Anticitizen One
Banned
Call of duty is far from dead. It's the next final fantasy it's going to go 14+ installments and still going string
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Franchises with 5+ titles that are now dead?
- Thread starter Dr. Feel Good
- Start date
It takes less time to get a full group than at release
for me
TheNamelessOne
Member
Oh boy... Those games were practically my childhood. Some of the first games that got me into being fan of both series of games and the developer, Sierra.
King's Quest is being resurrected by TellTale though.
sixteen-bit
Member
It's rumored to debut at AOU next month along with Sega's new arcade hardware.
VF5: Final Showdown is finally getting a home port this summer though.
IdreamofHIME
Member
The PSP game was like 2 years ago, Move Heroes was last year and the HD collection is coming soon.
I don't see a return to glory for J&D, but the franchise ain't dead.
Uncle Rupee
Banned
COD is the type of game that can be easily replaced by something similar but better (it could happen in the next few years, and disappear as if it never existed).
I happened to buy the DS port of MYST. By far my worst purchase in my 45+ DS games' collection..
the port was bad itself but the game was kind of lame as well, I can understand it being awesome back in the year it was made, like many point-n-click games of the early 90s but it has aged terribly and it is slow, clunky, raw, etc.
badcrumble
Member
I didn't think 3, 4, and 5 were THAT bad.
Riven is still pretty much the masterpiece of the series, though. So much detail, and so much subtle learning to absorb in order to understand the logic by which this new world operates.
I'd love to see a realRIVEN on CryEngine 3 on next-gen consoles.
Megadragon15
Member
Fatal Fury.
R-Type.
Samurai Shodown.
Metal Slug.
Thunder Force.
R-Type.
Samurai Shodown.
Metal Slug.
Thunder Force.
digita1alchemy
Member
Final Fight 
Hopefully it can rise from the ashes some day.
Hopefully it can rise from the ashes some day.
Of All Trades
Member
EA's <sport> Street
Burnout
Killzone
Wing Commander
Sierra Quest games
PGR (MSR would be the first)
MMORPG
Tenchu
Fatal Frame
Jaws
Epyx sports games
TBA Konami Action Game
Quake
Burnout
Killzone
Wing Commander
Sierra Quest games
PGR (MSR would be the first)
MMORPG
Tenchu
Fatal Frame
Jaws
Epyx sports games
TBA Konami Action Game
Quake
I shed a tear. Also, Grandia and Valkyrie Profile almost made it to the 5 game count (if we count the PSP port as a separate entry!) for this kind of list
Yes yes, new Suikoden but it's not the same sense as I-V proper were! It doesn't count!
TheNamelessOne
Member
This gem of a franchise is also lost but not forgotten.
I feel that a lot of the replies in this thread are really poor.
- They're either completely inaccurate (with the only intention to make some HURR HURR THIS SERIES IS DEAD TO ME joke)
- or they are poorly researched (Suikoden has a new game coming out next month in Japan)
- or they fail to understand the point the OP by suggesting series which continue to exist today but in very different forms than the original incarnations (Shining Force)
- or they don't really qualify (Ivalice Alliance only has 3 actual games - FFTA2, FFXIIRW, and FFT WotL, the branding was created post-FFXII, and hence cannot include FFXII or the games by Matsuno before it. Compilation of FFVII only has 3 games - Before Crisis, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. The other products are not games, and if you want to count the non-games, the branding still exists, and a brand new novel is coming out shortly about the Turks.)
The point the OP is making is an interesting and good one. He is saying that after there is significant investment in an IP as a franchise (5+ games), it becomes very unlikely that the entire IP goes away completely. Even if there is no real practical value in the IP, or no one wants to make the sort of games the IP used to contain, somewhere and somehow businessmen in suits see value in mining IPs (either ones they own or ones gained from purchasing dead companies) as opposed to spending the same amount of money to fund brand new original games.
I think this point would be better represented if there are less lame/inaccurate/dumb contributions in this thread.
