Five Gaming Franchises That Are Dead and Buried

Video game studios are quite similar to movie studios in the sense that they never shy away from creating franchises, hoping to make prequels, sequels and whatnot. More often than not, if a game sells well, you can expect its sequel to drop within a few years. For instance, Batman: Arkham Asylum got rave reviews after it was released, which gave the studio the idea to create Arkham City and Arkham Knight, completing a trilogy of Batman games.

Sure, there are plenty of standalone titles that performed well too, but in most cases, studios are eyeing long running franchises. It’s a win-win for everyone, as successful franchises make money for studios while people get to immerse themselves in their favorite video games. With that said, however, some franchises simply don’t find their footing and fall flat on their face for one reason or another. In this piece, we will talk about some franchises that couldn’t make it and are now dead and buried.

Crimson Skies

One of the biggest things that prevents people from giving Xbox a shot is the lack of exclusive gaming titles. Sony has been doing pretty well with its console exclusive games and it is time that Microsoft does the same, especially when it has no shortage of IPs with Crimson Skies being one of them. This franchise has a big enough fan base that wants to explore more of Crimson Skies’ world. Unfortunately, Xbox ended this franchise soon after releasing the sequel to Crimson Skies, titled “High Road to Revenge.”

The game’s look, gameplay mechanics and characters were quite unique a big reason why loads of people want a remake of the original games or a continuation from the sequel. Unfortunately, however, this franchise is dead and buried and there haven’t been any rumblings to suggest a revival.

Banjo Kazooie

Many gamers believe that Banjo Kazooie can be as good as the Mario franchise, if not better. Unfortunately, while Microsoft owns this IP, it does not show any intentions of doing anything with it. Sure, Nuts and Bolts, which was this franchise’s last entry didn’t perform well but it doesn’t mean that people had enough of Banjo Kazooie. A big reason why Xbox didn’t get more Banjo Kazooie games is that with Nuts and Bolts, the studio created a completely different game and most fans didn’t like it.

If the creators stuck to the tried and tested formula and made slight upgrades, the franchise could still be running strong, battling it out against games like Sonic and Mario.

Jade Empire

BioWare’s Jade Empire was a beloved franchise in the gaming sphere that just vanished one day. This cult hit could have been more successful with better marketing but unfortunately, studio executives didn’t seem to have much faith in it. The world of Jade Empire is rich with original and fictional lore that could be further explored if the franchise was brought back to life. Sadly, however, this RPG remains dead and buried with no hopes for a revival.

Deus Ex

Duex Ex Mankind Divided and Human Revolution were some of Square Enix’s most famous games. The game play mechanics and science fiction elements were incredible for their time and many argue that they still hold up. Gamers were certain that Square Enix would release more Deus Ex games after releasing its sequel but that didn’t happen. For now, the only way to enjoy this dystopian sci-fi game’s story is to revisit the older games as there are no signs of this franchise coming back any time soon.

Final Thoughts

The gaming industry can be incredibly unforgiving and cutthroat, leaving behind tons of dead franchises that showed potential. Here’s hoping that we see the return of some fan favorite franchises from the dead and they prove all the critics wrong.