GreetingsMortal
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Soulcalibur
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Most mismanaged franchises of all time?
- Thread starter DoubleClutch
- Start date
thief183
Member
This is not a franchise, it doesn't deserve to be called a franchise.
xrnzaaas
Member
Star Citizen is not mismanaged, it's a series of very calculated moves to have whales and other fans of the genre keep giving you money and even be okay with not seeing the finish line.
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Majukun
Member
Bayonetta.
Started with a masterpiece from one of the best action directors on the market.
Sequel almost didn't happen because sega did not believe in the franchise, Nintendo arrives to save but pg instead of allowing kamiya to finally make a sequel, they give the franchise to a guy that essentially didn't understand the genre at all,ending up with a flashy title with the depth of a puddle on a dry season.
Franchise survives and gets another chance with a third installment, kamiya is STILL not back and they give the franchise to a guy with a bad track record.
Plus since they didn't manage to release their kaiju dragon game, they decide to port some of the mechanics to bayo 3, polluting the gameplay instead of refining it.
Now kamiya is gone from pg and the franchise's stocks are very low, and I'm left wondering what could have been if the franchise followed a more traditional progression after such a brilliant debut.
Started with a masterpiece from one of the best action directors on the market.
Sequel almost didn't happen because sega did not believe in the franchise, Nintendo arrives to save but pg instead of allowing kamiya to finally make a sequel, they give the franchise to a guy that essentially didn't understand the genre at all,ending up with a flashy title with the depth of a puddle on a dry season.
Franchise survives and gets another chance with a third installment, kamiya is STILL not back and they give the franchise to a guy with a bad track record.
Plus since they didn't manage to release their kaiju dragon game, they decide to port some of the mechanics to bayo 3, polluting the gameplay instead of refining it.
Now kamiya is gone from pg and the franchise's stocks are very low, and I'm left wondering what could have been if the franchise followed a more traditional progression after such a brilliant debut.
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YeulEmeralda
Linux User
Mass effect.
Who's the closest character to the illusive man from other mediums, any idea?Mass effect.
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HJuggernaut
Neo Member
All Xbox franchises.
I've watched all of them except star wars, Tywin Lannister still new compered to the rest of the list, I wish the media could handle ten times that number, I know I'm asking for too much but the truth is we don't get good writings so often, it's not the norm to have shows at that level.
West Texas CEO
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Gotta go fast!
Seriously though, the mentioning on Star Fox got me butthurt.
Such a great franchise, with a ton of potential.
Who knew even Nintendo could fuck that up?
Perhaps give the IP over to Monoliths hands and all will be good.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Halo post Bungie
Killzone
Mortal Kombat
COD
Borderlands
Madden
WWE 2K
Ghost Recon
Killzone
Mortal Kombat
COD
Borderlands
Madden
WWE 2K
Ghost Recon
simpatico
Member
I’m still going with Marvel as a brand. AAA gaming almost completely missed the entire MCU cash cow. We should have gotten a super solid Iron Man 15-20hr action trilogy. Pitch: Uncharted with Anthem controls. A Captain American Arkham trilogy ARPG. You could even have cranked out an action stealth Hawkeye $40 joint. Reskin Tomb Raider, crank out a few set pieces and profit. All we got was a pretty damn good Guardians game that was 6 years too late and a weak ass Avengers game that was even more late.
Rickyiez
Member
But.. Bbut Sony said it's supposed to be a franchise
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
Wait...we're on page 4 and not a single mention of...Tomb Raider? An IP that killed 2 development teams at Core Design, then the entire studio and was the beginning of the end of its publisher Eidos?
One of the biggest franchises from the 90's. Forced yearly releases in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 on PS One alone. (already a sign of mismanagement) The first 3 games had expansions released as well as if you needed more content. The development teams were overworked, done with all the crunch, etc... to the point they tried to kill the main character in secret from its publisher in 1999 (The Last Revelation), so they wouldn't bring her back for more games...then they were forced to make a game where Lara's friends remember some of her early missions (Chronicles in 2000) while another team started working on an actual sequel, which was supposed to be the beginning of a trilogy. The team couldn't master the PS2, released the game anyway which killed the franchise, the studio AND honestly the beginning of the end for its own publisher Eidos.
Lara Croft was paraded in god knows how many campaigns, magazine covers, to the point where the games didn't even matter anymore, prompting the character's creator to leave the studio since he didn't agree with how the character was being treated...as if the yearly releases weren't enough anyway. I also forgot to mention that there were 3 Gameboy titles also released 3 years in a row: 2000, 2001 and 2002, as if all the other games weren't enough.
Things were bad already until this point...but the IP is then delivered to another studio which does 2 reboots and 2 trilogies in 12 years...and now A NEW REBOOT is on the way as well since the previous series wasn't working again anymore meaning we're about to have our 4th version of Lara Croft (main games ONLY).
