The level of detail in video games has risen significantly over the years, and so has the time it takes to polish the games during development. Hence, creating a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Elden Ring can be a difficult task for any development team, particularly those hoping to avoid bugs and glitches.
While most developers want to release the best possible product for their players, their efforts are sometimes in vain. Some of the resulting bugs end up flying under the radar, but there have been plenty of video game glitches that have gone on to become hilarious memes.
10 Assassin's Creed Unity Face Glitch
Assassin's Creed Unity launched in 2014 and was the first true next-gen game of the franchise. As expected, the stakes were high, and Ubisoft did its best to build the most wonderful sequel to the original Assassin's Creed games. Unfortunately, however, the game was completely unoptimized at launch and had laughable animation glitches.
The funniest of the game's many issues was the missing face glitch. As the name might suggest, this effectively erased the face of in-game characters, leaving behind nothing but their eye and mouth textures. Gamers around the world quickly turned this one into a meme and used it to roast Ubisoft.
9 WWE Referee Glitch
WWE 2K games have been around for decades now, and it's funny that they're still not polished to the brim. In fact, the popular wrestling series is always struggling with glitchy gameplay mechanics, the most notable example of this being WWE 2K20. However, the popular Referee thumbs-up meme isn't from one of the newer games.
Instead, it originates from a Reddit post that a user shared almost a decade ago. The origin of the meme comes from a video titled "The Glitchiest Royal Rumble of All Time [WWE 13]" and posted by a YouTube channel named, 'newLEGACYinc.'
8 San Andreas Quad Bike Camera Glitch
Almost everyone knows Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and how it is a timeless classic. After all, the game defined what it meant to be an open-world title back in 2004. Hence, people were extremely excited to play the new and improved Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, as it would've been the best San Andreas has looked since the release of ENB mods.
Unfortunately, the game came out in a broken state, with bad performance and many glitches. Moreover, it didn't even fix older game glitches, such as the viral quad bike camera bug that had been a part of the game forever.
7 FIFA Reverse Legs Glitch
Soccer games have been popular ever since the Super Nintendo era. However, they became a mainstream success when FIFA came into the picture and started shedding yearly titles on different platforms. In 2013, when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were the new kids on the block, EA tried its best to revamp the football experience by changing FIFA's gameplay engine.
Unfortunately, things didn't quite go to plan, and, as a result, these glitches became extremely viral on the internet. Players worldwide still use these physics-fail GIFs to lighten up the mood in their social media conversations.
6 Fallout 4 Face Glitch
Almost every Bethesda game is full of funny glitches on launch. It happened with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and, most recently, Fallout 4. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi RPG first came out in 2015 and quickly became one of the most popular games on the market.
However, that also meant that every in-game glitch would somehow end up on the internet and become a meme. The same happened to this face glitch that was first seen on Reddit and quickly became a part of popular meme websites.
5 Sims HueHueHueHue Meme
The Sims games first came out in the early 2000s and were among the first truly successful life simulation and social simulation games. While pretty basic at the time, The Sims had enough content to keep players busy for months on end.
Over time, EA added more and more content to the popular simulation series, which also resulted in more and more bugs. One such glitch is this little Sims character who has made countless people on the internet laugh. The HueHueHueHue child is probably one of the most popular glitch memes of all time.
4 GTA Squid Carl Glitch
Glitches are an unpredictable part of a game. However, sometimes, players are the ones who cause them to happen. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a fully functioning title with minimal bugs. However, it's also one of the world's highest modded games. As a result, game failures and glitches like these are pretty common.
The Squid Carl glitch is an outcome of an in-game model breakdown that only happens when players try to mess with CJ's character model by modifying game files. The deformed Carl Johnson is a hilarious glitch part of various glitch compilations and memes on social media.
3 Sims Burning Baby Bug
In a similar fashion to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, this Sims glitch is also not something that can happen involuntarily. Instead, players will have to enter the debug mode to mess with the things that aren't usually destroyable. This is what resulted in the poor baby in the popular Sims meme format.
People have posted this burning baby meme multiple times on Reddit and use it to convey things such as social media addiction and modern-day parenting. Gamers can visit various websites to create their own meme using the popular template.
2 Heavy Rain Shaun Bug
Who would've thought that a deep game like Heavy Rain would end up on meme websites? On the surface, Heavy Rain is a straightforward story-driven game mostly about quick time events and minor exploration. However, players still managed to find the humor in the darkness by using this hilarious bug as a meme.
The press X to Shaun meme is an in-game glitch that repeatedly makes Ethan scream his son's name, even when the cutscene is over. The funniest bit is that this part is close to the ending, which is supposed to be serious and emotional.
1 Battlefield 3 Worm Glitch
The most meme-worthy video game glitches can usually be found in single-player titles, making this Battlefield 3 worm glitch stand out. The origin of this meme comes from a YouTube video in the days following Battlefield 3's launch. Since then, the worm soldier has become the number one Battlefield meme.
Players use this meme in glitch compilations as well as Reddit posts and comments and are always wondering if EA will ever introduce him as an easter egg character in the game. Gamers can find the original worm meme video on YouTube.