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What Franchise’s Future Worries You?

Things change, business changes, inevitably every franchise goes through ups and downs.

Tomb Raider suddenly rose from a nearly certain death and despite recent exclusivity shenanigans that looks like the way it will stay. Not only that but it also has its very own side universe with a couple of isometric dungeon crawlers. I have no worries for that kind of situation.

On the flip side we've seen the decline of other franchises. “Decline” is a matter of how you look at the franchise I think. Most Resident Evil fans would say the main franchise is in trouble (hence the coming remake holdover), but you can't argue the big sales numbers part 6 got. For the most part though, decline is something we consider to be a matter of not living up to glory days.

Where on earth is Call of Duty headed these days? Every gamer has their own opinion, but the numbers do sag after a certain amount of saturation. People stop being impressed, celebrities start getting called in to fill in the gaps. Games like Destiny detract.

Guess what I'm worried about. Darksiders. I admit I haven't finished either entry but I do enjoy them and would like to see the series continue. In the hands of Nordic Games though, I don't think it could ever be the same. They've got some devs working hard, and I'm actually pretty happy with the much overlooked open world epic Arcania (despite quality and cheese issues). I just can't see how Darksiders III could live up to the quality it once enjoyed.

Now, I've never been one to disregard a fun game because it isn't AAA but without the sales and support of the fans I fear it may go right to the grave well before we get to the fourth horseman.

After a long generation and a wait for our favorites to return, what franchise's futures do you fear for?

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Big_Boss90
Big_Boss90
10 years ago

Mass effect they are done with the trilogy, so they should stop while they are ahead. I fear that the 4th one will not live up to the other 3 imo.

To much milking these days devs. Really need to learn how to just end a game series when it needs to end and move on.

Here is a list of others

2. God of war

3. Darksiders

4. DMC ( although the reboot was good)

4. Devil may cry ( although the reboot was good)

Big_Boss90
Big_Boss90
10 years ago

Sorry about that using my phone god i hate typing on this…

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

ooo yes DMC, I like the reboot but I know it has a small chance of being the new face of the franchise. So like, what then? Go right back as if it never happened? Reboot again? Who knows WHAT they will do.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

Nobody say Final Fantasy.

daus26
daus26
10 years ago

I'd thought you'd mention Fallout.

Big_Boss90
Big_Boss90
10 years ago

World FF is already to far gone 🙁

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

I'm not worried about Fallout except for the release date.

kokoro
kokoro
10 years ago

Red Faction.

Guerilla is the only game I've ever played that lets you blow up pretty much everything which is why I derived immense pleasure from it. But every since it was sold of, its future has become unclear.

Hexen
Hexen
10 years ago

Devil May Cry.I don't know were they could go from here.While the reboot was a good game on it's own it wasn't what fans(like me)wanted.I would say have the series rebooted and have Hideaki Itsuno be the director and made by Capcom while having everything be similar to the previous games(1,2,3,4) just have better made storyline with DMC 3,4 gameplay.

Rachet_JC_FTW
Rachet_JC_FTW
10 years ago

honestly there are a few series i am worried will never another game that are new and old relative to each other thats crash and jak 1stly but as for rachet i think there will be another one for ps4 eventually but yeah i would be surpriesed not too see one they are really good games. hmmm then yeah GoW is a lil worry some just cos they need to get bit more creative with that series i'm not sure if we talk about PC then there is age of empires hasn't had a proper entry for years that needs to be done im not sure what else

what are your thoughts guys

help me out here if i am missing something

happy gaming

Beamboom
Beamboom
10 years ago

I'm worried about Mass Effect.
I am worried they will pull it further towards the shooter side of things. I am also worried the next series will be like ST:TNG. Everyone knows it never reached the level of ST:TOS. 🙂

I also worry about Borderlands.
They can't build another game on the same engine, and they can't just deliver "more of the same", they *need* to evolve. But in what direction? Borderlands is just perfect at being exactly what it is today!

mk ultra
mk ultra
10 years ago

I unfortunately think God of War might be over, but it might be time for that series to end. I can't really think of much. Resident Evil and Dead Space are already dead to me (and the first DS is one of my favorites), and Advanced Warfare might just put the final nail in the coffin for Call of Duty.

A game I'm kinda concerned for is Mirrors Edge. I have little doubt that the sequel will be successful, but I really think the first was something special and I don't want that awesome vibe to go away.