The movies got progressively worse as well and the latest one was supposed to have a sequel that was canceled.
This is top 5 most mismanaged gaming franchises of all time for sure. You have all sorts of drama here.
One of the biggest franchises from the 90's. Forced yearly releases in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 on PS One alone. (already a sign of mismanagement) The first 3 games had expansions released as well as if you needed more content. The development teams were overworked, done with all the crunch, etc... to the point they tried to kill the main character in secret from its publisher in 1999 (The Last Revelation), so they wouldn't bring her back for more games...then they were forced to make a game where Lara's friends remember some of her early missions (Chronicles in 2000) while another team started working on an actual sequel, which was supposed to be the beginning of a trilogy. The team couldn't master the PS2, released the game anyway which killed the franchise, the studio AND honestly the beginning of the end for its own publisher Eidos.
Lara Croft was paraded in god knows how many campaigns, magazine covers, to the point where the games didn't even matter anymore, prompting the character's creator to leave the studio since he didn't agree with how the character was being treated...as if the yearly releases weren't enough anyway. I also forgot to mention that there were 3 Gameboy titles also released 3 years in a row: 2000, 2001 and 2002, as if all the other games weren't enough.
Things were bad already until this point...but the IP is then delivered to another studio which does 2 reboots and 2 trilogies in 12 years...and now A NEW REBOOT is on the way as well since the previous series wasn't working again anymore meaning we're about to have our 4th version of Lara Croft (main games ONLY).
The movies got progressively worse as well and the latest one was supposed to have a sequel that was canceled.
This is top 5 most mismanaged gaming franchises of all time for sure. You have all sorts of drama here.
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terrible1fi
Neo Member
Halo, it’s hard to believe how low the sentiment of the series is at the moment
Morrie’s wig shop
Banned
Halo, Halo is always the answer to this question……. A true tragedy.
RaZoR No1
Member
I am suprised that I have not seen Digimon here.
I agree with all of the listings so far, but you all are missing Digimon.
It was / had its peak around the "first" Pokemon wave, but Pokemon managed to put out enough games / animes to be still the number one "Monster" Game /Theme.
Digimon had good games and I think the Cybersleuth ones are fine too, but they never managed to capture the same audience as Pokemon.
Look where Pokemon is now and where Digimon is...
Another mismanaged franchise:
Midnight Club.
There is/was a huge hole for high quality open world arcade racers with tuning.
NFS somehow always fails to deliver / satisfy the customers.
The last Midnight Club we got is L.A.. for X360/PS3.
Since then we already had a small rumour about this game, but it never saw the light again..
Currently lower budget games like CarX Street try to fill in the hole that is left from R*
Aaand another one is Need For Speed
It just doesnt know, what the gamers really want...Do they try to go back to the classics? To the Tuning Scene or to the Most Wanted era?
No matter what they are trying, they cannot please all..
I somehow has a huge identitiy crisis..
I mean it took them 3 or more games to implement good Grip racing again.. everyone complained about the physics etc. but they never listened.. I hate the Brake 2 Drift physics...
I agree with all of the listings so far, but you all are missing Digimon.
It was / had its peak around the "first" Pokemon wave, but Pokemon managed to put out enough games / animes to be still the number one "Monster" Game /Theme.
Digimon had good games and I think the Cybersleuth ones are fine too, but they never managed to capture the same audience as Pokemon.
Look where Pokemon is now and where Digimon is...
Another mismanaged franchise:
Midnight Club.
There is/was a huge hole for high quality open world arcade racers with tuning.
NFS somehow always fails to deliver / satisfy the customers.
The last Midnight Club we got is L.A.. for X360/PS3.
Since then we already had a small rumour about this game, but it never saw the light again..
Currently lower budget games like CarX Street try to fill in the hole that is left from R*
Aaand another one is Need For Speed
It just doesnt know, what the gamers really want...Do they try to go back to the classics? To the Tuning Scene or to the Most Wanted era?
No matter what they are trying, they cannot please all..
I somehow has a huge identitiy crisis..
I mean it took them 3 or more games to implement good Grip racing again.. everyone complained about the physics etc. but they never listened.. I hate the Brake 2 Drift physics...
hououinkyouma00
Member
It's Halo.
Mismanaged? Nah, they made the game they wanted to make and decisions were made to not make another.
