What is the most mismanaged franchise?

Silent Hill, after 3 they've just been... Nowhere near as good, didn't even bother to play shattered memories or downpour...

Ninja Gaiden, 3 didn't happen

Parasite Eve, 3rd birthday was so wrong, however I actually did enjoy it on its own merits, but I want a slower RPG again

Sonic is the easiest answer

Sonic the Hedgehog. Oof

Sonic easily. That series could be great and not just cringe inducing furry fuel if only Sega would wise the **** up.

Recently final fantasy and halo (based on fan reaction to halo 4 and MCC release).

Yeah, i don't know what they're doing, why Sega is adamant on changing up the IP every now and then instead of sticking to something that works is beyond me.

I really liked Sonic Colors, by far my favorite 3D Sonic game, but it had its issues like floaty 2D controls, some shoddy level design and 30 FPS. Make a Sonic Colors 2 using the Generations engine. Make the level design more consistent quality-wise, the 2D controls more tight and responsive and put it all at 60 FPS. Stick with a formula and polish it to as near to perfection as you can.

They've got plenty of experience out of Generations and Colors. They shouldn't have moved on from the boost formula, there was so much left to improve. They were so close at making a fantastic Sonic game.

Why the **** did they drastically change it up with Lost World which is an unpolished mess of great ideas, and then drop the ball completely with Sonic Boom.

Not yet since Kojima's last MGS5 is still on the way, but with the terrible handling of Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima and his team leaving Konami, that may guarantee MGS6+ goes the way of Castlevania and Silent Hill.

Everyone mentioned the usual so I'm gonna add up one to the list

Alone in the dark, by far, I mean the first game was a classic and instead of capitalizing, they ran the IP to the ground and mud, spat on it, pissed on it and then stepped on it for good measure

Vanquish

Such a fantastic game, why the hell is there no sequel? Seriously, it's considered the finest TPS ever in the gaming community. It should be easy to capitalize on that status even though it's not that well known to "the public" and the first sold fairly poorly. An announcement would generate a ton of buzz on Gaf and elsewhere for sure. Just add an MP mode and take it to the bank.

All major Atlus games for only being releaed on handhelds last gen

Yeah, that was a bad example, even though I agree with his point. But then again, it'll sure upset hardcore COD fanatics and then death threats will follow.

Assassins Creed, this series literally had so much potential. The animus was a great idea for a video game series.

It set them up so they could literally do just about anything with any of the games. As long as they followed a pretty simple plot template. The Templar vs the Assassins. The settings could all be completely different, the characters could be different, Heck they even didn't even have to follow the same parkour crap every single game If they didn't want to. Because to my knowledge there was nothing in AC1 or 2 that bound them to that.

What a waste.

Syndicate.

Actually, there is also the fiasco surrounding the NOLF franchise which means we will probably never see another NOLF game which is a real shame.

I own Resident Evil 0, 1, 2, 3, Veronica, and 4 on the Cube. Haven't played them in years.

Sometime within the next few years I plan to do a marathon of them.

Played through 5 and 6 at a friends house, owned Revelations but sold it. ORC was a mess.

RE gets my vote

I can agree with metroid considering Metroid Fusion, Corruption, Other M, and now Federation Force. Zelda on the other hand has been consistently strong on consoles and just recently released one of the most well received entries in the franchise with A Link Between Worlds.

Fallout

@Wild_man_22: I always felt the animus was holding them back. They really DIDNT need it. We could've just played each game without the modern day crossover and they would've been the better for it.

The way I see it, AC1 to AC 2 were handled properly. AC3 should've come out 3 years after AC 2 (which I think it did actually), with Brotherhood and revelations being expansions instead of stand alone games.

If ubisoft would stop with the yearly games, we'd see much more innovation in the series and less bugs.

The perfect thing for ubisoft to do right now: wait 2 or 3 years for the next AC. Place it in Japan to build hype. Ignore any modern tie ins. Remove 95% of the viewpoints, making them much rarer. Instead, a focus should be placed on maps and having to actually visit places.

Mismanaged: Sonic

Maltreated: Fallout. Going from some of the greatest games ever made to Fallout 3. A game that completely ignores the established tone, lore and feel of the franchise.

Dishonorable mentions:

Guild Wars: Say what you will about Fallout and Bethesda. But Guild Wars 2 was created by people who hadnt even bothered playing the original. Which may explain why the game totally shat on its lore, gameplay and hell everything established by the first game. They would mismanage the game afterwards, releasing nothing substancial for over 3 years (which is a big no-no in the mmorpg industry). Only to later insult everyone's intelligence by announcing a bare bones expansion pack sold for 50 dollars with no new character slots despite adding a new class (new character slots for new classes is a standard). When the internet called them out on it, persecution complex hit the devs hard and they cried on social media.

