The rise of video game franchises

I'll Catch the Next One

The rise of video game franchises isn't entirely the fault of some bean counter working in the depths of Activision's marketing department. Gamers are just as much to "blame" for the rise of sequels and annual installments. (After all, gamers poured $360 million into Activision's coffers on the launch day for 2010's annual Call of Duty release, Black Ops.) But now that gamers have come to expect the annualized franchise, does that limit the impetus to jump on the train knowing another one will pull up to the station soon enough? "Despite my roots with Japanese role-playing games, I'm actually a big Halo fan. Before ODST dropped, I was pretty excited for Bungie's spin-off, but I only ended up playing the campaign for an hour or two. It wasn't a lack of interest or distaste for the gameplay -- I was just already feeling the anticipation for Halo: Reach and I didn't want to play two Halo games in a row. This is usually how things go for me: by the time I get around to a game, the sequel is already on the horizon!"Clements hits on something so critical here: with some many franchises now running on twelve-month schedules, is there much incentive to finish a franchise game sixth months after its initial release? Game companies like Bioware may be tracking whether or not you complete a game for internal use, but you can be sure the accounting department couldn't care less if you saw the ending credits.