Most milked franchise

krazykidd

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Vigormortis said:
I know some will argue that Final Fantasy doesn't count because it's been around for more than a decade, but that doesn't change the fact that there's been well over twenty different games, remakes, reboots, and spin-offs within the series. Over twenty. At this point, even as they announce more titles to come, it's painfully obvious Square-Enix is milking the franchise.
only Twenty ? im pretty sure that theres more than that, but i don't think the remakes should count because the remakes where made not only for nostalgia purposes but so that people that were too young or that missed out on the series when it started could get a chance to play them legally . Also Final fatasy 1 came out in 1989 or 1990 if i remember correctly so thats about 22 years (also not the first game by squaresoft).

OT: CoD ( needs to not release a game for at least 3 years ), Sonic (needs to Die ) , Mario ( needs to retire ), Metroid ( getting near the end of its life ), Guitar hero ( back when it was popular) .

EDIT : oh yeah STAR WARS OMG ( not that the games are bad but still comon)
 

Dr.Cereal1

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psicat said:
Dr.Cereal1 said:
psicat said:
The Half-Life series, it's being slowly and surely milked to death. And, the Guitar Hero games there have been well over a dozen of those things made in a relatively short time.
It's disturbing how stupid the points at attempt at hate that are practically only found on this website towards Valve and their game series.
Honestly, half life, milked? There hasn't even been a game for years now...
I did say slowly, but you can call all the ports, expansions, episodes, etc as an attempt to milk it yes. The fact that in my opinion some of the the quality was lost after the first doesn't help either. And, don't be such a fanboy if someone holds a different opinion than you it's not automatically hate, you don't see me pitching a fit so many people love to call two of my favorite series milked: Final Fantasy and Halo.
The episodes were fantastic quality content made by valve that were just as good as the first game?
Expansions?
Ports?
What...
 

Spartan448

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Rossmallo said:
Halo. Nothing more needs saying.
Actually, please explain. I have a hard time figuring out how Halo is a milked franchise... except for ODST, but I just try to forget about that one. Every time I think about it, I have bad dreams and then take out the disk and hold a sword over it for half an hour.
 
Mar 31, 2011
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Halo. If anyone remembers pre-Microsoft Bungie, they would never make any series this long. Bungie should spend their time doing something better, and it's proven that they know it. And look at what Microsoft does about it. They still keep making Halo games, with a different developer. That's just desperate. I enjoy the Halo games, but they've gone on for longer than is good. The reason I don't say the same thing about CoD is the fact that Infinity Ward and Treyarch don't have anything else. Bungie has an amazing track record, even before the Halo series.
 

fluxy100

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My theory on a franchise is that it's kind of like a cow. Each teat is like a different setting/genre for the franchise. Franchises like Mario I don't mind because they try using different teats of the cow, and even if they don't work they at least tried using it. Franchises like Sonic have an old cow and keep trying to add new bells and try giving the cow a whistle and make-over but still constantly use the same teat.

To make a long post short: Sonic
 

Mute52

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Why do people keep saying Halo? There have been only 6 Halo titles (not including Halo 4)

And guess what, there have been 7 Half-Life games, (Even more if you count lost coast, deathmatch, etc)


But no one says Half-Life is milked?
Yeah, kinda puts it into perspective. I'm not defending either, i'm just saying for a franchise to be "milked" there has to be a lot of titles for it.
 

SoulSalmon

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Kysafen said:
"Milking" a franchise would mean that the franchise has overstayed its welcome, and it has literally nothing new or intriguing enough to warrant another release.
Ugh, so much this.
I swear every second person in this thread is merely saying "There are more games in this series, thus it's being milked the most" >.<
The term "milking" comes from the phrase "milking the cow dry", meaning the company is trying to squeeze EVERY LAST DROP of profit out of a series that has long since passed it's prime.

Anyway, in my opinion I think Sonic is the most milked
Lets face it, sonic shouldn't have had another game come out post-2006 at the latest... only ONE Sonic game released in the past 6/7 years has been called so much as "good" and there has been about 20 games released over that time span...

Pokemon, Final Fantasy and those sports games are way up there too.

