Games that killed Franchises?

[pseudonym]

How about Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter? Capcom doesn't seem intent on making another one after 10 years.

[Ze_ro]

Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.

Seriously, am I the only one who liked this game? I thought it was great! Okay, so the whole "building" aspect didn't really tie into the previous games, but I still thought it was a lot of fun.

I would argue that Crash Team Racing, while not a bad game, pretty much ended the Crash Bandicoot series. Somehow, the industry still hasn't gotten the message yet, since they keep making them anyways.

Time will tell, but I bet these games will have killed their series, or at least set them back a decade:

• Dead to Rights: Retribution
• Bionic Commando (2009)
• Lost Planet 2
• Red Faction: Armageddon

--Zero

[Scissors]

How about Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter? Capcom doesn't seem intent on making another one after 10 years.

If I'm not mistaken, Dragon Quarter sold pretty well in Japan, so I don't think it's to blame. According to this interview with Keiji Inafune, Capcom isn't very interested in making any RPGs.

There are currently no plans on making a new Breath of Fire game. Apart from that, regarding RPG titles, they are very popular in Japan, but only certain RPG titles sell so Capcom doesn't really need to even consider making these titles as an option. There's a low possibility that we'll be making one in the near future. But, I realize that there are fans of the series, and we have staff who are interested so it's not out of the question. We actually have a lot of titles in a similar situation, where there's an interest by users and our staff, but where we just don't have the resources. Square Enix and Namco Bandai have 1,200 development staff but we only have 600. There's a lot more that we want to do, titles that would probably sell well if we made them, but we just don't have enough staff.

[BlastProcessing402]

I had a long thoughtful response written out and then the forum ate it


Basically while PSO was indeed a departure from the original series it was by no means unsuccessful (critically or financially) and still has a fanbase today. Its success simply encouraged SEGA to keep it in the direction that it was moving rather than where it came. I don't think that it quite fits the theme of the thread although it may feel like it killed the franchise to you personally. In fact since I started the series with PSO it seems like that game marked the birth of the series.

Also, I am a fairly big fan of PSO and I never even played it online. I only played it offline with a buddy, developing my character and hunting for rare items. It is outdated by today's standards but if you have a buddy I would suggest giving the game a try, the true sequel is coming out fairly soon

I'm not saying it's unsuccessful or terrible or anything, merely that it killed the original series. Chance of ever seeing a Phantasy Star 5 after PSO came out went from slim to less than none.

[Gameguy]

I'm not saying it's unsuccessful or terrible or anything, merely that it killed the original series. Chance of ever seeing a Phantasy Star 5 after PSO came out went from slim to less than none.

When they made Phantasy Star IV they intended it to be the end of the series, they weren't planning on making any more of them.

[j_factor]

Phantasy Star IV concludes the story, but there is definitely room for a prequel or side-story.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

The Saturn actually had a few. Clockwork Knight 2 and Bug 2 strike me as games that killed the franchises, but they were middling in the first place and unworthy of a sequel.

I think most people feel Clockwork Knight 2 to be more polished than the first. The first one was rushed out to meet the launch, and was actually released unfinished. If anything, that's the one that killed the franchise.

[Rickstilwell1]

Alundra dropped off after #2 because nobodly liked the fact it had nothing to do with Alundra himself. It was even made by a different developer it seems.

[The 1 2 P]

The release of Star Wars: The Old Republic will most likely be the final nail in the coffin for the original Knights of The Old Republic series. Both games were very well received(especially the first one) and sold pretty well but we never got a third one and with the new MMO focus for the series we probably will never get another single player version.

To slightly spin the topic alittle bit, I'm going to say that Microsoft is responsible for killing some series as well. They own Rare and are not taking advantage of all their properties. They have owned them for close to a decade(atleast) and we still haven't gotten a new Battletoads or Killer Instinct. And for this I wouldn't blame any particular game of either series, I would blame it on Microsoft's seemingly unwillingness to re-release the older titles or release any newer versions.