X-COM: No. I am not ranting about XCOM. That franchise seems to be managed well now by the looks of things, with the developers at firaxis respecting both the franchise and its fans, listening to hte modding community and their discussions. The old X-COM franchise is what I am referring to. It began with quite frankly 2 excellent games and then a good game whose lack of polish failed to meet the games' massive potential. But afterwards, they started chasing trends, that none of the fans asked for. First they developed a space sim, then they developed a third person shooter which no one asked for.

I'm worried it might eventually be Halo one day.I don't have much faith in 343i since Halo 4/Halo:MCC.I heard inFamous is starting to take that type of turn,the last one did not get a great reception,from what I saw anyway but I could be wrong.But the clear answer to this question is:Sonic.

Resident Evil takes the crown for me. The series has slowly progressed from a gritty, tension-filled survival horror into just another action game with RE6. I enjoyed RE6 quite a bit but it's not RE. The franchise has lost it's identity.

The Wii U :3

Duke Nukem wasn't exactly mismanaged. Duke Nukem Forever was just vaporware for a long time. If that is the same thing as being mismanaged, then Valve is guilty of mismanaging the Half Life franchise.

Sonic on the other hand, I agree with you.

If that is the case, The Playstation Vita.

Anyway, this is not about systems about about games.

I'm still wondering how Nintendo let something like Metroid Other M happen.

Can't top Sonic in this thread. Resident Evil comes to mind. Their only "decent" RE since 4 was Revelations. Maybe R2 was alright, but Capcom can **** themselves with all the Microtransactions ect. BS.

Dragon Ball Z. The Budokai games kept getting better, then the series just fell on it's face, repeatedly. I guess they're selling well though, cause there are more every year.

I'm not sure if that's considered mismanaging. The Budokai games were great during the PS2 era. However, there's also a limit to how much you can go from there. The Budokai games haven't exactly gotten worse. We just started getting bored of it. The Dynasty Warriors franchise is another similar example. I don't think Koei has mismanaged the franchise. The problem is that Dynasty Warriors 8 is the same as Dynasty Warriors 3,4,5,6 & 7. Dynasty Warriors 8 hasn't gotten worse than say....4 or 5. We just got bored of it. But if making the same type of game is considered mismanaging, then what about FIFA, NFL, Madden and Call of Duty?

Franchises like Sonic is a different story altogether. None of the fans really asked for a 3D Sonic game. Sega just felt that going 3D was a natural progression. And after countless iterations of terrible 3D Sonic games, Sega still didn't get it. And they gave us more and more 3D games.

I thought it was some kind of RPG.

Of the last few years i would suggest Gran Turismo, from a game changing pioneer leader of the pack to a lowly shadow of its previous great self in a single generation.

The no information, no talking about or in fact anythin at all approach hasnt helped matters either, not to mention the seemingly losing his mind completely (moon buggy racing?!?!?) Kazunori Yamauchi apparently oblivious to the competition out there and the 'i'll release it whenever i feel like it' approach to the game is killing it in the market especially after the last 2 efforts on the PS3.

In my opinion PD/GT needs a new director that is atleast in touch with the real world and then maybe, just maybe, GT has a chance in the highly competitive racing game market.

@frank_castle: yup, absolutely Final Fantasy.

Resident Evil, since I care for that series. I'd say Sonic, but I hate that guy.

I'd say the Elder Scrolls. The games in that franchise should be really good. They have great lore, a good variety of races and classes, huge worlds, etc. There is no reason for Oblivion and Skyrim to be as terrible as they are.

Sonic. Both recently and in the past.

It lost it's identity a decade ago

RE 4 was a damn good game, but Resident Evil it was not.

Probably Sonic.

Gran turismo no doubt. It was so great and now. ..

Sonic, megaman, or bomberman. But Bomberman could just have outdated gameplay not sure.

Fable... burned to the ground.

The drop dead answer is Sonic.

But in recent years, probably Resident Evil.

Now that I'm putting more thought into this. I think a harder question would be: Which franchise has been managed well / successfully? Video games have been so bad lately. (RE, Silent Hill, Sonic, Metroid, Zelda... )

My biggest gripe would be on Resident Evil. Insane just how poorly that series has been managed. Feels almost like sabotage. At this point I don't even want them trying to fix it or - even worse - going with a reboot. Just let it die. Move on to something else and always be ashamed how badly you screwed up a sure thing.

Completely agree.

... which was a critical and commercial success? Yeah they sure screwed the pooch there. :roll:

Honestly 13 haters, I get it. You didn't like the game, and even if you actually finished it (most didn't if if they even bought it) you were disappointed seeing the name associated with other (very distinct) titles, that you also didn't play.

But FF as a series is almost 30 years old and has like 80 associated games including a popular choice for best MMO out today. Nothing you think about 13 has the effect on the series that drama queens want to pretend it does. Let it go.

@kinectthedots: Going by your logic, every Japanese dev has mismanaged their franchises because they prefer to release it on handhelds.

Back on topic, the Arkham series is approaching mismanagement status. Arkham Origins was rushed. Arkham Knight, I don't need to mention the debacle behind the PC port.

The Settlers, the first one was great, all the other sequels are garbage,