Don't promote smoking it's bad! Also they are bad for the environment because the batterys are rechargeable but you can't recharge them. They are build to be thrown away and waste racecourses we need.
You should make a Bloodhunt video you can still play it but it doesn't really recieve any major updates anymore but has a small but loyal playerbase of around 1000 people
Sega had this mysterious "Super Game" listed in their financial reports, clearly being marked as something they were staking a lot on, and seeing this game just come and go without a word is probably the most Sega way for this to go.
I know right? This is history on this channel. Imagine talking about a game that never came out lol!? Also, it's killing the studio behind it as the Total War playerbase has had enough of them too! 😂
@@nahuelkid I saw it coming years ago that they couldn't keep screwing their players over left and right and well, the dam just broke. Also, people are getting banned for criticizing Pharaoh too so nice times.
I’d love to imagine that’s near why they cancelled it. like a higher up walks in after they use a bunch of building blocks and just says “damn we couldn’t cook, burn it all Steve”
@@Scroolewse 100%. Lawbreakers died because it came out in an over saturated market and had a horrible marketing campaign. The gameplay was great but everything around it was handled horribly.
@@Scroolewsethat and Anthem were zenith for me. Been in a stupor since. It feels like the rug didn't just get pulled but they held my chin and made me watch as they burned them and pissed on the ashes lmao
It looked to me like the art design was made by executives searching on TikTok and Reddit for "What are kids up to these days". "How do you do, fellow kids?"
I saw the previews of this game last year and it just reminded me of Brink all over again. But there's absolutely zero character in the characters, their whole identity is what they are, not WHO they are. You could describe the personalities of every character in Team Fortress 2, but this just looked like a soulless checklist.
I mean,in Brink´s defense,you were supposed to create your own character,making it somewhat harder to establish a personality beyond "slim guy,middle of the road and big Al". Here the characters felt very much like first drafts out of a scrib book,no actual refinement or additions to the initial idea and,perhaps even more importantly,asking the question "okay,who would actually like to play as these". In the first place,whacky character designs have always been a hard sell in the west and basing nearly your entire cast around making the most obnoxious you can...pretty big gamble.
I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t mention the colossal controversy it had with the Total War fanbase, let alone bring it up as a clue. I am a Total War fan myself, and HOLY SHIT, the sheer amount of hatred about Hyenas was and actually still is *massive.* CA has been producing Total War games for nearly 30 years at this point. That fanbase is their core, TW is their flagship franchise. Rumors were and still are spreading that it was sucking resources away from Total War: Warhammer 3, a game which was (and sadly still is) in dire straits due to bad monetization (SOC was too pricey), poor behavior on the part of CA (from silence to recent shittalking and ban waves), and the bad state the game is in (still quite buggy, with new fixes often introducing new and worse bugs or breaking what was already fixed). The end result is that CA’s core fanbase wasn’t just indifferent to Hyenas. TW fans hold it in extreme *contempt*, and it became a boogeyman and target to pound on and blame for the things that were and still are going wrong. Even now it’s still a popular opinion that if geriatric Sega and CA corporate suit fucks hadn’t decided to pump money into a genre that is already cornered in the market and getting stale, WHIII (and Pharoah, which is actually good and most acknowledge CA Sofia is a damn fine team, but flopped colossally) would be far better off. CA and Sega by proxy alienated CA’s longest running, enduring, core audience. The circumstances surrounding Hyenas, and the qualities listed (being in an over saturated market, no character or soul, grubby monetization, weird and cringey loot ideas), resulted in a not-insignificant group of CA followers constantly shit-talking Hyenas anywhere it came up, poisoning the well. Even MandaloreGaming posted about Hyenas on Twitter about how ugly and otherwise repulsive he found Hyenas to be on first sight. Tl;dr another part of the death of Hyenas is that people were actively shit talking and spreading rumors about it due to it being responsible (or at least being perceived to be responsible) for the terrible state of what should have been a slam dunk golden goose for Creative Assembly.
I'm surprised no one has noticed how similar it is to the lawbreakers logo as well, along with the fact that both had zero g zones as part of their gameplay
One of the issues the game had was simply bringing in the lore and story that was actually written - the discord server had a ton of it, explaining everything, but it never got incorporated into the game. The characters also had a lot more depth that also didn't get incorporated.
Imagine your entire personality being you like Sonic (Chris-Chan's voice plays faintly in the background) or that you're an Astronaut, or like Tech, or are a Drag-Queen. The characters themselves are just as infantile as the Art Design. It's the same nonsense as Back 4 Blood, everyone is waaaaaay too relaxed for what they're doing. Using Payday 2 as an equivalent the core clowns weren't ever relaxed. They didn't start to get that way until you hit the DLC Characters. Dallas, Wolf, Hoxton and Chains new the reality of everything they were doing. The Risks involved and respected the whole process. These clowns.... It's like they're high on fentanyl and have no idea what's happening.
Ehhhh I kinda disagree here. I think context is very important here. In Back 4 Blood and Payday, everything outside the characters is played straight and serious. For Hyenas, the entire game is goofy. Don't you think it would be weirder to have a silly world and super serious characters?
@@ram_259 their whole world is a big middle finger to space capitalists stealing their nostalgia. It's in itself a political and semi-serious premise but then the art direction and such makes it goofy. Compare it to borderlands, all of them are goofy but at least they look like proper loot hunters. One or 2 characters that look goofy isn't a problem but you literally got a whole squad of quirky bullied kids that pretend to be amazing space pirate looters now.
@@blobmarley1064but that's the hook to me, let them be misfits but give them reasons to be there. A drag queen who uses her looks to charm people into walking towards her could be goofy or more dramatic. An ult where she performs and heals her team but taunts the other. An astronaut could be there for a noble cause, but they're an alcoholic and her drinks are molotovs. It really needed a misfit director to tie it all together, but the blox were there to me
@@proverbialking3452but Fortnite has a cartoony aesthetic with some realism similar to Overwatch while Hyenas has a realistic presentation with some stylization put in. I think Hyenas tries way too hard to be cool and funny.
Comparing it with Overwatch, but didn't bothered to mention the character design, Overwatch characters are popular because the characters are attractive not ugly
This’ll be interesting, a lot of ‘live service’ games have been killed off in recent years, but that happening before a proper release is still quite something.
