Dead Game

About

Dead Game, often intentionally misspelled as Daed Gaem, is a catchphrase used by video game communities to describe various games which are considered to be either dead, i.e. had their official servers shut down and lost their dedicated community, or dying, i.e. losing player base or being neglected by the developers. Due to the phrase being associated with scaremongering, it has often been used mockingly to highlight that the game of discussion is not, in fact, dying.

Origin

The origin of the phrase is unknown. One of the earliest documented uses of the phrase online is an October 10th, 2010, thread by Hexus^[1] forums user Steve in which they named "dead" video game series in which they would like to see new installations (screenshot shown below).

Prior to January 1st, 2015, the phrase saw widespread circulation in competitive gaming communities online such as subreddits dedicated to eSports-oriented games. For example, prior to 2015, the catchphrase was used in over 1,000 posts and comments in /r/starcraft, ^[2] in over 650 posts and comments in /r/dota2 ^[3] and in over 230 comments in /r/leagueoflegends .^[4]

In these communities, the phrase has been used to highlight that these respective games are being neglected by the developers, have balance issues and/or seeing a decrease in the amount of active players, whether real or speculated (comment examples shown below).

Spread

In addition to being used in its straightforward sense, the catchphrase has often been used mockingly to ridicule those who claim that a certain game is "dying." When used mockingly, the catchphrase has often been intentionally miscapitalized and misspelled as "daed game," "dead gaem" and "daed gaem" (comment examples shown below). The phrase saw extensive use on streaming platforms such as Twitch and Mixer.

Starting on December 14th, 2016, YouTuber^[5][6] N.S. launched a series of video "Death of a Game" in which he analyzes how various games lost their player base and had their official serves shut down due to various reasons.

On September 15th, 2019, YouTube^[7] channel theScore esports uploaded a video which analyzed the "Dead Game" meme and the impact it can have on the perception of the game among the players (shown below). The video received over 355,000 views in five months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References