[Buyatari]

A lot of these picks are sequals to what should have been one hit wonders or games that just ran their course. If the entire genre dies it is hard to say a single game killed a series.

For my pick I'd say Halo III.

Halo II was THE online shooter everyone had to have and its been a COD world ever since.

GTA IV would also be another huge disapointment but unlike the situation with COD no other has really come to take its place as #1.

[Buyatari]

If I remember correctly, didn't the Guitar Hero series get the off-switch not too long ago along with Tony Hawk?

For Guitar Hero it had to have been GHIII and the whole battles aspect.

[Sunnyvale]

Ikari Warriors 2. Dead as dead can be after that pile.

[dendawg]

I think most people feel Clockwork Knight 2 to be more polished than the first. The first one was rushed out to meet the launch, and was actually released unfinished. If anything, that's the one that killed the franchise.

I don't know about either of you, but I don't consider 2 entire games to be a "franchise." If anything, CK2 was the conclusion to the first game, which, if you'll recall, ended in a cliffhanger.

Not a franchise, IMHO.

[Haoie]

Alundra 2

And no doubt many, many more.

[HappehLemons]

Final Fantasy XIII

[Emperor Megas]

Ikari Warriors 2. Dead as dead can be after that pile.

Victory Road was amazing. It was Ikari III that put the nails in the coffin.

[jonebone]

A lot of these picks are sequals to what should have been one hit wonders or games that just ran their course. If the entire genre dies it is hard to say a single game killed a series.

For my pick I'd say Halo III.

Halo II was THE online shooter everyone had to have and its been a COD world ever since.

GTA IV would also be another huge disapointment but unlike the situation with COD no other has really come to take its place as #1.

Hmm interesting nomination on Halo. I think the series is as robust as ever, and that they simply had more market share when 1 + 2 were out. I enjoyed 3 just as much as 2, though I was a working professional and not a college student anymore.

And I just have to flat out disagree with GTA IV. That is the first GTA game I ever owned as it finally felt worth the $60 price tag IMO. GTA III was a lot of fun, but the missions got to be redundant and you resort to killing random people just to pass the time (at least I did). GTA IV was varied enough that I got a solid 30-40 hours out of it and felt it was worth every penny.

And it also lead to Red Dead Redemption, which is one of the best current gen games I've ever played by the way. But spinoff games are probably another thread...

[RPG_Fanatic]

Breath Of Fire V killed that franchise. haven't seen another one since.

[TonyTheTiger]

It's arguable but Lunar: Dragon Song seriously crushed everybody who up to that point had been looking forward to a Lunar 3. Since then the series hasn't made a peep outside of the recent remake on PSP, released to little fanfare.

[Edmond Dantes]

I want to ask: having not played the newer Shining games, what exactly are people's issues with them?

Now, here are my contributions:

World of Warcraft. Hey, remember when Warcraft used to be an awesome series of Real-Time Strategy games? Orcs said zugzug, and if you clicked on sheep enough times they'd explode? Yeah, good times. Admittedly, it may be wrong to blame WoW because all it did was allow Blizzard to make use of their IP after Starcraft became everyone's favorite RTS (personally, I still think Warcraft II is the best they've ever made).

I never played it, but I heard Prince of Persia 3D left a big enough stain on the franchise that they had to wait nearly a decade before trying again. And then Sands of Time is basically its own franchise.

Oddly, Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures and The Bard's Tale Construction Set were meant to do this--both were made because SSI and Interplay were tired of making games themselves. I'm half-suspecting this is also the reason Sword of Moonlight (similar concept, except for King's Field) exists.

Speaking of, I'm not sure if King's Field IV: The Ancient City counts. It's an awesome game, but afterwards From basically said the series was too expensive to keep making (which I find to be BS but, whatever).

And I'll end with a completely personal one: Metroid Prime does not exist and the series ended on the Super Nintendo. I don't think Nintendo will ever make a true Metroid IV.