Top 5 Multiplayer Games That Died Instantly

Unlike single-player titles, multiplayer games need a specific number of players to keep them going. Whether it's filling matches or providing legitimate reasons to continue support, if not enough people are playing, the multiplayer game is shut down. Some have months or years before this happens, but others aren't so fortunate, sinking so quickly that they fade into memory. Here are the top 5 multiplayer games that died instantly.

5. Titanfall 2

Developer Respawn Entertainment took the criticism from the first Titanfall game to create a vastly better sequel. Unfortunately, despite receiving high praise for its single-player, improved multiplayer, and free content updates, Titanfall 2 was released sandwiched between Battlefield 1, another EA-published title, and Activision's Call of Duty: Infinity Warfare.

This, coupled with the game's poor marketing campaign and Titanfall 2, set the game up for failure, leading to poor sales and the game becoming overshadowed by the competition. While there's hope that another Titanfall game will be in development, it is likely that we won't see another game in this franchise for a while.

4. Umbrella Corps.

Released with the intention of becoming an eSports title, Umbrella Corps. was a promising idea: a competitive shooter based on the Resident Evil franchise that took the concept of the Mercenary mode and added more intense PvP combat. From the start, gamers and critics complained about the title's bugs, graphical issues, and hit-targeting problems, which made it resemble Operation Raccoon City in terms of polish.

When it launched, Umbrella Corps. didn't fix any of the problems from the demo, and the game died within days of its release. Thankfully, Capcom has learned from this and made the vastly superior Resident Evil 7. It is set to release Resident Evil 2 2019 later this month.

3. Battleborn

Gearbox and 2K Games threw their name into the MOBA arena with their own game, Battleborn. Complete with unique heroes and lots of unlockables, Battleborn had many positives.

Unfortunately, the art style was heavily compared to Activision Blizzard's Overwatch, leading many to compare and contrast the two titles. Overwatch's release three weeks after Battleborn led to a massive drop in player count, solidifying the game's demise. 

2. The Culling II

One of the most infamous games to be released in 2018 was The Culling II. Attempting to capitalize on the battle royale trend, the developers removed support for the original and fully endorsed this rushed sequel, vexing many of their fans.

What launched was a poor copy of PUBG that barely had enough players to fill a single match. Due to the lack of players, those playing would often win matches, leading to the developer releasing an apology video, removing the game, and returning support for The Culling.

1. LawBreakers

The first major release from Boss Key Production, the studio founded by the legendary Cliff Bleszinski, LawBreakers, was heavily promoted as the next big competitive FPS. Unfortunately, Overwatch wasn't satisfied with slaughtering Battleborn and set its eyes on LawBreakers. 

Released in August 2017, one year after Overwatch, the game saw moderate success thanks to its maneuverability system but lacked the charm of Overwatch's heroes.

By April 2018, Boss Key confirmed that LawBreakers didn't have enough players playing to sustain the company, and the game's servers would be shut down in September of the same year. Boss Key would develop Radical Heights in an attempt to save the company but it wasn't enough with Boss Key going under in May 2018.