Edit:
Mutilator7 said:
i'm just saying for a franchise to be "milked" there has to be a lot of titles for it.
NO!
This is EXACTLY why this topic is failing. a series can be considered milked after so much as a single sequel, yet a good series can go on for 30 games over several years and still not be milked.
Heck, a game with no series or sequels can STILL be considered milked if there is worthless and overpriced DLC or merchandise.
 

Mute52

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SoulSalmon said:
NO!
This is EXACTLY why this topic is failing. a series can be considered milked after so much as a single sequel, yet a good series can go on for 30 games over several years and still not be milked.
Heck, a game with no series or sequels can STILL be considered milked if there is worthless and overpriced DLC or merchandise.
No that's not true. How can you know a series has nothing new to offer after a single sequel?

Bioshock 2 didn't offer much more than Bioshock did, but is that considered milked? No
Left 4 Dead 2 didn't offer much more than the original, but is that considered milked? No

You have to give a series time, after several titles and they consistently fail to bring anything new to the table, that's when it's milked. You can't judge that after only 2 titles.

Also i would like an example of a game series with more than 30 titles that's not considered milked.
 

psicat

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Dr.Cereal1 said:
psicat said:
Dr.Cereal1 said:
psicat said:
The Half-Life series, it's being slowly and surely milked to death. And, the Guitar Hero games there have been well over a dozen of those things made in a relatively short time.
It's disturbing how stupid the points at attempt at hate that are practically only found on this website towards Valve and their game series.
Honestly, half life, milked? There hasn't even been a game for years now...
I did say slowly, but you can call all the ports, expansions, episodes, etc as an attempt to milk it yes. The fact that in my opinion some of the the quality was lost after the first doesn't help either. And, don't be such a fanboy if someone holds a different opinion than you it's not automatically hate, you don't see me pitching a fit so many people love to call two of my favorite series milked: Final Fantasy and Halo.
The episodes were fantastic quality content made by valve that were just as good as the first game?
Expansions?
Ports?
What...
Liked Half-Life but Half-Life 2 felt much weaker plot wise and had slightly shallower game play. Not to mention the whole silent protagonist thing gets old when you don't have an interesting companion to reflect some life into the hero. Gordon Freeman was starting to feel just dull and lifeless even with the occasional interaction with Alyx. Never played the episodes after that so maybe it picked up some, but I just lost all interest in the series by that point.

Also, by Expansions and Ports I mean for Half-Life 1
Expansions: Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, and Half-Life: Decay.
Ports: From Windows to PS2, and back to Windows for a Source port.
And, for Half-Life 2
Expansions: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.
Episodes: Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two.
Ports: From Windows to Xbox, Mac, Xbox 360, and PS3.
Doesn't that seem a little like milking a series of basically 2 games.
 

pyrrhic victory

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Sgt. Sykes said:
Half-Life. Valve has based all their reputation on [it]...
omega 616 said:
Anything made by nintendo? Sonic, Mario, Zelda are all milked dry.
wat

OT: As far as video game publishers go, Activision would be the biggest continuous offender, with EA coming close second. Perhaps Nintendo qualifies.

In general, the most milked franchise would be Star Wars.

Well, that was a rather pointless topic, wasn't it?
 

OneOfTheMichael's

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Do you mean all franchises like movies too?
Well in any case i'll pick the friday the 13th franchise and mario with no questions asked.
 

Vigormortis

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Jegsimmons said:
besides the books that are actually relevant to the overall universe, the halo franchise has only sold out twice really, halo wars, which was ok. and halo legends that makes me cry.
i wouldnt personally say Halo is a milked franchise as much as a well made franchise.

the other two i fully agree.
The very fact that the books (which weren't very good) and those animated shorts even exist is because Microsoft is milking the franchise. While I have to admit I fervently hate Halo 2 and 3, the games themselves haven't been bad or "milked".

That said, with Microsoft's recent announcement that it plans to make three more games, plus a remake of Halo:CE, I think it's pretty clear how it sees the series and intends on going back to that teat as much as it can.

DarkRyter said:
Final Fantasy is a special case.

The main games are disconnected from one another, having extremely little (moogles, gil, aesthetic) in common, and having different gameplay and story for each one.

