At what point is a Franchise Whoring Out?

[Shadowstar38]

You all know of the God of War series right?

It had 3 main games, 2 psp games, and the whole thing ended with the hero killing everything thats there to be killed. But then this happened...

Spoiler

Another prequel? On the main console? This my friends is what I like to call milking it.

The story ending fairly conclusively and now it feels like these guys dont want to bother with something new because GOW is their cash cow.

So, is this a genuinely good idea or just beating a dead horse?

And for an added question, does this happen to other games you love?

 

[Pearwood]

If it's a good game does it really matter if it's unnecessary? To me it's whoring out once the quality goes downhill, I haven't heard anything suggesting that this won't be up to par with the rest of the series. So long as they put their effort into bringing me more hacky slashy fun times I'm more than happy to give them my money.

 

[Rumpsteak]

I don't know, beating a dead horse that explodes into plies of money sounds like a good idea to me. Anyway I feel like the sonic games are in much the same place but perhaps for a different, non-story reason. Sort of like this..

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Let's see if I fail at embedding.

 

[RJ 17]

I'd say around Resident Evil 3 *drum rimshot*

But for a more serious answer: I'd say it's when they make the decision "We want to put out a new installment every frickin' year!"

At that point they've done gone and jumped the shark.

 

[Shadowstar38]

I don't know, beating a dead horse that explodes into plies of money sounds like a good idea to me. Anyway I feel like the sonic games are in much the same place but perhaps for a different, non-story reason. Sort of like this..

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zAZ8xwXE5UY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Let's see if I fail at embedding.

Is that what you wanted to do?

I think the Sonic franchise is in the same boat is Mario. Just fun games that arnt trying to tell you one grand story as much as give you fun gameplay every time.

 

[WhyWasThat]

'Whoring out' in my book is when a developer/publisher gives in to cash bribes and makes one version of the same multiplatform game superior on one console (through exclusive DLC, extra features, better porting, etc.) and yet still charges the same price for the inferior version on the other console.

That disgusts me.

 

[Stukov Wolfwood]

well i said they are "whoring" out by the time the series story original story end and they force out another game. Especially if they had some huge wave behind it, about being the last fight and finnishing the story. and it more it feels like it is "whoring" out when the original creators was cut off the bungie and replaced by some other studio to continue milking it out.

Kinda like they are doing now days with silent hill.

about another god of war precule. Well, they better come out with some original reason of why he has to prove his worth once again and come for someone else he had to kill before getting to the events of god of war 1.

 

[Lugbzurg]

I think the Sonic franchise is in the same boat is Mario. Just fun games that arnt trying to tell you one grand story as much as give you fun gameplay every time.

I don't know. I find actual platforming to be a lot more fun than playing "Extreme Train Ride: Boost Complex 3".

When people keep cranking out new titles, while failing to realize what made the series any good in the first place... that's when it goes bad.

I'd say Sonic (obviously), Call of Duty, Star Wars, 007... Even Halo has started completely losing it's sights on why it was so great. Many of us will say that Combat Evolved was incredible. Reach, however, felt to me like a constant game of Red Light; Green Light with weird wandering sections in-between.

 

[Marter]

As soon as it tacks "Revelation" onto its name.

I kid, I kid. Kinda...

 

[Erttheking]

I don't really care how often a franchise churns out a game so long as it's fun.

 

[Lionsfan]

Whenever it starts working the cornet on 5th Avenue and wearing Red-Lipstick around everywhere

 

[Terminate421]

When a game has nothing to add to it or sequels have become record defying.

Or you make this:

 

[tippy2k2]

I don't really care how often a franchise churns out a game so long as it's fun.

Basically this.

I would much rather play Call of Duty 45: Future Warfare in Spaaaaace! then play an original IP that sucks.

So for my definition, a franchise is whoring out when it stops being fun.

 

[Emiscary]

4th installment. Usually.

 

[1080bitgamer]

A game starts whoring out when it tries to sell itself as a good product by using the brand name to build up hype, but the actual product is not well made

 

[burningdragoon]

I would think when the series gets the point where you literally can't move forward and instead of coming up with something new, you move back in time.

Actually, it's more like whenever you stop liking something is when it's being whored out, which means it's different for everyone.


Game 1: "Oh man that was awesome, I want more"
Game 2: "Even better! Keep 'em coming."
...
Game n-1: "Still great, moar plz"
Game n: "Eh, they're really starting to milk this series"
- Everybody

 

[Tyler47]

Games don't usually end after the story is over. Because it's not really that easy to come up with a system and a context for beating the shit out of things. Else we wouldn't be seeing Mario or Zelda games anymore. Gameplay is what matters most. And since they have a working fun formula, they're going to use the rapidly-advancing technologies to make it even more fun. That approach has been taken since forever in gaming and it's working for us, gamers.

 

[Vault101]

is this a seaqual?

what the hell does Kratos have left to kill?

 

[Irridium]

is this a seaqual?

what the hell does Kratos have left to kill?

Well, there's Norse and Hindu gods. That should keep him occupied for a couple of games.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

is this a seaqual?

what the hell does Kratos have left to kill?

Well, he's obviously going to go after the Egyptian and Norse gods. I mean, he's pretty much killed all the major gods in Greek/Roman mythology.

Actually, that'd be pretty awesome to see.