Top 5 Franchises That Have Had Enough Sequels
Most of these are sequels or remakes…
Like Hollywood, the video game industry seems to rely heavily on sequels and remakes. One of the things that bother me about the current industry (besides unreliable journalism) is that we have seen so many sequels, prequels, spin-offs and remakes to franchises that don’t need it. This, of course, is my opinion, but I’m betting that there are some that share my opinions. There are a lot of franchises that I believe don’t need any more titles added to their roster.
Please don’t misunderstand me. A few franchises on this list don’t have bad games attached to their name, but I do this to ask a question: When can we move on to something else? Bungie stopped making Halo games to make the Halo/Borderlands/Call of Duty game, Destiny. Sure, I give the game a lot of grief for reminding me a lot of Halo, but it’s a new franchise. Sadly, they are going to make a bunch of games based on the success of this one. My concern is that successes are milked for all their worth, and worth in this industry is determined by how much money it makes.
Quality doesn’t seem to matter over hype and advertising. And we as customers aren’t really excited about playing the games any more. I’ve noticed that a big part of this industry is the hype leading up to the game. I hope that the franchises I discuss here won’t go down in history as cash cows, but as entertainment venues we all enjoy. Isn’t that what video games are all about?
To be fair to Street Fighter…Street Fighter’s problem isn’t *sequels*, but rather the typical CAPCOM practice of making special hyper-ultra-mega-awesome-super editions of the same game. I suppose they could be viewed as sequels in a technical sense, but I just viewed them as re-releases. Generally when SF has made an honest-to-God-Emperor sequel its been fairly well received. I know it was only in the runner-up category but I just wanted to point that out.
Also, Assassin’s Creed: Rogue’s concept isn’t anything new save for the fact that this time we’re playing the Assassin-turned-Templar.
Personally speaking I’ve enjoyed the majority of Assassin’s Creeds so far, even if I’ve been slower and slower in picking up the new instalments. Though truth be told, without some new design or massive scene change I don’t think it’ll last too much longer.
Assassin’s Creed was interesting because of it’s sea mechanics, it’s story was good as well but honestly it was the usual quality I expect from Assassin’s creed.
I disagree that borderlands simply putting on a bunch of dlc would make dlc “cool”. I think dlc is stupid, especially the “already on the disc but must be bought” kind. Most of the time dlc is companies saying “we don’t want this game to die so here is content” which usually tacks on a couple of areas and a weapon”. Maybe a better word is expansion pack, something like Diablo 2’s Lord of Destruction, where a whole new map and characters are added. Something like that seems worth the money, but dlc? Naw
“Maybe a better word is expansion pack, something like Diablo 2′s Lord of Destruction, where a whole new map and characters are added. Something like that seems worth the money, but dlc? Naw”.
A rose by any other name and all that, most DLC tends to be broken down expansions, if not out right expansions fully (*looks at Skyrim*). Some games abuse the concept a little much, Borderlands 2 is a part of that and I find it distasteful that it does so, but honestly most DLC tends to be worth it, at least considering the asking price.
While I agree Resident Evil doesn’t need any more sequels, at least for the same caliber as the last few main installments, I do think the series could use a reboot. The original games and some of the spin-offs are excellent titles but they may have been lost on those that were too young when they were originally released or simply never picked them up.
I love that they are porting the gamecube remake of the original game, and it is a port, not a remake of a remake like the mob mentality of the internet make it seem. I hope that this is a sign that Capcom is considering returning to the series’ roots if they are to make future titles or to simply remake the original games.
At the risk that I may be stoned to death by the masses of the internet, I will say that Resident Evil 4, 5, and 6 were not bad games, they just weren’t Resident Evil games, in my opinion (and yes, you read that right, I included the beloved RE4 in that list). Trying something new to keep a franchise fresh isn’t a bad thing, but Capcom has gone on record saying that they were chasing the Call of Duty money when making Resident Evil 6 and possibly 5. Innovation should come from creativity, not driven by profitability.
Borderlands is the sole IP not burned by Gearbox, so you can expect to see at least two other games before it tank. Resident Evil don’t have too much sequel, it lost is soul… CoD sell monstrously each year so, until it tank, expect to see another one each year. EA is happy when they have 200 millions of profit, Activision had 4 billions this year.
I agree with AC, even if it’s the same than CoD, each game sell millions, so why Ubisoft should stop ?
IMO, it’s not publisher that are lazy, it’s the customer that love to see the same thing again and again with little to no upgrades. But we can be hapy: Battlefield almost killed himself without any help.
I would had put The Sims in the list because it’s really the big one that smell bad for players.