@@JohnCacciothe irony is that a lot of us prefer a live service co op pve set up but it's so hard to keep the content fresh Destiny is buckling under its own weight lol I'm depressed since Anthem's death. I wish someone would attempt it again
@@nailinthefashion you know, that anthem was reskin of warframe, right? And warframe is as good as ftp live service game can be. Megatonns of stuff to grind, no paywalls, cubic hectares of cosmetic items, good story, and chill community.
@mesaultintensifies2491 Anthem had way better environments instead of bland tile sets, enemy diversity, customization and movement but yeah. Looter shooters are gonna have some overlap lol. It's why I like both but Anthem was much more unique to me
@@nailinthefashion i agree with it except customization and maybe scenery. You should check it, there is open word stuff in warframe, they added it long ago, and continue to expand. As far as im aware, currently there are 4 huge open world locations, all with different enemies and activities.
Actually yes because furries tend to be extremely artistically gifted. We coulda gotten sumn with Overwatch's artistry but more edgy 😭 there was even a drag queen like???? THAT IS SO INSPIRED
Sometimes, a game's death is sudden and tragic. Sometimes, a game goes away with dignity, surrounded by those who love it and those that it inspired. Hyenas and CA as a whole is going out like a terminal crack addict trying to fight and/or fuck an alligator.
Same, nothing about what was seen looked like a game going anywhere. Not sure what they were thinking with the direction/decisions. It's obvious that they themselves didn't even know.
@@flintlockwood1919the drag queen is such a cool choice but then they're just a generic bad beep. Why not do more aspnic references and have her be like Rogue? Rouge? The bat girl
I gotta say one of the issues this game had was it's name. WTF does "Hyenas" have to do with your game, say about your game, or honestly have to do with anything? Someone in Marketing was asleep at the wheel lol.
Overwatch characters are memorable because Blizzard did the work of creating backstories and cinematics that got you to care for them. Hyena characters were written with a checklist of memes and required diversity while relying on those points solely to be "likeable" and it very much showed through the presentation.
I wonder if, had the game not been forced to change engines, more time and energy could have been directed into making the characters actually good? They look like they had some neat ideas but never managed to make them seem like they existed cohesively or had enough depth to get your feet wet. Which is a shame since I liked some of the character designs. Oh well.
Oddly enough i feel like a game that does this well and makes the characters feel "believable" is Apex Legends the whole artstyle and character direction is grounded and tied into the larger titanfall universe which is just standard military sci-fi. The game genuinely does a great job of showing personality and it goes [vocally] underappreciated because the players apex usually attracts aren't exactly rating the game based off its character's character
Hyenas just looked like one of the most corporate, soulless, by the numbers title I have seen in a long time, surprisingly impressive given some other titles being released over the last few years. I do feel for the devs though; they should have had the chance to release, even if the game wouldn’t have been successful.
I played the closed beta when that was out. It was... Tolerable. I didn't mind how the guns fired, the sonic cosplayer and medic gamer was alright, the loot was pretty neat (wasn't expecting to see Atari games and other retro tat) but after playing for a few hours I already thought "this is not gonna last long at all." I wasn't expecting Hyenas to get canned shortly after the beta and that's probably for the best.
I played the earliest beta of the game like a year ago and all I thought was “I’m looking forward to the death of a game video that’s gonna be about this”
Hunt Showdown has a varied and diverse cast of Hunters, but what works in its favor above every other online extraction shooter on the market is the general theme of the game itself, Southern Gothic-Horror in 19th century Louisiana. It's such a wildly imaginative break from the norm that I really wish more studios, big and small, would take those kind of risks since its a gamble that can pay off big time. It worked wonders for DICE when they went all in with a WW1 Battlefield, a era which had been ignored entirely by AAA as being too niche & unmarketable. The think tanks and higher-ups in the industry need to stop offering players carbon copies of other popular games and make something actually unique, even if just visually, if they want to carve a slice in the competitive online gaming scene.
This is an excellent point. Many good games have an atmosphere and sense of place about them. In some cases you can feel the vibe of a game from just screenshots. Games like Stalker and Bloodbourne are also good examples. I don't know what to call it, or if it has a name or not, but the art style (direction?) of this game comes off as very sterile and formulaic. Games like Hyenas, Borderlands, Rage 2 and Law breakers all have this same kind of style. Unhealthy looking characters with the Skrillex hair cut or mowhawks and everything is neon purple. Its like knockoff cyberpunk but without any of the personality.
@@tropictiger2387I like to use Yahztee's "Magenta Game" definition where everything's super colorful and edgy and quirky. The issue is that so it's been so overdone to lose any more bite so it's as transgressive as anything else at this point.
@@michelians1148Diversity and quirky characters themselves aren't an issue no matter how much *particular* people think they're a main deal breaker. The problem is as previously mentioned how the characters are just stereotypes and nothing more and how their quirky archetypes don't meld well with the grim circumstances or premise of the game (looting the ruins of civilization at the whims of the elite just to keep existing) nor does the gameplay try to leverage that premise. Hunt Showdown has a varied and diverse cast of characters (and associated weapon skins) but their designs are all period appropriate and mesh completely fine with the game's unique Southern Gothic horror atmosphere and gameplay, which stands out even in broad strokes against all other shooters out there.
Relax Mr Anon online, nothing about you is tough nor confident. What a little coward acting tough online, rofl. You would cower physically in my presence.@@michelians1148
It is beyond stupid that Sega let Creative Assembly develop Hyenas for so long and pour so much money into it. Successful game as a service is diamond in the rough, many have tired, most have failed. At least I think we are in final stages of games as a service model, Sony also went all in into it and what is output? CEO 'leaved', many layoffs all around almost every studio that was pusher to develop game as a service because it was 'hot' thing when Fortnite, Apex, Destiny managed to earn insane amount of money.
Sony may very well go under in a couple of years with this tomfoolery going on as they recently fired a woman who worked there for 34 years and there's this huge push into GaaS which is beginning to lose steam now and the fanboys over on that side may as well get out now while they can. It's gonna get ugly soon.
@@Ziko577Not likely imho. Playstation is doing quite well, and gaming is just a division of Sony, the parent company has very deep pockets. The losses they took are not that large in comparison.
