List of commercial failures in video gaming

As a hit-driven business, the great majority of the video games industry's software releases have been commercial failures. In the early 21st century, industry commentators made these general estimates: 10% of published games generated 90% of revenue; that around 3% of PC games and 15% of console games have global sales of 100,000+ a year, with even this level insufficient to make high-budget titles profitable; and that about 20% of games make a profit.

Some of these have drastically changed the video game market since its birth in the late 1970s. For example, the failures of E.T. and Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 contributed to the video game crash of 1983. Some games, despite being commercial failures, are well received by certain groups of gamers and are considered cult games. Many of these games live on through emulation.

A commercial failure for a video game hardware platform is generally defined as a system that either fails to become adopted by a significant portion of the gaming marketplace or fails to win significant mindshare of the target audience, and may be characterized by significantly poor international sales and general financial unviability of development or support.

Co-designed by R. J. Mical and the team behind the Amiga, and marketed by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, this "multimedia machine" released in 1993 was marketed as a family entertainment device and not just a video game console. Though it supported a vast library of games including many exceptional third party releases, a refusal to reduce pricing until almost the end of the product's life (699.95 USD at release) hampered sales. The success of subsequent next generation systems led to the platform's demise and the company's exit from the hardware market. This exit also included The 3DO Company's sale of the platform's successor, the M2, to its investor Matsushita.

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