J.J. Abrams Hates ‘Star Trek The Video Game’ More Than You Do

Hmm, needs more lens flare.

Star Trek The Video Game released with a thud, garnering a Metacritic score of only 42 out of 100. Reviewers didn’t seem particularly impressed with Spock’s oversized head and Captain Kirk’s derpface.

MATT DAMON.

The critics weren’t the only ones disappointed in Star Trek The Video Game. J.J. Abrams tells GamerHub (video below) that the game “was obviously a big disappointment to me. We were actually involved from the very beginning, and then we sort of realized that it was not going in a place where we were going to get what we wanted. So we dropped out, and they continued to do it despite… y’know.”

Yahoo Games says developer Digital Extremes has pointed fingers at Paramount, claiming the studio’s heavy involvement was a burden, but Abrams [blames] the developer — and even thinks the glitchy game might have hurt Star Trek Into Darkness at the box office. “For me, emotionally, it hurt because we were working our asses off making the movie and then this game came out and it got — this isn’t even my opinion — it got universally panned,” he said. “And I think that it was something without question that didn’t help the movie and arguably hurt it.” [Deadline]

Oh, so that’s why a group of fans voted Star Trek Into Darkness the worst Star Trek movie. Because of the video game. That could be possible; I still hate E.T. and telephones to this day.

In the video below, Abrams goes on to talk about “a couple of projects” they’re working on with Valve, including a game that isn’t meant to be ancillary to any movie. Will it involve collecting mystery boxes then never opening them? Is the final boss a disappointing smoke monster?

[Star Trek The Video Game screenshots courtesy of Digital Extremes.]

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