Never discount unappealing characters as a reason something fails, everything after L4D shat the bed with it's characters and has never gotten a penny from me because it.
I personally think that there is a golden rule in game development, especially when it comes to naming conventions: Don't name your game after something that already exists. Like Hyenas. When you google it, it won't be the first thing that comes up. I'd imagine that another title like "Retro Plunder" would also be more fitting. Switching the frame to a TV-Show like Radical Heights and it would be instantly more memorable. Not to mention that I never heard of the title before. So I would assume that the marketing department slept on this.
Are you kidding? I work in the industry and this game is a regular example of an absolutely wicked marketing campaign. The marketing had nothing to do with why this game died. Also, SEO on the game is fine.
@@sys.t3m Doubt thats the case because the game literally died within months of even existing. Clearly people had no idea or did not care at all. Seems like poor marketing and development to me?
It died because it was yet another hero shooter that nobody asked for, and none of the characters were even slightly likable. The marketing did an ok job because people knew about this game, but the fundamental idea were unsalvagable.
@@sys.t3mThe marketing sucked, all I saw was Twitter ads with no context a couple years ago, I looked up the game and all I could find was boring CGI trailers that left me more confused than before. I never heard about the game again until now and I never saw an ounce of gameplay until this video. I think Hyenas has set a new low bar for worst marketing in gaming history IMO.
no way the quirky free to play live service shooter that was barely advertised got canned??? i feel like projects like this no matter how good are doomed to fail
@@Calvin_Coolage as someone that tried it back on PS3, i just remember it not feeling great. the idea was neat but at the end of the day CoD just felt better to play, and CoD was really really hot at the time
What a depraved, wicked industry this is. And as always- barely any people responsible for terrible decisions will actually pay the price, in any form.
I don't even think Hyenas looked bad, but the simple stigma of 'total war warhammer 3 died for this', even if it wasn't entirely true, was just too much for ca fans
As much as I hate what Overwatch became, the characters felt way more believable and likable, despite there being so many more. It genuinely felt like there was a character for everyone, and they didn’t cone off as shallow, vapid stereotypes. Even Reaper’s over-the-top edginess was kind of endearing, and the fact that other characters made fun if him for it was great.
I didn't know this game existed until I saw this video in my timeline. But also, youtube tagged this as overwatch, so I guess they don't know Hyenas either
I was one of the people that tried it, but wasn't really feeling it. first, I don't like extractions shooters, I now realize. However, second, the whole style seemed too "zoomer" for me, if that makes sense. Still, I didn't expect it to be stillborn. We went from games dying in decades, to a few years, to a single year, and now in the womb.
I'm a massive total war fan and was at the forefront of this whole debacle. I think Hyenas was costing so much that it was putting a whole lot of presssure on the rest of creative assembly, specifically the total war teams. This led to a drop in quality and a steep increase in prices for the dlc. This caused such an outrage in the community (basically a complete meltdown) that Sega (wisely imo) chose to focus their resources more on a proven successful and very profitable franchise.
There is a fascination to be had with watching something like Hyenas have time and resources spent on it, with a budget estimated around $100 Million, how much it doesn't hit with people with any trailer or gameplay footage being shown, and seeing that it doesn't even take off, much less land.
The first thing I noticed about this game was its incredibly cluttered UI. 20% of each edge of the screen is taken up by the plain white doodads, and the bottom 40% of the remainder is taken up by your character's hands and guns. Constant little bubbles slide in, things pop in and out. How are you supposed to actually parse anything that's going on? This is nightmarish.
I feel like the reason for the random surge of Extraction Shooters is because all these publishers see Tarkov as an equivalent to PUBG, so they all want to be the one who makes the equivalent Fortnite
I could see how the game's setting could be salvaged pretty well. Drop the comicbook gothpunk shit and go for a more gritty, cybernetic doomed-future aesthetic where "The Rich" have abandoned the Earth for Mars. Earth being turned into a trash filled wasteland with struggling life and various factions and clans competing for resources. The clans have grown so powerful that they are able to invest in barely functioning space travel to assault The Rich's space stations and strongholds over and on mars. Their goal? Get in, get technology and schematics to help save the earth, and also increase their home faction's power over the others. Whiel also maybe sending a nuke or two towards the Elites' population centers as revenge. They aren't drag queens or ballerinas, they are the best soldiers and killers the various clans could afford or employ. Cybernetic warriors, Psychics, salvaged Androids and miniature Mechs toting portable artillery guns to blow open passageways deeper into the Elites' labyrinths. They are hired to rob and kill, and most importantly snuff out the competition if they try to intervene. "The fuckers on Mars abandoned and left us to die. It's everyone for themselves."
I speak only for myself, but my main problem with this game characters is that they're just not cool. Worse so, they're trying to be cool and fail, which is the most uncool and lame thing imaginable.
Hyenas entire setting and story setting was just such pure unadulterated cringe. To me it is the embodiment of the "fellow kids" meme. Some Boomer executives and high-up developers thinking what "the kids" would find super cool.
Hyenas ended up looking and feeling like the latest saints row installment and we all know how everyone liked that game choice of characters and style.
I don't know a single person who wanted this game, or was even slightly interested in it. The only context me and my friends would speak about Hyenas was in how it's failure was almost certainly why CA increased their overall prices for DLC.
Ill be hones, all i could remember from the top of my head about this game is me cringing at the dialogs and laughing at the "show those rich corporations who is the boss!"-type marketing on social media done by giant corporation.
I'll add to it though: "Hyenas" is a piss-poor game title. Who the fuck even came up with that? Imagine your bro calling you on Discord and going "yo, you wanna play Hyenas together?", I'd think he was talking about some sort of children's playground roleplay that inevitably turns you into a furry later in life.
This has got to be one of the most corporate games I've ever seen. It's clear they were told to make a live service shooter before having any real ideas for a game.
You know what's the saddest thing, they could have saved this game if they just put Hatsune Miku with a gun It already has Sonic, only Miku was missing
I can totally get behind a looter shooter where the loot is old arcade and console memorabilia, but the context for why should've been given a few more passes.
What's funny about this - is the same thing that was funny about Anthem - no one ever seemed to actually *want* this game Sega assumed users would want it - they assumed devs would 'desire' to make it - but there was never any central guiding pillar for it. No main figure - no one who looked at this concept and thought Yeah - that? That right there? That's what *I* want to make They were so busy ticking boxes they never actually bothered to establish the 'fun' part...