- They're either completely inaccurate (with the only intention to make some HURR HURR THIS SERIES IS DEAD TO ME joke)
- or they are poorly researched (Suikoden has a new game coming out next month in Japan)
- or they fail to understand the point the OP by suggesting series which continue to exist today but in very different forms than the original incarnations (Shining Force)
- or they don't really qualify (Ivalice Alliance only has 3 actual games - FFTA2, FFXIIRW, and FFT WotL, the branding was created post-FFXII, and hence cannot include FFXII or the games by Matsuno before it. Compilation of FFVII only has 3 games - Before Crisis, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. The other products are not games, and if you want to count the non-games, the branding still exists, and a brand new novel is coming out shortly about the Turks.)
The point the OP is making is an interesting and good one. He is saying that after there is significant investment in an IP as a franchise (5+ games), it becomes very unlikely that the entire IP goes away completely. Even if there is no real practical value in the IP, or no one wants to make the sort of games the IP used to contain, somewhere and somehow businessmen in suits see value in mining IPs (either ones they own or ones gained from purchasing dead companies) as opposed to spending the same amount of money to fund brand new original games.
I think this point would be better represented if there are less lame/inaccurate/dumb contributions in this thread.
This gem of a franchise is also lost but not forgotten.
Goodbye Galaxy was one of my favorite PC games growing up, but I'm afraid if id Software brought back Commander Keen now, it would end up being an FPS. :/
I think that this thread would work better, if some rules are set when it comes to defining "dead".
Like, someone not liking a game or losing interest or something ,doesn't mean that said game/franchise is dead. Halo? Same game that in 2010 did over 4 million copies in the US, that had an Anniversary remake of the first game just a few months ago and that will see the release of Halo 4 this holiday season...is dead?
Or even something like Crash; which yeah is not as "big" as it once was; yet the 2008 game (Mind Over Mutant) was quite good, and the developer (Radical) was working on a sequel, but seems to be focused mostly now on Prototype 2; so guess that they'll jump to Crash or something after.
EDIT:
Meh, beaten by duckroll..with a more eloquent post.
Like, someone not liking a game or losing interest or something ,doesn't mean that said game/franchise is dead. Halo? Same game that in 2010 did over 4 million copies in the US, that had an Anniversary remake of the first game just a few months ago and that will see the release of Halo 4 this holiday season...is dead?
Or even something like Crash; which yeah is not as "big" as it once was; yet the 2008 game (Mind Over Mutant) was quite good, and the developer (Radical) was working on a sequel, but seems to be focused mostly now on Prototype 2; so guess that they'll jump to Crash or something after.
EDIT:
Meh, beaten by duckroll..with a more eloquent post.
Maybe franchises that have not seen a title since the turn of the millennium?
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Advance Wars. ;_;
Doesn't count for the same reason you cite for Ivalice Alliance!
Even if the Shining Force example disproves this one too
To be serious, Wild Arms as far as I can tell is basically dead, Grandia is most likely done, Breath of Fire doesn't seem like it's going to make a return; I still hold out for Valkyrie Profile: Hrist but I'm not sure why.
How do we count Xenogears/Xenosaga?
Don't forget the Wii-exclusive Red Faction game that was cancelled when THQ shut the developer down.
Red Faction B.E.A.S.T.
TheNamelessOne
Member
FPS with a pogo stick!
Crash was dead after the last ND developed game. In my mind there are only 4 true Crash Bandicoot games!
George Claw M.D.
Member
First thing that came to mind, is the NFL Gameday series. It used to be a competitor to Madden, before EA's exclusivity deal.
Al Lowe is actually onboard, to do an HD remake of the first game, and possibly the others. There's even talk of new original LSL games to be made, in the future.
Here's the GAF thread on this.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448048
LSL is not dead. They made some inferior non-Lowe versions, but the franchise isn't dead.
Al Lowe is actually onboard, to do an HD remake of the first game, and possibly the others. There's even talk of new original LSL games to be made, in the future.
