15 Blatant Cash-Grabbing Attempts That Are Just Sad

In an industry rife with exploitation, microtransactions, trend-chasing, the list goes on, there are bound to be games which exist for no other purpose than to make a quick buck.

This isn't to be confused with games or DLC that are just plain bad or released when more time and polish was clearly needed. No, we're talking about the attempts at cash-grabbing that are so blatant as to be sad. Let's take a look at 15 of the more recent awful attempts.

[sadihy]

I'm glad they included Nintendo, some of the things they've been doing... Just cash grabs.

[kryptonian]

paid full price for Anthem. There was so much potential. I really hoped they were going to put some work into the game and make it better. It stings a little when I see it for 4.99

[Curt_Randall]

Death Stranding with the Monster energy drink plugs. Obviously Kojima grabbed the quick easy cash from Monster to include it. Despite it making no sense in the story and setting. And it was obviously a last minute addition, where they forgot to explain how a canteen magically refills with Monster when you go in the water.

[Blingchachink]

Some of GamingBolt’s videos can be added to this list.

[DEATHANDSADDNESS]

Us older folkz (OG Gamers) warned about this BULLSHYT many years ago. Young people are really stupid these days.😔

[rafaelpozo]

Despite being sad, people still give them money

[craftboy]

Remember back when you bought a game once, and that was it? It was already finished, with no major game breaking bugs or microtransactions? Remember back when DLC wasn't a fancy word for microtransactions and would actually add more levels and items at a reasonable price?

[sb]

Nintendo pretty gets a pass for the cash grab BS they pull because of the exclusivity of their licenses and characters. Outside of emulation, you aren't playing games like the Zeldas or Marios outside of a Nintendo console. This means that Nintendo can bend you over as far as they want and as often as they like lol.

[AllThingsInfamous]

Battle royale in general should be on here

[deathskull]

Radical heights? Wow havent heard anyone talk about that game in years

[kyleholloway]

Every time I see a list like this, it reaffirms my hatred for EA. They will NEVER get another penny of mine.

[orpheus..]

Um... I think you guys are actually confusing "cash-grabbing attempt" with "bad devs making a bad game".

Games like Anthem, Marvel's Avengers or Fallout 76 aren't "cash-grabs" imo. They're just BAD GAMES created by mediocre developers that don't know how to make a good "live service" game. That's all.

[ACameronUK]

Any release from an EA sports franchise 🙄 Any release in the call of duty franchise

[thedanielstraight]

Ugh, I forgot I probably bought Code Vein's season pass....

[TheGargoylesDen]

How in god's name did Rockstars Red Dead Redemption 2 not only make the list, but not top this list? For the onslaught of microtransactions for the never ending clothing items and the made up "legendary animals" that you had to literally pay to be able to hunt!? And then of course the even more egregious microtransactions for emotes to be able to communicate with other players in the game? Top it off with the "seasonal" outlaw passes, and 0 dlc for the console story mode (which was the main reason people waited 10 years for it's development and played it to start with?) what exactly did we get for our initial $70 purchase? Did we really pay that much just for an entrance fee? Only to have dlc for online only and then again for the PC version release a year later!? (And still nothing for the original console release story mode!?) Rockstars a pathetic joke at this point!

[RedDevl]

I avoid any game with microtransactions cancer. I won't support that crap

[mizter]

Can we talk about the dude's aim in the Ghost Recon part?

[Thanomaly]

God, this guy is like Ron Burgundy… He’ll read whatever is on the teleprompter. F-O-M-O. Really?

[Wickedred]

How the hell did valorant not make this list.did you not watch the two Angry Joe videos about how ridiculously pricey skins were

[LeonidThesKid]

How about almost every fighting game since 2009 being “seasonal”? Launch is like a padded demo, missing most of the character roster, stages & modes and by the end of their artificially boosted life cycle when every “pay to unlock” character is released, a sequel comes out. In a genre that you need to “git gud” it doesn’t make sense to buy it in never ending doses. It’s like playing chess but buying a couple of pieces every few months.

The epitome of this monetisation method and something that should wake fighting game players up - but didn’t: When street fighter x tekken made you pay to unlock the “new characters” that were already on the game disk. This made it blatantly obvious that “new characters” are pre-planned, that this monetisation model is a scam, and how little do these companies respect the player. However if you go to a FGC forum they will support the “new normal” with a passion, saying there’s no other way. Smh.