When one of the better character designs is a guy wearing a Nixon mask and prison overalls... How do you manage to make so many characters this unappealing?
I almost feel honored in a way to have been in the closed alpha for this game. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but I liked the aesthetic in a sort of ironic, hilarious way, the use of actual SEGA IP in the cosmetic look of the game was interesting enough, and maybe I could want to understand it a bit more than its surface-level presentation... but it all felt so insincere and very much paint-by-the-numbers. But considering how it was going into an oversaturated genre with not much of a hook and coasting mostly on SEGA and Creative Assembly's pedigree (read into that what you will), I mostly expected it to at least get out of the gate, have a nice launch bump, then fall below expectations, have a small tight-knit community hanging on to it closely, then see it get shitcanned and end up in a video like this. Oh well.
man I remember seeing a gun showscase, then all the character trailers, getting interested, finding out it's an extraction shooter and losing all interest
As one of the closed beta players, the lack of direction and internal debate SHOWED. I actually liked the characters and moment-to-moment gameplay, but it really felt like they were tacking a lot of things together without figuring out how to make it all work cohesively. I also still don't understand why they called themselves Hyenas in the first place.
First thing I thought upon beta was “wonder how long before the DOAG comes out” lol. This was such a baffling game chasing a trend from 6-7 years ago done by a studio that has never done something like it. Honestly feel sad about the developers who will be let go due to downsizing and for the future of CA.
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Creative Assembly has a couple of those dead games under its helm. There also is Three Kingdoms and the recently released Pharaoh and Troy.
Don't promote smoking it's bad! Also they are bad for the environment because the batterys are rechargeable but you can't recharge them. They are build to be thrown away and waste racecourses we need.
You should make a Bloodhunt video you can still play it but it doesn't really recieve any major updates anymore but has a small but loyal playerbase of around 1000 people
@@annocraftfum, as I understand it, doesn't actually have a battery not nicotine. It's not a vape, it's more like an air diffuser
Idk how you feel, but I don't think such ads have a place on youtube, especially in gaming. I hope to not see that again..
Sega had this mysterious "Super Game" listed in their financial reports, clearly being marked as something they were staking a lot on, and seeing this game just come and go without a word is probably the most Sega way for this to go.
It didn't even "come"
Oh shit. This was supposed to be the "Super Game"?
@@TheNameIsSR that's the funniest/saddest part honestly lol
Super sad, I guess
it wasn’t even bad me n my friend played it the worst part was our shit inexperience against other players characters
Holy shit we did it. We got to see him cover a game that never even existed! This is the Aladdin Deck Enhancer of Death of a Game!
I know right? This is history on this channel. Imagine talking about a game that never came out lol!? Also, it's killing the studio behind it as the Total War playerbase has had enough of them too! 😂
@@Ziko577 yeah saw that too. Sad shit
@@nahuelkid I saw it coming years ago that they couldn't keep screwing their players over left and right and well, the dam just broke. Also, people are getting banned for criticizing Pharaoh too so nice times.
I never even heard of this game before this video!
This shit isn't even a death of a game, it's a still birth 😂
They were like “wait a minute, we just made Lawbreakers again,” and gave up
I’d love to imagine that’s near why they cancelled it. like a higher up walks in after they use a bunch of building blocks and just says “damn we couldn’t cook, burn it all Steve”
I fucking wish someone would make Lawbreakers again. That game was so much fun for the few months it lasted.
@@Scroolewse 100%. Lawbreakers died because it came out in an over saturated market and had a horrible marketing campaign. The gameplay was great but everything around it was handled horribly.
@@Scroolewsethat and Anthem were zenith for me. Been in a stupor since. It feels like the rug didn't just get pulled but they held my chin and made me watch as they burned them and pissed on the ashes lmao
@@nailinthefashion Anthem certainly looked cool but I heard a lot of complaints about boring, uninspired gameplay.
This wasn't death of a game, this was abortion of a game
first time I've ever been anti abortion
White bald guy to the devs: cut your hair, sinners!..be a man, go to work, sinners!
First time ive been 200% pro abortion
Rare time I'm pro abortion
@@stroads. kinda fucked up thing to say
Nothing says "rebel" and "cool" like corporate mandated sanding off all edges and soul.
"Rebel with the Machine! Join the ACK!"
Rage for the Machine! Get your government mandated experimental injection!
It looked to me like the art design was made by executives searching on TikTok and Reddit for "What are kids up to these days".
"How do you do, fellow kids?"
Looks to me they just wanted to hop on the Fortnite profit train
@@MaXiMoS54nah, it looked more like Borderlands in terms of style and tone.
I saw the previews of this game last year and it just reminded me of Brink all over again.
But there's absolutely zero character in the characters, their whole identity is what they are, not WHO they are. You could describe the personalities of every character in Team Fortress 2, but this just looked like a soulless checklist.
I mean,in Brink´s defense,you were supposed to create your own character,making it somewhat harder to establish a personality beyond "slim guy,middle of the road and big Al".
Here the characters felt very much like first drafts out of a scrib book,no actual refinement or additions to the initial idea and,perhaps even more importantly,asking the question "okay,who would actually like to play as these".
In the first place,whacky character designs have always been a hard sell in the west and basing nearly your entire cast around making the most obnoxious you can...pretty big gamble.
@Kousaburo shhhhhhh thats "wrong think" dont shoe horn that in remeber lol
Well said!
My thoughts exactly.
@@strugglesnuggledslime7040 I agree with you, Rapedslime
Can a game "die" if it never truly "lived" in the first place?
That's called a retcon...
well stillborns exist...
It’s basically a game abortion
Abortion of a Game?
All games die, not every game truly lives.
I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t mention the colossal controversy it had with the Total War fanbase, let alone bring it up as a clue. I am a Total War fan myself, and HOLY SHIT, the sheer amount of hatred about Hyenas was and actually still is *massive.* CA has been producing Total War games for nearly 30 years at this point. That fanbase is their core, TW is their flagship franchise. Rumors were and still are spreading that it was sucking resources away from Total War: Warhammer 3, a game which was (and sadly still is) in dire straits due to bad monetization (SOC was too pricey), poor behavior on the part of CA (from silence to recent shittalking and ban waves), and the bad state the game is in (still quite buggy, with new fixes often introducing new and worse bugs or breaking what was already fixed).
