What would you do if every videogame franchise just ended?

Matthew Jabour

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Jan 13, 2012
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People complain a lot about long-running franchises that can't seem to end. Series like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed bring out sequel after sequel with little or no improvements. But what if every franchise just...stopped?

What if Mario 3D World was the last Mario game ever? What if Far Cry and Assassin's Creed never got another installment? The publishers would still be making games of about the same quality, but all the characters - Mario, Link, Master Chief, Kratos, etc. - would be totally scrapped. No Tomb Raider 2, no new Call of Duty, no more Assassins and Templars - all old IPs just wiped off the map. How would you feel?
 

MHR

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Apr 3, 2010
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Well there goes the future. I'd have none of the games I look forward to and all of the drudgery >.>

/wrists

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Savagezion

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Mar 28, 2010
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Honestly, a little excited. I have my franchises I like and would miss, but the idea of the game marketplace being a place of mystery again is very appealing. Seeing a wall of unknown themes and characters certainly has an allure about it. I am not one of the people out there who thinks any series should die, and I don't even have a problem with sequels. However, the idea you present is pretty neat by the sounds of it.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Jun 5, 2013
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I wouldn't feel much. Most franchises have at best two good games. They rest are just full(read: over) price map/expansion packs adding jack shit, with fanboys/girls(fanpeople?!) just lapping up mindless sequel after mindless sequel like good little consumers.
I'm assuming what you mean by 'wiped off the map' is that no new sequels can be made? Because I'm totally fine with no more Mass Effect games, but a world without Mass Effect? No thanks! I'd rather ignore the bullshit sequels then live in a world where the original trilogy was never made.
Maybe I'd lower my head for a heartbeat at no more Bioshock games, but I have Bioshock 1 and Infinite. I'm good.

But other than that, you won't find me shedding a tear for a single franchise. They can all go and as far as I'm concerned, good riddance!
 

Noontide

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Nov 26, 2014
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Rejoice. Franchises are used too often to excuse derivative gaming. "If it ain't broke" is a very limiting way of thinking. And a lot of people are persuaded to buy games for the brand over the content.

It'd also stop people getting pissy because a sequel happens to be a massive departure for the series, no matter how good the quality is. I don't want to hear "it's a good game, just not a good [franchise] game" ever again.
 

rorychief

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Mar 1, 2013
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I don't know how i'd feel. In many ways it could drive new ideas and ips to emerge. A period of experimentation and trial and error as developers try and capture an audience without old establishments and cliches to rely on, making no assumptions about demographics and writing the rules as they go.
But of course this would never happen. The most successful games would of course be the clones. Whatever the old audiences agreed was the spiritual successor to call of duty or Mario, whatever pandered to their nostalgia for the old games. 'You won't believe it's not mass effect! 9-10 gamers can't tell the difference!' will be the flavour of box quotes, and genuinely new ideas would struggle to compete just as they do now.
 

CannibalCorpses

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Aug 21, 2011
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I can't remember a time when a sequel lived up to what i was hoping from it so frankly i would celebrate the death of the innovation-less cash-cow garbage that we get force fed nowadays. Imagine a world where new games aren't sold on the hype of yesteryear...when a game has to sell itself rather than it's emo lead character for another bland repeat.

Yep, i'd buy into your world!
 

Teoes

Poof, poof, sparkles!
Jun 1, 2010
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I would carry on with my life, rather happily. I'd still have the good games from all the franchises I like and would look forward to some hopefully good original IPs to enjoy.

Although lets not kid ourselves: a good chunk of the franchises would live on effectively in disguise. No more Assassins Creed but I'd give it 18 months tops before there was a Rogues Guild released that looked mighty familiar. Spiritual Successors and all that jazz.
 

Drummodino

Can't Stop the Bop
Jan 2, 2011
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I would be very, very sad. There's a reasons franchises exist, because fans want more of what they enjoy. Sure they don't always live up to expectations, but many times they do.

A world with no more Persona titles? No Fallout? No Elder Scrolls? Fuck that.
 

nyarlathotepsama

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Apr 11, 2012
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I dunno. I suppose I'd go living as normal I suppose. In fact maybe even a little happier, more hopeful even. The loss of all that established character, canon and universes would sting but the promise of newer creations to come would more than replace what I'd lost. I think I'd be happier living with new games with fresh ideas created by this event that ended franchises because we would have all the same talent working on new original projects. These new projects could and likely would be better than the current yearly releases and/or constant fandom hyped releases. Video games might become a creative medium again free from impossible expectations of millions of fans eager to buy then hate the newest game in whatever series.

Companies like Nintendo would have an interesting dilemma on their hands since they relay heavily on their stable of tried and true series. I believe that a team as creative as to have brought us Mario and the Legend of Zelda series could create new and equally entertaining characters and the worlds around them from scratch. This remains true of a fair chuck of designers. Sure there would be a few studios that would collapse but their talent would likely get folded into another soon enough.

So after pondering it as I write I think I'd be both sad to lose old friends but happy, very happy, to make some new ones. Hope that didn't come out like it sounded in my head...
 

Signa

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Jul 16, 2008
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I think I would be happy, honestly. Sure, there's some franchises that never got the titles I wanted from them (There are so few Metroid games for how long the series has been around!), but ultimately, I would see it as a great thing. Every new game would be setting it's own expectations on its ability to deliver a good game instead of needing to be compared or built off the previous games. I mean, not that I would specifically want this, but we could have Mario with guns! No one could say "Mario doesn't have guns!" because it wouldn't be a Mario game. It would be Nintendo's next platformer/shooter game, free to be designed the way they want to.
 

Cowabungaa

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Feb 10, 2008
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No longer having a direct reason to want a WiiU for starters.

Other than that not much, I don't currently really 'follow' any game series to be honest. No more Civilization would be a bummer though.
 

BeerTent

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May 8, 2011
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I have a very special bottle I keep in the vegetable bin in my refrigerator.

There'd be song, dance, and numerous parties, and that big ass bottle would be empty and I'd actually be able to look forward to AAA games (Maybe) again.

Sure, we'd completely lose Nintendo, but it's the price we pay for such a world.
 

Dismal purple

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Oct 28, 2010
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I'm so angry about Assassin's Creed. I just wanted the story to end.

Stopped playing a little bit into AC3. I got burned out after doing Ezio three times in a row.
 

eatenbyagrue

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Dec 25, 2008
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I'd turn my office into one of those serial killer-y rooms with the notes and scribbles all over the walls because I'd be going mad trying to figure out how Yahtzee is connected.
 

william12123

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Oct 22, 2008
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I'd be good. While there are still a few franchises i'd be dissapointed where gone, overall the potential for new stuff would be more tantalizing.
 

Angelous Wang

Lord of I Don't Care
Oct 18, 2011
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I'd be OK with it only after the Witcher 3 has been released.

If it happened before that I would go Superman and punch a whole in reality just to get a copy from a reality that the game did exist in.

Dismal purple said:
I'm so angry about Assassin's Creed. I just wanted the story to end.

Stopped playing a little bit into AC3. I got burned out after doing Ezio three times in a row.
I am exactly the same here execpt, more tired than angry. I think I got to Chapter 3 in 3 and just gave up. I also have 4 by that's completely unplayed.
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
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Games that are incredibly similar but lack the branding would rise up to replace them almost immediately.
 

Nazulu

They will not take our Fluids
Jun 5, 2008
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Celebrate. Then maybe we could expect something actually special to come out, or maybe a whole bunch of games trying to copy the last famous works, but I wouldn't care since they wouldn't have the name power to sell as well.