YMMV / HYENAS

• Tainted by the Preview: Oh dear — from the very announcement of the game, people have expressed uncertainty of its success.
  • The Looter Shooter genre is seen as already having peaked by the time HYENAS was announced, and the fact that this genre tends to be a Live Service one has left potential players worried about how much DLC it will have, and the cost.
  • Announcements that the game was proving challenging to produce ignited much controversy, and also started a small Fandom Rivalry with the Total War fans, who blame this game for lackluster DLC for Total War: Warhammer III.
  • In the end, the negative buzz generated by the trailers and feedback from playtests may have contributed significantly to Sega's decision to cancel the game outright, despite it being in a relatively finished state, and costing over a hundred million dollars to make.
• Uncertain Audience: One of the most common pre- and post-mortem criticisms people had of the game was that it wasn't clear where its market was. Everything from the visual style to the character design to the lore and premise to the genre and format of the gameplay seemed confused, inconsistent, or at odds with itself, leaving a game that didn't really appeal to any demographic. The biggest example was probably the fast-paced movement-intense PvP shooter mechanics appealing to younger gamers who were then turned off by the premise revolving around '80s and '90s nostalgia while the game's Troubled Production meant that gamers who would appreciate that nostalgia had mostly aged out of the demographics for that type of game by the time it was finally nearing completion.

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