The end result is that CA’s core fanbase wasn’t just indifferent to Hyenas. TW fans hold it in extreme *contempt*, and it became a boogeyman and target to pound on and blame for the things that were and still are going wrong. Even now it’s still a popular opinion that if geriatric Sega and CA corporate suit fucks hadn’t decided to pump money into a genre that is already cornered in the market and getting stale, WHIII (and Pharoah, which is actually good and most acknowledge CA Sofia is a damn fine team, but flopped colossally) would be far better off.
CA and Sega by proxy alienated CA’s longest running, enduring, core audience. The circumstances surrounding Hyenas, and the qualities listed (being in an over saturated market, no character or soul, grubby monetization, weird and cringey loot ideas), resulted in a not-insignificant group of CA followers constantly shit-talking Hyenas anywhere it came up, poisoning the well. Even MandaloreGaming posted about Hyenas on Twitter about how ugly and otherwise repulsive he found Hyenas to be on first sight.
Tl;dr another part of the death of Hyenas is that people were actively shit talking and spreading rumors about it due to it being responsible (or at least being perceived to be responsible) for the terrible state of what should have been a slam dunk golden goose for Creative Assembly.
Pharoah is crap but otherwise agree
@@Revkorthat's kind of the point
The logo of the game turned out to be more accurate than they thought.
I'm surprised no one has noticed how similar it is to the lawbreakers logo as well, along with the fact that both had zero g zones as part of their gameplay
TBH, if I saw it in the wild I would assume it was Harley Quinn related.
One of the issues the game had was simply bringing in the lore and story that was actually written - the discord server had a ton of it, explaining everything, but it never got incorporated into the game. The characters also had a lot more depth that also didn't get incorporated.
Imagine your entire personality being you like Sonic (Chris-Chan's voice plays faintly in the background) or that you're an Astronaut, or like Tech, or are a Drag-Queen. The characters themselves are just as infantile as the Art Design. It's the same nonsense as Back 4 Blood, everyone is waaaaaay too relaxed for what they're doing. Using Payday 2 as an equivalent the core clowns weren't ever relaxed. They didn't start to get that way until you hit the DLC Characters. Dallas, Wolf, Hoxton and Chains new the reality of everything they were doing. The Risks involved and respected the whole process. These clowns.... It's like they're high on fentanyl and have no idea what's happening.
Ehhhh I kinda disagree here. I think context is very important here. In Back 4 Blood and Payday, everything outside the characters is played straight and serious. For Hyenas, the entire game is goofy. Don't you think it would be weirder to have a silly world and super serious characters?
@@ram_259 their whole world is a big middle finger to space capitalists stealing their nostalgia. It's in itself a political and semi-serious premise but then the art direction and such makes it goofy. Compare it to borderlands, all of them are goofy but at least they look like proper loot hunters. One or 2 characters that look goofy isn't a problem but you literally got a whole squad of quirky bullied kids that pretend to be amazing space pirate looters now.
@@blobmarley1064but that's the hook to me, let them be misfits but give them reasons to be there. A drag queen who uses her looks to charm people into walking towards her could be goofy or more dramatic. An ult where she performs and heals her team but taunts the other. An astronaut could be there for a noble cause, but they're an alcoholic and her drinks are molotovs.
It really needed a misfit director to tie it all together, but the blox were there to me
What's wrong with being goofy? Fortnite is one of the goofiest game ever. Yet it is the most popular game. Ever.
@@proverbialking3452but Fortnite has a cartoony aesthetic with some realism similar to Overwatch while Hyenas has a realistic presentation with some stylization put in. I think Hyenas tries way too hard to be cool and funny.
Comparing it with Overwatch, but didn't bothered to mention the character design, Overwatch characters are popular because the characters are attractive not ugly
Is this the very first 'stillborn' born game you've covered? Even Amazon's facepalm did have a public beta at least. 🤔
If so, add Scalebound to the list
Yeah, but I don't think he's gonna call it that
Wouldn’t this one be more like an abortion?
what was that amazon game called?
@@latbat58 Crucible, PvP FPS MOBA if I remember correctly
This’ll be interesting, a lot of ‘live service’ games have been killed off in recent years, but that happening before a proper release is still quite something.
True, this close to release. Tho games die all the time while being made.
@@JohnCacciothe irony is that a lot of us prefer a live service co op pve set up but it's so hard to keep the content fresh Destiny is buckling under its own weight lol I'm depressed since Anthem's death. I wish someone would attempt it again
@@nailinthefashion you know, that anthem was reskin of warframe, right? And warframe is as good as ftp live service game can be. Megatonns of stuff to grind, no paywalls, cubic hectares of cosmetic items, good story, and chill community.
@mesaultintensifies2491 Anthem had way better environments instead of bland tile sets, enemy diversity, customization and movement but yeah. Looter shooters are gonna have some overlap lol. It's why I like both but Anthem was much more unique to me
@@nailinthefashion i agree with it except customization and maybe scenery. You should check it, there is open word stuff in warframe, they added it long ago, and continue to expand. As far as im aware, currently there are 4 huge open world locations, all with different enemies and activities.
You think this game would have had a better story to tell if it was true to it's title and had you playing as actual Hyenas?
A sequel to Tokyo Jungle sounds great!
Actually yes because furries tend to be extremely artistically gifted. We coulda gotten sumn with Overwatch's artistry but more edgy 😭 there was even a drag queen like???? THAT IS SO INSPIRED
Sometimes, a game's death is sudden and tragic.
Sometimes, a game goes away with dignity, surrounded by those who love it and those that it inspired.
Hyenas and CA as a whole is going out like a terminal crack addict trying to fight and/or fuck an alligator.
this video is longer than the game's full release lifespan
I knew this game was doomed to fail the moment I saw the art style and character design.
Honestly I can't think of a single "wacky" sort of game that I ever liked since Borderlands 2. Even Borderlands 3 was a bit over the top to me.
@@velhomiguel
Why do you think that is?
I have a theory but I want to hear your thoughts first.
@@velhomiguel At least BL3 had great gameplay. It's honestly way more fun than BL2.
