System Wars, there are a whole lot of franchises out there that are old, and have a lot of baggage behind them; franchises with history and heritage, that still survive, and yet arguably are struggling to even stay relevant. I believe that a franchise can be fully reinvigorated if a new development team, with fresh ideas and a new perspective, comes in and attempts to develop a new game in a struggling franchise. Of course, I believe that the core essence of the franchise still needs to be maintained at all costs, and that thus the new developer has a grave responsibility of maintaining the franchise's legacy, but also reinventing it and making it relevant again. It's a fine line to walk.
With all of that out of the way, these are the franchises I think should change developers, at least for the time being, and these are the developers I think they should go to:
The Legend of Zelda:I love Zelda, but the series is growing stale. It peaked on the N64, and since then it has been in a mad race with itself to recreate the glory of those days, even as its developers and custodians continue to completely miss the point of what made Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so great in the first place. i respect Aonuma for what he has done, but after having wasted nearly 100 hours of my life on Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, I think he needs to step back from the franchise.I think either Monolith Soft or Retro Studios should develop the next Zelda game.
Final Fantasy:Another classic franchise that has completely lost its way, Final Fantasy's fall from grace is perhaps symbolic of the decline of its genre as a whole. Final Fantasy hit its peak in the Playstation era, and Square Enix, in an admirable attempt to keep things fresh, has continued experimenting with the games, until now, they are borderline unplayable, stuffed to the brim with tropes, and reduced to parodies of their former selves. Square needs to stop developing Final Fantasy and perhaps pursue something new. Meanwhile,I think Final Fantasy should be handed off to Level 5, since they are perhaps among the only developers that aren't owned by Nintendo who can make a competent JRPG anymore.
Fallout:Fallout 3 was widely acclaimed, but it was equally widely reviled by the fans; Fallout New Vegas, the follow up developed by Obsidian, is often held to be the true successor to the classic Fallout games, and general consensus holds that Obsidian 'gets' Fallout better than Bethesda. Therefore, I believeObsidian should be handed Fallout.
Resident Evil:Resident Evil's rapid decline was saddening to watch, as we saw the franchise completely lose sight of what it had been, and lose its hold on being a compelling horror game, to become in turn an incompetent action game. Honestly, I do not know how Capcom screwed up so royally, but they did.I think Platinum Games should be given Resident Evil,as I am confident that they can craft a great game that stays true to the roots of the series.
Prince of Persia:Whereas I loved Ubisoft's take on the classic franchise, adn I honestly don't think there has been a single Ubisoft developer or published Prince of Persia title that I did not enjoy, I still believe the franchise could benefit from a change in developers that would endow it with a sense of freshness again. To this end, I believePrince of Persia should be tackled by Naughty Dog;I would love to see what their motion capture techniques could do to the franchise.
What franchises do you think need or would benefit from a change of developers?
RulerofGondor
I disagree with you Final Fantasy. All they need to do is have Nomura and his team take full control of it.
Log in to comment