In 2020, Warner Brothers announced Gotham Knights. This game would be a spiritual successor to the hit Arkham series of games, but set in a separate universe following crucial members of the bat family. This started some excitement from fans as they also found out that the game would feature co-op features in which players can join their friends on missions as either Nightwing, Bat-Girl, Red Hood, or Robin. However, as the game's release date was repeatedly delayed and more details about its live service, slow combat, abysmal graphics, and questionable character designs emerged, fan engagement plummeted. Steam sales reached 720,500 copies; however, the game only averaged 246.6 active players over the past 30 days. The repetitive gameplay and confusing combat, leaving it to collect dust in my Steam library, met with mediocre reviews, and as someone who is a huge DC fan, I was rather disappointed and bored with the game.
The success of the TV show Arcane prompted many, myself included, to download League of Legends and play the featured characters. This free-to-play game has a huge competitive scene and is an iconic game, giving me the impression that it would serve some fun. However, it is really difficult to get into/invested in due to the fact that it is an online competitive game with limited story placed within the game. Also, because of the somewhat complicated gameplay paired with players who have grinded out over many years, it makes it unfulfilling/impossible to get into a groove, leaving it to just stay downloaded to my computer with no interest in going back.
Finally, one of the biggest disappointments I've experienced in recent memory was the release of Overwatch 2. When this free-to-play sequel was announced, I was very excited as I thought it would reignite the fandom and it did for the first few months… Blizzard promised new gameplay mechanics, a bunch more characters and new move sets for pre-existing characters, yet new characters feel somewhat uninspired and half-baked, whilst balancing heroes still seems to be a challenge for the developers. In addition, they stated that the game would no longer include new story mode campaign missions. This made Overwatch 2 not a new fun experience, much like Overwatch’s original release, but a pathetic attempt at Blizzard trying to get more money from micro-transactions and a competitive scene more unfair and unbalanced than the original, with its final nail in the coffin being the release of Marvel Rivals.