Same, nothing about what was seen looked like a game going anywhere. Not sure what they were thinking with the direction/decisions. It's obvious that they themselves didn't even know.
@@flintlockwood1919the drag queen is such a cool choice but then they're just a generic bad beep. Why not do more aspnic references and have her be like Rogue? Rouge? The bat girl
Imagine using all that money and talent on Alien Isolation 2. Just imagine...
I'm pretty sure that Sega doesn't have the Aliens license anymore, and if they did, they probably wouldn't make another Isolation anyways.
@@spongebobfan78BUT IMAGINE!!!
Most games on this channel were born to die and then there's this game. Jesus
The first Game abortion.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the absolute level of just, pure, unfiltered HATE the Total War fans had for this game.
I gotta say one of the issues this game had was it's name. WTF does "Hyenas" have to do with your game, say about your game, or honestly have to do with anything? Someone in Marketing was asleep at the wheel lol.
Hyenas are scavenging predators and the players are scavengers so it kind of fits.
Could have also called it "Vultures" or "Crows" I guess.
Google what female hyenas do to male hyenas and you will find out why they went with that as the name.
@@FKYTor maybe it’s not about hyena sex and you just have weird thoughts
@@Jester23456 The game's info sheets were scattered with sexual innuendos, so I wouldn't put it past the developers.
@@aliceiscallingyou are actually crazy if you think the name is a reference to irl hyena genetalia
Overwatch characters are memorable because Blizzard did the work of creating backstories and cinematics that got you to care for them.
Hyena characters were written with a checklist of memes and required diversity while relying on those points solely to be "likeable" and it very much showed through the presentation.
Totally
I wonder if, had the game not been forced to change engines, more time and energy could have been directed into making the characters actually good? They look like they had some neat ideas but never managed to make them seem like they existed cohesively or had enough depth to get your feet wet. Which is a shame since I liked some of the character designs. Oh well.
As much as I love Galaxia, you're not wrong.
Overwatch characters are memorable for the porn
Oddly enough i feel like a game that does this well and makes the characters feel "believable" is Apex Legends the whole artstyle and character direction is grounded and tied into the larger titanfall universe which is just standard military sci-fi. The game genuinely does a great job of showing personality and it goes [vocally] underappreciated because the players apex usually attracts aren't exactly rating the game based off its character's character
Hyenas just looked like one of the most corporate, soulless, by the numbers title I have seen in a long time, surprisingly impressive given some other titles being released over the last few years.
I do feel for the devs though; they should have had the chance to release, even if the game wouldn’t have been successful.
no why waste more money
Stop feeling sorry for developers they are 100% complicit
I played the closed beta when that was out. It was... Tolerable. I didn't mind how the guns fired, the sonic cosplayer and medic gamer was alright, the loot was pretty neat (wasn't expecting to see Atari games and other retro tat) but after playing for a few hours I already thought "this is not gonna last long at all."
I wasn't expecting Hyenas to get canned shortly after the beta and that's probably for the best.
I played it as well, the areal movement was cool but the guns just felt wrong and the abilities were uninspired
This game's best feature was self-destruction.
I played the earliest beta of the game like a year ago and all I thought was “I’m looking forward to the death of a game video that’s gonna be about this”
Hunt Showdown has a varied and diverse cast of Hunters, but what works in its favor above every other online extraction shooter on the market is the general theme of the game itself, Southern Gothic-Horror in 19th century Louisiana. It's such a wildly imaginative break from the norm that I really wish more studios, big and small, would take those kind of risks since its a gamble that can pay off big time. It worked wonders for DICE when they went all in with a WW1 Battlefield, a era which had been ignored entirely by AAA as being too niche & unmarketable. The think tanks and higher-ups in the industry need to stop offering players carbon copies of other popular games and make something actually unique, even if just visually, if they want to carve a slice in the competitive online gaming scene.
This is an excellent point. Many good games have an atmosphere and sense of place about them. In some cases you can feel the vibe of a game from just screenshots. Games like Stalker and Bloodbourne are also good examples.
I don't know what to call it, or if it has a name or not, but the art style (direction?) of this game comes off as very sterile and formulaic. Games like Hyenas, Borderlands, Rage 2 and Law breakers all have this same kind of style. Unhealthy looking characters with the Skrillex hair cut or mowhawks and everything is neon purple. Its like knockoff cyberpunk but without any of the personality.
@@tropictiger2387I like to use Yahztee's "Magenta Game" definition where everything's super colorful and edgy and quirky. The issue is that so it's been so overdone to lose any more bite so it's as transgressive as anything else at this point.
I mean look at those character designs. This had no chance.
Maybe they can sell it to production companies as one of those games on in the background of TV/Films.
Maybe will show up in a future Suicide Squad movie.
They wanted the diverse cast first and appealing characters in an interesting world last.
Constant mistake that keeps being made
I didn’t mind the characters 🤷
@@nerdSlayerstudioss they keep forgetting they have to be actual characters
@@michelians1148Diversity and quirky characters themselves aren't an issue no matter how much *particular* people think they're a main deal breaker. The problem is as previously mentioned how the characters are just stereotypes and nothing more and how their quirky archetypes don't meld well with the grim circumstances or premise of the game (looting the ruins of civilization at the whims of the elite just to keep existing) nor does the gameplay try to leverage that premise.
Hunt Showdown has a varied and diverse cast of characters (and associated weapon skins) but their designs are all period appropriate and mesh completely fine with the game's unique Southern Gothic horror atmosphere and gameplay, which stands out even in broad strokes against all other shooters out there.
Relax Mr Anon online, nothing about you is tough nor confident. What a little coward acting tough online, rofl. You would cower physically in my presence.@@michelians1148
It is beyond stupid that Sega let Creative Assembly develop Hyenas for so long and pour so much money into it.
Successful game as a service is diamond in the rough, many have tired, most have failed.
At least I think we are in final stages of games as a service model, Sony also went all in into it and what is output?
CEO 'leaved', many layoffs all around almost every studio that was pusher to develop game as a service because it was 'hot' thing when Fortnite, Apex, Destiny managed to earn insane amount of money.
