:26 With its disgusting monetization and putrid live service model, Marvel's Avengers deserved
00:32 every ounce of criticism it received.
00:35 So many players refused to buy the game or return copies for refunds that Square Enix
00:40 lost more than $60 million making the game.
00:45 In January 2023, Crystal Dynamics announced that no further developments were being made.
00:51 One final update would go out two months later and the game would be pulled from sale on
00:55 September 30th, 2023.
00:57 In that time, players were given 8 months to grab the game for dirt cheap.
01:01 Really, you could get it for less than 5 bucks in most places.
01:05 While the removal of microtransactions was an improvement, it didn't fix the cringey
01:10 writing and the mundane combat system.
01:13 So good riddance.
01:18 Rumbleverse
01:27 To its credit, Rumbleverse was a rather unique battle royale game.
01:31 Through the theme of pro wrestling, players could run around a wide map fighting against
01:35 others while collecting items to boost stats and grant new attacks.
01:39 It was a game where you had to build your loadout as the game progressed.
01:43 Here's the main problem though.
01:45 It was a battle royale game.
01:46 We are at a point where the market has its stars already.
01:51 If you want a battle royale anything, you're either already playing Fortnite, PUBG, Fall
01:57 Guys, Apex Legends, or Call of Duty Warzone.
02:01 There simply isn't room for anything else in this space.
02:05 What Iron Galaxy put together here was cool and all, but everyone has already chosen their
02:09 battle royale games.
02:11 This effort felt like it was super late to the party.
02:13 Who knows, maybe it would have found an audience had it come out in 2018.
02:24 Friday the 13th, The Game
02:31 Poor Jason Voorhees had some real momentum going until a lawsuit brought the Jason X
02:36 expansion to an immediate halt.
02:39 Due to how long it went on for, developer Illphonic was forced to cease support entirely
02:44 for the game, effectively canceling the expansion.
02:47 Since 2018, the game has been on life support until it was announced in June 2023 that it
02:53 was getting delisted.
02:55 Publisher Gun Interactive slashed the price of the game from $19.99 to $4.99 USD and dropped
03:01 all DLC prices to just under a buck.
03:04 Players for peer-to-peer matchmaking will remain active until December 31st, 2024, but
03:09 after that date, the game will become totally unplayable.
03:14 No single player challenges, no virtual cabin, nothing at all will be accessible due to the
03:20 game requiring a constant online connection.
03:23 So hopefully you got yourself a copy before it was gone after December 31st, 2023.
03:35 Pac-Man 99
03:43 Pac-Man 99 saw a somewhat lengthy lifespan compared to Super Mario 35.
03:48 However, it sort of saw a similar fate to Rumbleverse.
03:52 Not only was the battle royale market a crowded mess, most folks found more enjoyment in Tetris
03:58 99.
03:59 Bandai Namco got behind Pac-Man 99 for a while and even promoted it on Twitch with tournaments.
04:05 Alas, it was not meant to be here for long.
04:08 In May 2023, Nintendo announced that Pac-Man 99 was going to be shut down.
04:13 Cosmetic purchases and DLC packs were delisted in August and September respectively.
04:18 As for the base game, it was delisted in October.
04:21 Players closed the same day as the delisting.
04:30 Crossfire X
04:37 Crossfire X was one of the worst games we played in 2022.
04:41 Really, this game was bad.
04:42 We got it for free and it still sucked.
04:45 We honestly don't know who was actively playing and championing the game until its
04:49 death in 2023.
04:51 On February 30th, roughly a year since it launched on Xbox Series XS, developer Smilegate
04:57 Entertainment announced the game was getting delisted immediately and servers would be
05:01 closed in May 2023.
05:04 Much like Friday the 13th, Crossfire X tied all of its content to a constant online connection.
05:10 So regardless if you wanted to play multiplayer or single player, nothing in the game was
05:15 accessible unless you had an online connection.
05:18 But you know, servers are closed, so nothing's usable.
05:22 Of course, why would you have wanted to play this dumpster fire in the first place?
05:26 Just go play a better first person shooter.
05:32 Video Horror Society
05:39 Moving away from battle royales and shooters for a second, one corner of the internet was
05:44 super excited for Video Horror Society.
05:47 Fans of Dead by Daylight were super stoked to see a game with some promise to give DVD
05:52 a run for its money.
05:53 The unique theme of old horror VHS movies and more focus on letting the killer and survivors
05:58 interact with each other more was new and interesting.
06:01 The honeymoon was over, the second Video Horror Society finally launched.
