It seems that Activision Publishing Inc wanted to prove that Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment isn’t the only triple-A publisher capable of releasing a completely broken game in a major franchise. This time, however, we get to see the meltdown happen on consoles instead.

This week saw the release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, the first numbered entry in the popular skating franchise since the 2002 release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. Nostalgic fans were excited about what was supposed to be a return to form for the series, but the new game released with numerous bugs and game breaking glitches that have more than a few players wondering how this could have happened to such a major title.

Aside from game crashes, graphical problems, and other issues, the game also suffers from serious problems with its physics and collision effects, which are basically everything that matters in a game about skateboarding.

Activision said in a statement to Eurogamer that it is working to resolve the problems in the game, saying, “We are aware of the issues that players have experienced following the launch of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 and are working with the developer to address these so that we can continue to improve the gameplay experience for all of the Tony Hawk fans who have known and loved this franchise for more than 16 years.”

The publisher seemingly already knew about the game’s issues before release, as there were no review codes sent out to gaming press before release. In other words, no one could see the negative reviews about the game until after thousands of people had already bought it. There is also the fact that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 launched with a 7gb day one patch that is larger than the game itself, and apparently it did not fix much of anything.

The game currently holds a user score on Metacritic of only 1.4 out of 10, with most users citing the game’s horribly bugs and lackluster graphics as being unacceptable in such a prominent title.

Image courtesy of Activision Publishing Inc