Sony may very well go under in a couple of years with this tomfoolery going on as they recently fired a woman who worked there for 34 years and there's this huge push into GaaS which is beginning to lose steam now and the fanboys over on that side may as well get out now while they can. It's gonna get ugly soon.
@@Ziko577 What's so special about a longtime female employee who got fire?
@@Ziko577Not likely imho. Playstation is doing quite well, and gaming is just a division of Sony, the parent company has very deep pockets. The losses they took are not that large in comparison.
@@xavier8951 She was there in the formative years of the division and she more or less retired because she felt like it was time.
Never discount unappealing characters as a reason something fails, everything after L4D shat the bed with it's characters and has never gotten a penny from me because it.
The levels are also extremely ugly. I mean it's a kind of unique art style, but insanely ugly.
L4D? Do you mean Left 4 Dead or something else, ‘cause the characters in both Valve L4D games are great. Do you mean B4B?
@@ThatOneMan830I'm certain this person means that L4D's characters are damn good and that the characters in every other game since are fuckin bad yo
That's why vermintide is objectively a win
I never liked how corporate all the character feels.
I personally think that there is a golden rule in game development, especially when it comes to naming conventions: Don't name your game after something that already exists. Like Hyenas. When you google it, it won't be the first thing that comes up. I'd imagine that another title like "Retro Plunder" would also be more fitting. Switching the frame to a TV-Show like Radical Heights and it would be instantly more memorable. Not to mention that I never heard of the title before. So I would assume that the marketing department slept on this.
Are you kidding? I work in the industry and this game is a regular example of an absolutely wicked marketing campaign. The marketing had nothing to do with why this game died. Also, SEO on the game is fine.
@@sys.t3m Doubt thats the case because the game literally died within months of even existing.
Clearly people had no idea or did not care at all.
Seems like poor marketing and development to me?
wow, the golden rule no one has ever heard of: remember games like Dune, Doom, Fear, Halo?
It died because it was yet another hero shooter that nobody asked for, and none of the characters were even slightly likable. The marketing did an ok job because people knew about this game, but the fundamental idea were unsalvagable.
@@sys.t3mThe marketing sucked, all I saw was Twitter ads with no context a couple years ago, I looked up the game and all I could find was boring CGI trailers that left me more confused than before. I never heard about the game again until now and I never saw an ounce of gameplay until this video.
I think Hyenas has set a new low bar for worst marketing in gaming history IMO.
Fun fact. A bar near me used to be called Geo's sports lounge. Now they're called. The Tainted. So i just call it the taint.
no way the quirky free to play live service shooter that was barely advertised got canned??? i feel like projects like this no matter how good are doomed to fail
I remember seeing the trailer for this and thinking ‘yeah, this is another dead-on-arrival Overwatch-wannabe’
I remember seeing the trailer and thinking: "That looks kind of fun, but the characters are so freaking unnapealing."
I love to see you do a Death of a Game on MAG, a live service PvP shooter game from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era.
Same here. It was a really cool game and I'd love to understand why it shut down.
@@Calvin_Coolage as someone that tried it back on PS3, i just remember it not feeling great. the idea was neat but at the end of the day CoD just felt better to play, and CoD was really really hot at the time
Far as I remember the technology not being there was the biggest culprit.
I mean...damn that lag.
If I remember it was a 3 or 4 way fight with a total of 256 players right?
SEGA saw the new saints row and thought they were setting a trend to follow.
What a depraved, wicked industry this is. And as always- barely any people responsible for terrible decisions will actually pay the price, in any form.
I don't even think Hyenas looked bad, but the simple stigma of 'total war warhammer 3 died for this', even if it wasn't entirely true, was just too much for ca fans
no its true. CA is cutting alot of staff. management trend hunted rather then do what fans have been begging for
This show feels more like the eulogy of GAAS games every video.
As much as I hate what Overwatch became, the characters felt way more believable and likable, despite there being so many more.
It genuinely felt like there was a character for everyone, and they didn’t cone off as shallow, vapid stereotypes. Even Reaper’s over-the-top edginess was kind of endearing, and the fact that other characters made fun if him for it was great.
I didn't know this game existed until I saw this video in my timeline. But also, youtube tagged this as overwatch, so I guess they don't know Hyenas either
"The web would be shocked"
Bruh, I dont think this Cali-slop being cancelled surprised anyone.
I mean it actually is surprising. Big studios usually don’t cancel games a few weeks before release
@@Jester23456 "Vindicated" is the word I would use to describe player reaction.
The release-to-Death-of-a-Game pipeline is getting faster every year!
A shockingly true admission...at first I thought it was just memes
Then Concord would do the same but harder.
I was one of the people that tried it, but wasn't really feeling it. first, I don't like extractions shooters, I now realize. However, second, the whole style seemed too "zoomer" for me, if that makes sense. Still, I didn't expect it to be stillborn. We went from games dying in decades, to a few years, to a single year, and now in the womb.
I'm a massive total war fan and was at the forefront of this whole debacle. I think Hyenas was costing so much that it was putting a whole lot of presssure on the rest of creative assembly, specifically the total war teams. This led to a drop in quality and a steep increase in prices for the dlc. This caused such an outrage in the community (basically a complete meltdown) that Sega (wisely imo) chose to focus their resources more on a proven successful and very profitable franchise.
Not going to lie, I smiled when I robbed the vault and Karma Chameleon started playing.
After that, I picked Galaxia and the game crashed.
Galaxia too strong
It looks like they tried to mash Borderlands and Payday together? Very strange concept lol
This game proves to me that quirky for quirkys sake now just doesn't do it for people.
There is a fascination to be had with watching something like Hyenas have time and resources spent on it, with a budget estimated around $100 Million, how much it doesn't hit with people with any trailer or gameplay footage being shown, and seeing that it doesn't even take off, much less land.
How the fuck a looter shooter have a specific character to play
Getting two nerdSlayer videos in the span of a week feels like an early Christmas.
Probably the first game I'm happy to see in DoaG series, if it weren't for Overwatch 2.
The first thing I noticed about this game was its incredibly cluttered UI. 20% of each edge of the screen is taken up by the plain white doodads, and the bottom 40% of the remainder is taken up by your character's hands and guns. Constant little bubbles slide in, things pop in and out. How are you supposed to actually parse anything that's going on?
This is nightmarish.
