Discover the 5 games that launched in a poor state and eventually redeemed themselves in the eyes of players.

There have been many instances where game developers released a game in a poor state, which disappointed many fans. However, some developers recognized that they had to earn back all that goodwill and decided to patch the game regularly. With these updates, the games that were first in an abysmal state eventually became great games that many players enjoyed. So, here are 5 games that redeemed themselves in the eyes of players.
1. Final Fantasy XIV

Even after multiple updates following its disastrous launch, Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 showed no signs of improvement. The game felt clunky to play, had some outdated system mechanics, and the overall experience was subpar. So, Yoshi-P and Square Enix decided to scrap the game entirely and remake it from the ground up. After they orchestrated an actual calamity within the game’s story, they shut down the servers.
Afterward, they released A Realm Reborn, which is a completely new version of Final Fantasy XIV. They fixed all of 1.0’s issues and even offered free copies to players who owned 1.0. All in all, it is clear that Square Enix won back all of the goodwill that they had lost.
2. Cyberpunk 2077

After The Witcher 3’s groundbreaking success, players had very high expectations from CD Projekt Red’s next game, Cyberpunk 2077. Unfortunately, the game was released in an unfinished state, with a lot of bugs and missing features. While the outcry from fans was big, CD Projekt Red promised to fix the game and provide more content than they originally promised.
After years of updates, Cyberpunk 2077 is hailed as one of the best games ever made. And now, players are excited to see what CD Projekt Red will come up with in the future.
3. No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky is one of the most hyped-up games of all time, amassing a massive following before it was even close to release. The developers made many promises about their game. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep a majority of them, as the game was unfinished and full of glitches. Additionally, No Man’s Sky was missing many key features that were promised, such as space battles.
Hello Games did not want their passion project to go to waste like this, so they started working toward patching the game. With each update, the game became noticeably better. After one year, the game turned into what it was always meant to be, and now it still has a massive and loyal player base in 2025.
4. Tekken 7

While Tekken 7 technically did not release in a poor state, it still served a similar purpose. The reason is, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 did not do well commercially, as it is the least-selling Tekken game. Additionally, the competitive scene was also dwindling, as many players did not want to participate in TTT2’s tournaments simply because the game felt too toxic to play.
Because of these reasons, Bandai Namco almost pulled the plug on Tekken as a franchise. However, after Harada convinced the higher-ups to give the game another chance, Namco released Tekken 7. To say the least, Tekken 7 is now the most successful Tekken game of all time, and it has also boosted the competitive scene, encouraging many players to participate in tournaments.
5. Fallout 76

Fallout 76 is yet another example of a game making many promises before launch and not delivering on most of them. Additionally, it also had a lot of missing features and bugs, which disappointed many longtime fans of the Fallout series. Furthermore, the game got into many controversies, notably the pre-order bonus one, where Bethesda provided low-quality bags as a bonus.
However, they did not give up on this game and released many updates and free story missions that kept the game alive. And there you have it — these are the 5 games that redeemed themselves in the eyes of their fans.
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