Square essentially just made 14 completely different games and gave them all one title.

There's no real sense of a "franchise" amongst them beyond the name.
Believe it or not, I had actually taken that into account. And in some ways I am in agreement with you. However, you brought up the "name" part. And there's the rub.

While each game can be viewed as something different (and thus not "milked"), the fact that Square still slaps the Final Fantasy title on them shows they're selling them off of that brand name alone. Ergo, "milking" the brand name. Even something as drastically different as the Crystal Chronicles series bares the Final Fantasy moniker. One it really doesn't need at all. It's only there to bank off of the brand name.
 

Vigormortis

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psicat said:
Also, by Expansions and Ports I mean for Half-Life 1
Expansions: Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, and Half-Life: Decay.
Ports: From Windows to PS2, and back to Windows for a Source port.
And, for Half-Life 2
Expansions: Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.
Episodes: Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two.
Ports: From Windows to Xbox, Mac, Xbox 360, and PS3.
Doesn't that seem a little like milking a series of basically 2 games.
I felt like I had to point a few things out here.

Firstly, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay were not made by Valve. They were made by Gearbox and other assorted companies on the behest of Sierra. So in a way, you are correct in that Sierra tried to milk the franchise back then.

However, since then the only games in the series have been Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2 (which one could really consider just one game split in two), and to a lesser degree Portal 1 and 2.

Lost coast was barely a blurb and was only a single map designed to show off the Source engines brand-spankin' new lighting engine.

Lastly, you're counting ports as "milking" a franchise? Really? That's a hell of a stretch and even if we were to take this into account, series such as Halo, Final Fantasy, or even Assassin's Creed are FAR more egregious in this area.

I'm not denying that the series has been long running, but I'd hardly consider it to being a brand that's "milked".
 

Crankafoo

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Star Wars (as much as I love the fiction)
Call of Duty, but only after 4.
Sonic, easily.
Final Fantasy. example: FF13, FF13-2, FF13 Versus

Can't think of others.
 

psicat

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Vigormortis said:
I felt like I had to point a few things out here.

Firstly, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay were not made by Valve. They were made by Gearbox and other assorted companies on the behest of Sierra. So in a way, you are correct in that Sierra tried to milk the franchise back then.

However, since then the only games in the series have been Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2 (which one could really consider just one game split in two), and to a lesser degree Portal 1 and 2.

Lost coast was barely a blurb and was only a single map designed to show off the Source engines brand-spankin' new lighting engine.

Lastly, you're counting ports as "milking" a franchise? Really? That's a hell of a stretch and even if we were to take this into account, series such as Halo, Final Fantasy, or even Assassin's Creed are FAR more egregious in this area.

I'm not denying that the series has been long running, but I'd hardly consider it to being a brand that's "milked".
Actually Half-Life, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, and Half-Life: Decay where developed by Valve and Gearbox, and I liked Opposing Force. Besides, like I've said I didn't start to hate the series until Half-Life 2.

But to me long running plus stagnating does somewhat equate milked. Halo has at least changed a little from one title to the next, and even branched out to a different genre with Halo Wars. And, Final Fantasy tends to reinvent itself with each entry. Doesn't mean I've enjoyed every entry in those series, some have been hit or miss, but at least they've never made me give up on a series completely like Half-Life 2 did.
 

thick doona

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Starwars, Mario, FIFA/Madden and Pokemon.

Starwars: Every time they add something new it gets worse. Besides Battlefront.
Mario: How many titles? A lot of them aren't particularly original or interesting. Though I hesitate because there's a lot of great ones as well.
Madden: Updated roster? Have my money now!
Pokemon probably takes the cake. Never ending series, terrible movies, new games which are all pretty much the same, merchandise.... Pokemon made a lot of people rich.
 

Rednog

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Pokemon, when you release a game and have two versions of it just with different sprites for no other reason than you know there will be people who buy both versions, you are milking a franchise.
 

StBishop

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Kuma_Nur said:
Mario

How Many Games will it take before fans say enough? I'm guessing "Never"
Win.

But seriously, all Nintendo IP's. Including my beloved Pokemon.