I feel like the reason for the random surge of Extraction Shooters is because all these publishers see Tarkov as an equivalent to PUBG, so they all want to be the one who makes the equivalent Fortnite
I could see how the game's setting could be salvaged pretty well.
Drop the comicbook gothpunk shit and go for a more gritty, cybernetic doomed-future aesthetic where "The Rich" have abandoned the Earth for Mars. Earth being turned into a trash filled wasteland with struggling life and various factions and clans competing for resources.
The clans have grown so powerful that they are able to invest in barely functioning space travel to assault The Rich's space stations and strongholds over and on mars. Their goal? Get in, get technology and schematics to help save the earth, and also increase their home faction's power over the others. Whiel also maybe sending a nuke or two towards the Elites' population centers as revenge.
They aren't drag queens or ballerinas, they are the best soldiers and killers the various clans could afford or employ. Cybernetic warriors, Psychics, salvaged Androids and miniature Mechs toting portable artillery guns to blow open passageways deeper into the Elites' labyrinths. They are hired to rob and kill, and most importantly snuff out the competition if they try to intervene.
"The fuckers on Mars abandoned and left us to die. It's everyone for themselves."
I speak only for myself, but my main problem with this game characters is that they're just not cool. Worse so, they're trying to be cool and fail, which is the most uncool and lame thing imaginable.
Apex Legends shows that a rainbow cast can work super well, it just can't be a character's entire personality.
got invited to play the alpha...knew it would fail
You forgot about the Community's outrage especially after what happened with Warhammer 3
I wonder why nobody was interested in this game
1:11 Oh...never mind...
July 2023: "... Players were unsure if it was even going to launch."
Sept 2023: Welp.
Hyenas entire setting and story setting was just such pure unadulterated cringe.
To me it is the embodiment of the "fellow kids" meme.
Some Boomer executives and high-up developers thinking what "the kids" would find super cool.
So, drag thing, ballerina, and furry walks in to the vault, which is not a vault. What a great idea it was(no). Truly, one of the games of all times.
Hyenas ended up looking and feeling like the latest saints row installment and we all know how everyone liked that game choice of characters and style.
I was just upset I didn't see a single hyena in the game
I don't know a single person who wanted this game, or was even slightly interested in it. The only context me and my friends would speak about Hyenas was in how it's failure was almost certainly why CA increased their overall prices for DLC.
I'm just thankful that I played the game before its demise. Honestly, I was looking forward to it.
I've never seen a game that looks as ugly as Hyenas. This is NOT how you do cyberpunk...
Ill be hones, all i could remember from the top of my head about this game is me cringing at the dialogs and laughing at the "show those rich corporations who is the boss!"-type marketing on social media done by giant corporation.
I'll add to it though: "Hyenas" is a piss-poor game title. Who the fuck even came up with that? Imagine your bro calling you on Discord and going "yo, you wanna play Hyenas together?", I'd think he was talking about some sort of children's playground roleplay that inevitably turns you into a furry later in life.
The logo for this game was clearly made in anticipation to make it on this series.
I'm not surprised. This game has no visual identity at all
This has got to be one of the most corporate games I've ever seen. It's clear they were told to make a live service shooter before having any real ideas for a game.
As a longtime viewer even before I came here on UA-cam, it means so much to see my video featured on your channel. Thank you very much!
You are so welcome!
Never even heard of this game failing anywhere...nice post mortem 😢
You know what's the saddest thing, they could have saved this game if they just put Hatsune Miku with a gun
It already has Sonic, only Miku was missing
I can totally get behind a looter shooter where the loot is old arcade and console memorabilia, but the context for why should've been given a few more passes.
nerdSlayer: time for another quick myst-
SEGA: IM THE KILLER *kobains self*
nerdSlayer: ooh that one was really quick wasn't it
Glad to see this great intro again. I missed it so much. I know it's been back but it's so clean and the aesthetic is strong
I would really like to see DUST 514 on this channel one day, i had to much fun playing it back in ps3 days
Everyone saw this coming. Except Rob Bartholomew and his lot.
"One of Sega's most expensive failures ever" i mean, at least is not shenmue, that game literally killed the company as hardware manufacturer
I vaguely remember hearing about this game. Shame it will never get released., I personally really dig that art style!
Funny enough i hate the artstyle but the gameplay looks absolutely amazing to me, a shame how this game never really got a chance to shine
What's funny about this - is the same thing that was funny about Anthem - no one ever seemed to actually *want* this game
Sega assumed users would want it - they assumed devs would 'desire' to make it - but there was never any central guiding pillar for it. No main figure - no one who looked at this concept and thought
Yeah - that? That right there? That's what *I* want to make
They were so busy ticking boxes they never actually bothered to establish the 'fun' part...
make concord next (will die soon on 6th september lmaoo)
When one of the better character designs is a guy wearing a Nixon mask and prison overalls... How do you manage to make so many characters this unappealing?
I almost feel honored in a way to have been in the closed alpha for this game. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but I liked the aesthetic in a sort of ironic, hilarious way, the use of actual SEGA IP in the cosmetic look of the game was interesting enough, and maybe I could want to understand it a bit more than its surface-level presentation... but it all felt so insincere and very much paint-by-the-numbers.
But considering how it was going into an oversaturated genre with not much of a hook and coasting mostly on SEGA and Creative Assembly's pedigree (read into that what you will), I mostly expected it to at least get out of the gate, have a nice launch bump, then fall below expectations, have a small tight-knit community hanging on to it closely, then see it get shitcanned and end up in a video like this.
Oh well.
man I remember seeing a gun showscase, then all the character trailers, getting interested, finding out it's an extraction shooter and losing all interest
As one of the closed beta players, the lack of direction and internal debate SHOWED. I actually liked the characters and moment-to-moment gameplay, but it really felt like they were tacking a lot of things together without figuring out how to make it all work cohesively. I also still don't understand why they called themselves Hyenas in the first place.
First thing I thought upon beta was “wonder how long before the DOAG comes out” lol. This was such a baffling game chasing a trend from 6-7 years ago done by a studio that has never done something like it. Honestly feel sad about the developers who will be let go due to downsizing and for the future of CA.
Now I’m waiting for Matt McMuscles’s “What Happened?” on this game
Thank god, these characters looked insufferable.
Almost became lawbreakers and then it died before it could crawl