Top 10 Biggest Video Game Controversies of 2024

How many readers remember the tragedy of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie or the garbage Uwe Boll churned out? This video game-to-film adaptation beats them all by many people's already low standards.

First, there's the horrendous miscasting of Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis as Lilith and Dr. Patricia Tannis, respectively. Then there are the characters themselves, who neither look nor behave like their video game counterparts. Add to that the flashy but soulless set pieces.

Worst of all is the PG-13 rating. If you've seen the Mortal Kombat movies from the 1990s, you'll know why movies based on M-rated video games shouldn't have such a low MPAA rating. Everything about this movie fits together as poorly as a Halloween costume slapped together with random clothes from an attic trunk, with no one bothering to check a mirror.

Let this be a stern warning: when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

It seems the video game industry is having a very hard time learning two things: trying to appeal to a woke crowd is the best way to lose a lot of money, and people are getting tired of live service games. Concord isn't just the latest example. It's quite possibly the biggest blunder Sony has made to date.

After eight years of development and a $400,000,000 budget, the game lasted only two weeks before it was taken offline. To rub salt into the wound, Sony offered refunds for the game on the PlayStation 5 and Steam platforms. As IGN's Matt Kim said very poignantly, "Releasing an Overwatch competitor two years after Overwatch 2 was released feels like a mighty disadvantage."

New Game+ has been around since the NES days with titles such as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and the Japan-only Digital Devil Story, which allowed players to start from the beginning while carrying over certain levels, items, spells, and techniques. Chrono Trigger even coined the phrase New Game+ and made it a staple of video games.

However, Sega has gotten greedy by disallowing players from accessing New Game+ on the cheaper versions of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth unless they pay $15. While Yakuza: Like a Dragon also featured a similar paywall, it was only for the Japanese version. So why did Sega decide to pull the same stunt with Infinite Wealth across all regional releases? Probably because of greed.

Persona 3 Reload received critical acclaim for how it modernized a beloved yet archaic PlayStation 2 game. However, fans were disappointed that it didn't include FES's The Answer episode or the PSP version's female protagonist.

In March 2024, Atlus announced that these features would be added, but they would be part of an expansion pass costing $34.99 USD or $46.99 CAD. Furthermore, the DLC was released in waves. The first wave, released immediately, included music from Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal. The second wave, released in May, featured Velvet Room-themed costumes and music. The third and final wave, released in September, finally included the long-awaited episode.

I was hoping for the ability to play as the female protagonist in this version, but now I'm not so sure.

How many readers had reasonable expectations for this IP, considering it was just another team-based shooter? Well, even those were bound to be shattered in a bad way. When Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched on February 2, 2024, it was met with scathing reviews because it had all the alarm bells and whistles you'd expect from a live-service game: online-only play, a battle pass, real-money microtransactions - the works.

Feel free to comment on anything I've left out. But the biggest controversy was the early access, where players who purchased the Digital Deluxe Edition could play 72 hours before the official release. Only one hour after the early access launch, Rocksteady had to take the game offline due to various bugs - and then take it offline again later. To rub salt in the wound, Rocksteady offered 2,000 Luthor Coins instead of a full refund.

What makes this even more tragic is that this was one of the last performances by Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne before he passed away on November 10, 2022. Rest in peace, Conroy. At least you won't have to lend your voice to any more of this dreck.

When the 2020s began, we had a bigger issue to deal with than COVID-19: woke culture. It infected everything - movies, TV shows, books, and video games. No media was safe. Companies started censoring content to appeal to people who wouldn't even buy their products.

But Shift Up from South Korea decided to take a stand against woke culture and released Stellar Blade, which proved that players want sexy women in their games. The proof is in the sales: 2 million copies sold in only two months after release. This success angered many people, but instead of backing down, Shift Up continued to update the game with new costumes, including a 2B outfit from Nier: Automata that fans preferred over Ubisoft's designs.

This is all good, Shift Up. Now, how about a bust slider so we can make Eve's breasts bigger? And not the usual 46DDs - I'm talking about macromastia proportions here. Look it up.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was an excellent game. It gave players a bigger world to explore, fleshed out a few characters better, and showcased the power of the PlayStation 5. Critics gave it glowing reviews, but the sales numbers were disappointing.

As of the posting of this list, it has sold only 2 million copies, which is quite underwhelming compared to Final Fantasy VII Remake, which sold 7 million copies. A probable reason for this is that players are holding out for a PC port. Considering that gaming PCs are becoming cheaper and payment options more flexible, it's easy to see why more gamers are moving toward PC gaming.

As of this list, there's no release date for a PC version of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. However, with PlayStation exclusives like Persona 5 Royal, the Horizon games, and Final Fantasy XVI eventually making their way to PC, we could see Rebirth on PC as well - hopefully sooner rather than later.

Players are usually excited whenever a company releases a new version of a console, but this is one of those rare times when most players will give it a pass. The PlayStation 5 Pro is significantly more expensive than the regular disc drive versions (about $200 USD/$300 CAD more expensive) and offers minimal - if any - improvement in picture quality.

The worst part is that the Pro version has no disc drive. It's entirely digital-only, while the regular digital version of the PlayStation 5 costs almost half as much as the PlayStation 5 Pro. While the PlayStation 5 Pro has double the storage of a regular PlayStation 5, those in the know can upgrade their existing PlayStation 5 storage with an SSD. The 4TB SSDs tend to cost just a bit more than the price difference between the regular disc version and the Pro version.

So, there's no point in getting this waste of plastic and circuitry if you already have an original PlayStation 5.

The obvious catchphrase reference aside, The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole were two of the best South Park games to be released in recent years. By keeping the series' trademark cardboard cutout style and adopting a turn-based RPG system, they became some of the best RPGs in recent memory.

South Park: Snow Day, for whatever reason, abandoned what made those games great. The signature cardboard graphics were replaced with ugly 3D polygons that would have looked bad even on the Nintendo 64 or PlayStation 1. The gameplay was monotonous, and despite the M rating, it lacked the raunchy humor that gives South Park its signature je ne sais quoi.

If this game had been made by another developer, I wouldn't even bother putting it on this list. But because it was created by South Park Studios - the team behind two great South Park games - this disappointment stings even worse.