Here's the GAF thread on this.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448048
tearsofash
Member
Fatal Fury
I still have hopes that MOTW 2 is out there being developed somewhere.
I still have hopes that MOTW 2 is out there being developed somewhere.
diffusionx
Gold Member
NFL2K
Probably, or just "generations"; ike Viewtiful Joe.
Though it is kinda hard to find a game that had 5 sequels and right now been completely dead. There are a few like Dino Crisis or Onimusha that were well known back then, got 2+ sequels and nothing else.
Heck, even Duke Nukem Forever took ..well, forever to be released made it last year and there has been talks already about new games/reboots/whatever.
bengraven
Member
I love the series, too, but a collection and a couple characters in a Move game don't a continuous series make.
In fact, your post only cemented the time since the franchise was killed: 2 years.
Fucking ouch.
I don't understand how hard it is to start the franchise back up.
This!
I feel that a lot of the replies in this thread are really poor.
I think this point would be better represented if there are less lame/inaccurate/dumb contributions in this thread.
I think it would help if the OP mentioned or defined what "dead" really meant. There has to be a specific time span allocated to really define something as dead in this case. I mean just because we haven't had a specific game from a franchise doesn't mean we won't in the future, which is what people seem to be assuming. For example, Metroid isn't dead by any stretch of the imagination because we've had Hunters, Trilogy and Other M. However, that being said we haven't really had a game similar to Fusion well since Fusion. Does this qualify as being dead? I don't really truly believe that's the case.
Something I would probably say call dead... old NES games that we haven't seen for 20 years. Crystalis anyone? Even more recent things like Skies of Arcadia. Even this is just questionable though because while we probably won't see another installment of that game you never really know.
That being said I have a really hard time thinking about franchises with 5 or more entires that haven't had some sort of attention even recently.
Dr. Feel Good
Banned
Yeah but you can't possibly believe HD releases are meant to satisfy nostalgic past players? I think the reason behind most HD releases is to create a new fan base on top of the existing one to allow for gamers to understand future titles.
Team ICO Collection comes out to get people excited for The Guardian, for example.
Mama Robotnik
Member
That one with the time travelling vampires, what's it called again...
the madman
Neo Member
For all intents and purposes, Suikoden. Though it has some spin-offs, the mainline story hasn't been touched since, what, 2004? 2005?
Which is a total bummer.
(The DS game and the recently-announced PSP games don't count)
Which is a total bummer.
(The DS game and the recently-announced PSP games don't count)
Megadragon15
Member
There were only 3 Art of Fighting games.
diffusionx
Gold Member
It wasn't five games (3 + spin-off) but Descent. That series was BIG back in the day. One of the top PC franchises. Now it's not just that they stopped making them, but nobody cares. The only one people care about is the sequel to the spin-off (Freespace 2).
Also: PGR if you count MSR, which I would.
Also: PGR if you count MSR, which I would.
Uncle Rupee
Banned
Wiiware game is relatively new.
I don't really see a point in making a new one unless its by Treasure (the Otomedius team looks pretty terrible)
Gradius V ftw
Rated-Rsuperstar
Member
Every Star Wars franchise along with Indiana Jones. Lucasarts is a dead company.
sixteen-bit
Member
Old Republic just came out
I agree, there should be some sort of definition for dead, or at the very least "still currently dormant". I think a good measure would be say, 5-6 years (about one full generation) since the last release any of any actual game product in relation to that franchise. But I think we should also include all platforms and all types of releases to remove bias. If an IP has been revived for a Facebook game, or a licensed mobile title, I believe it should count as well, since it shows that the franchise is actually being used, even if it is in a way where the original fans might not care for.
The original point was that Silent Hill would probably be unearthed at some point in the future even if Konami decides to stop making more products immediately after March 2012. So I think that can be a good frame of reference. Silent Hill is hardly a series which continues to cater to the original core fans (or arguably any fans at all), and one of the titles being released is a HD Collection re-release, and another is a Diablo-clone on the Vita. Hardly traditional Silent Hill games.