06:06 Interest died quickly as the game was drip fed updates and many players soon discovered
06:10 just how imbalanced the game was.
06:13 Playing killer was absolutely miserable as survivors were given so many opportunities
06:18 to bully their way to victory.
06:20 Eventually, killer players left, thus increasing queue times for survivors, thus causing survivor
06:25 players to leave, until finally, nobody was playing.
06:29 Video Horror Society shut down on September 8th, 2023 and is no longer purchasable.
06:35 Now the game only exists as a Steam store page.
06:40 Rocket Arena
06:46 At first, Rocket Arena looked like a promising PvP game.
06:50 A whole online shooter centered on shooting rockets at each other?
06:53 Well, it could have been fun, if it wasn't so damn slow.
06:59 It didn't help that the presentation and art style screamed "I wanna be Fortnite"
07:03 while the progression system was unbearably grindy.
07:06 So no one bothered to give it the time of day.
07:09 Those that stayed quickly found themselves starved for new content.
07:13 Publisher Electronic Arts tried desperately to boost numbers through free weekends and
07:17 even through Xbox Game Pass and EA Play.
07:20 Alas, it was not enough.
07:22 Rocket Arena was delisted on November 14th, 2023 with no notice whatsoever to what little
07:28 player base there may have been.
07:30 By the time you see this video, chances are the servers have already shut down.
07:41 Evolve
07:49 Evolve has long been known to be one of the most infamously egregious online games to
07:54 ever exist.
07:55 Not only did it get pre-orders set up before any ounce of the game was shown, it failed
08:00 to deliver anything remotely fun unless you were planning to turn the game into a second
08:04 or third job.
08:05 Regardless, it did manage to hold some form of a player base for eight straight years.
08:11 Somehow.
08:12 Evolve even tried to shift to a free-to-play model, though it did very little to boost
08:17 their numbers.
08:18 While the game did get delisted way back in 2018 and lost its dedicated servers after
08:23 the delisting, it wasn't until July 6th, 2023 when all online functionality ceased
08:29 to cross all platforms.
08:31 In other words, Evolve is now nothing more than a broken piece of plastic.
08:41 The Day Before
08:49 The Day Before might just be one of the most embarrassing scams to come from any developer
08:56 within the last ten years.
08:58 It's one thing to blatantly copy another game's art style and presentation.
09:02 But then there was the whole thing about unpaid volunteers getting participation certificates
09:08 as payment for their work.
09:10 Then there was the delay that was supposedly caused by trademark issues, even though the
09:14 delay was planned before that issue even came to fruition for developer Fantastic.
09:19 Then there was the constant lying about what kind of game it actually was.
09:25 Then, not only did they miss their third targeted release window two years after their initial
09:32 one, the game turned out to be a complete asset flip riddled with bugs and stolen assets.
09:39 The Day Before lasted only four days on the market before it was suddenly delisted on
09:46 December 11th, 2023.
09:49 What could have possibly caused such a thing?
09:51 No, it's because the game generated no revenue and the developer ran out of money.
09:59 And after nuking every presence across social media platforms, what does Fantastic have
10:03 to say about this whole disaster?
10:06 This was our first big experience.
10:09 Shit happens.
10:12 Gold.
10:13 Comedy gold here.
10:21 The entire Wii U in 3DS library.
10:29 With this final entry, we suppose you could rename this video "1000 Games That Disappeared
10:35 in 2023".
10:37 This really was the biggest loss for the gaming industry in terms of game preservation.
10:42 In February 2022, Nintendo announced that eShops for the Wii U and 3DS would be shutting
10:47 down.
10:48 EShops had until March 27th, 2023 to buy whatever games they wanted.
10:53 Video Games Chronicle estimates the shutdown led to the loss of roughly 1,000 games that
10:58 only ever saw digital-only releases.
11:00 Some of these that got lost in the fire were Nintendo's own titles, such as three Kirby
11:05 games that only got digital releases, a couple Mario vs. Donkey Kong spinoffs, and a wealth
11:10 of DLC for Smash Bros., Fire Emblem, and more.
11:14 Because of this loss, some developers are finding ways to bring their once 3DS-only
11:18 titles forward to modern platforms.
11:20 A couple you can look forward to in 2024 are Capcom's Apollo Justice Ace Attorney trilogy
11:26 and a Switch remaster of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.
11:29 But RIP 3DS and Wii U, we barely knew you.
11:34 Did you get to play any of these before their plugs were pulled?
11:37 Let us know down in the comments and don't forget to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more
11:41 great videos every day.
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