Last edited by mk ultra on 10/23/2014 4:23:44 AM

JackieBoy
JackieBoy
10 years ago

For me there are different reasons why I should fear about some franchises, but mainly it's because they are dragging for too long.
The developers are out of ideas how to maintain a series and while the graphics mostly delivers, the story becomes silly and gameplay boring and repetitive.
My greatest fear is that it can be the case with Uncharted 4. While I'm sure I will be looking for my jaw that dropped somewhere on the ground when it comes to visuals, I'm terribly afraid it might be a letdown story and gameplay wise, same as the U3 was compared to U2 (for me). I liked the PS Vita U:GA better then U3. I hope U4 will be the last one and next time ND will deliver something as good as TloU.
Other franchises that worries me are GoW, FF, MGS, RE, NFS, AC… you name it. Eventually it HAS to stop or it will turn to utter crap. Here's hoping it will stop before it happens.


Last edited by JackieBoy on 10/23/2014 5:02:08 AM

jami
jami
10 years ago

I'd have said Silent Hill but now the franchise is with Kojima and Del Toro I believe that will return to the elite.

Resident Evil possibly.

Final Fantasy is a lost cause. Bravely Default was the FF game we have been waiting for since 10.

Call of Duty is definitely going stale. Inhave a feeling the GTAV new-gen release will crap all over it. After a year on the market Activision won't be able to blame the lower sales on a "transitional period". Maybe then they'll realise quality does matter eventually. Look what happened to Tomb Raider. Seemed unstoppable but people grew tired of buying what was arguably the same game every year. It took longer and more sales with COD, likely due to the fact FPS games are more mainstream and have multiplayer, but I knew it would happen eventually.

Lawless SXE
Lawless SXE
10 years ago

It's been said before, but Devil May Cry. The original series had fantastic gameplay (up until DMC4 became a trudge, anyway), while the reboot just resonated with me better, but it didn't really sell well enough, so I'm worried about whether Capcom is ever going to greenlight another one in either continuity (and hoping for the latter).

Assassin's Creed. Frankly, it's just becoming too prolific, and I feel that that will negatively impact it. This year alone, Ubisoft are releasing Unity, Rogue, and the Chronicles spin-off China, and they've expressed interest in continuing the latter as a standalone series, meaning that a minimum of two a year (although, admittedly one would be a massive 3D game, open world and all that jazz while the other would primarily be a 2D side-scrolling affair) may become the norm.

Related, I'll say Prince of Persia, just because the reboot didn't last, the Forgotten Sands didn't really sell or gain any notable critical acclaim and the series seems to have been buried since then.

And I'll throw Resistance in for good measure. I loved the third game, but the decision to outsource Burning Skies was just asking for a death sentence. And now Insomniac have moved onto other things (Fuse, SO, the new Ratchet and Clank), and Sony appears to have abandoned the IP, which I find saddening.

I'll stop there.

big6
big6
10 years ago

I agree with pretty much everything you said. Though, with Assassin's Creed, I think it can go on for a long time…if they want it to.
I just think they are playing it safe by using the settings of old Europe. If they really wanted to, they could move the setting to:

Feudal Japan — this could be one or two games in the series.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Ancient
China) — this part of history went on for many, many years, so they could probably make 2 or 3 games out of it.
Genghis Khan — could be game there.
Old Russia — could be a game or two there.
Ancient Rome — …etc.

…it can just go on. They just need to get on it.

And they need to stop tacking on stupid features, just to say they have something 'new'… like the lame tower defense mini-games!

big6
big6
10 years ago

For me, I fear for the Metal Gear Solid series. I'd love for it to continue on forever, but I think a large problem is Kojima is always saying this next one "will be the last one". So he'll write the story as such, which limits the possibility of a continuation in the same direction. So then the next iteration has to be something different… and we all know different doesn't always mean good.

The other series that I'm a bit concerned about would be God of War and Uncharted (as has been mentioned in detail above).
Though, of the two, I think Uncharted has better staying power.

N0T0Ri0UsGaM3R
N0T0Ri0UsGaM3R
10 years ago

Tenchu(Tenchu where are you)Uncharted Darksiders(i would like to see an effort from Naughty Dog but it doesn't own the ip)
AND yes Need For Speed a project cars edition it's a MUST!!

slow and smart
slow and smart
10 years ago

Half Life

god of war

Resident evil

Dead space

Uncharted[is this the end?]

Darksiders

and some old ones:
Shenmue
Soul reaver


Last edited by slow and smart on 10/23/2014 3:20:21 PM

aiversonx3
aiversonx3
10 years ago

Armored core series

berserk
berserk
10 years ago

Not a franchise but i fear for no future for Dragon dogma . Easily one of the best game of recent years for me and it got the best videogames monster animations EVER .