Everything after Halo Reach is mid at best. You gotta take in just how good and how huge the franchise was prior. It was the biggest thing in games and then 343i came around and drove it into the ground.
plip.plop
Member
Max Payne. Give me a chance to explain
While Remedy is coming out with the remaster of the first two. They sold the rights to Rockstar (Who created a banger G.O.A.T. status game in Max Payne 3) We all know they will never make a Max Payne 4 because they are going to make GTA content until the wheels fall off. This series is dead
While Remedy is coming out with the remaster of the first two. They sold the rights to Rockstar (Who created a banger G.O.A.T. status game in Max Payne 3) We all know they will never make a Max Payne 4 because they are going to make GTA content until the wheels fall off. This series is dead
Artistic
Member
Still mismanaged.
chokotoureiki
Member
Saints Row. Too bad the reboot was a nail in the coffin for Volition. I once loved that company for making Freespace 1 & 2 before they got bought by THQ and then changed their tune completely.
chokotoureiki
Member
Meh. Nowhere near as bad as say, OG RE4. That game has been re-released to death on almost every system. There's even a mobile version
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darrylgorn
Member
Dragon age. And that's without the likely failure of the latest in the series.
The first game was decent and showed enormous potential. The second was trash and it was all downhill from there.
The first game was decent and showed enormous potential. The second was trash and it was all downhill from there.
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March Climber
Member
Every Call of Duty competitor franchise that couldn’t get their shit together after the original Modern Warfare released.
Medal of Honor
Battlefield
Socom
Halo
Killzone
Ghost Recon (post 360 gen)
I’m sure I’m missing some, and this is not even counting the non-franchises that are currently struggling like xDefiant. As much as people like defend each and every one of these franchises above, every single one either had multiple panic moments, held on for dear life, or flopped like a fish, the minute CoD hit the stratosphere.
Some of them are still desparately trying to capture that audience to this day.
Edit: I first didn’t include Killzone and Halo, but screw it, those games were exclusives simply trying to take the CoD audience too. If anything Halo’s situation is sadder because that audience came first and was snatched away.
Medal of Honor
Battlefield
Socom
Halo
Killzone
Ghost Recon (post 360 gen)
I’m sure I’m missing some, and this is not even counting the non-franchises that are currently struggling like xDefiant. As much as people like defend each and every one of these franchises above, every single one either had multiple panic moments, held on for dear life, or flopped like a fish, the minute CoD hit the stratosphere.
Some of them are still desparately trying to capture that audience to this day.
Edit: I first didn’t include Killzone and Halo, but screw it, those games were exclusives simply trying to take the CoD audience too. If anything Halo’s situation is sadder because that audience came first and was snatched away.
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AJUMP23
Parody of actual AJUMP23
But there are lots of RE games. Four is arguably the best one.Meh. Nowhere near as bad as say, OG RE4. That game has been re-released to death on almost every system. There's even a mobile version
The Infectious Paradox
Member
Socom
FEAR
Condemned
Mercenaries
FEAR
Condemned
Mercenaries
chokotoureiki
Member
Yes, and a lot of them have been re-released excessively, way more than TLOU. Heck, there's even the Remake trilogy that just came out. Capcom routinely re-releases the crap out of a lot of their games, some of which happen every gen. Not sure why you're knocking TLOU when they're just following the strategy of other companies.
Final Fantasy is even worse.
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Laptop1991
Member
As of now Fallout and TES with all the last releases being MMO with stores or mobile games with microtransaction's
HogIsland
Member
but they're both the best game of all time :/
Trogdor1123
Member
We really should require people to say why they say it has been mismanaged lol.
Most of these are essentially people not liking how games have changed rather than them being mismanaged as those are different.
I’d say the number 1 rule mo is either duke nukem or star citizen. Duke nukem as they had so many starts and stops and sputters. They ruined it several times over.
Star citizen for me has to do with the amount of time and money that has gone into it with pretty huge pr issues about that. This is likely premature though as the game may end up being fantastic.
Most of these are essentially people not liking how games have changed rather than them being mismanaged as those are different.
I’d say the number 1 rule mo is either duke nukem or star citizen. Duke nukem as they had so many starts and stops and sputters. They ruined it several times over.
Star citizen for me has to do with the amount of time and money that has gone into it with pretty huge pr issues about that. This is likely premature though as the game may end up being fantastic.
LordOfChaos
Member
Halo...So loved, such good lore in the books and extended content, three games completely disconnected from each other and they keep starting over rather than using the good lore
I actually thought 4 was a pretty good start getting into the Forerunner saga, Cortana dying forcing Chief to connect with humanity more, and then they just started over with the stupid ass AI side quest in Guardians which they immediately ditched off screen in Infinite. Then end of Infinite was once more hinting at interesting lore and now who knows what the fuck is going on with it.
I actually thought 4 was a pretty good start getting into the Forerunner saga, Cortana dying forcing Chief to connect with humanity more, and then they just started over with the stupid ass AI side quest in Guardians which they immediately ditched off screen in Infinite. Then end of Infinite was once more hinting at interesting lore and now who knows what the fuck is going on with it.
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Trogdor1123
Member
Agreed, but I’d say that is good financial management rather than franchise management but your point remains very accurate