I have been looking around for a new videogame and I was checking the best sellers list on Gamestop.com. The information listed that the top five selling games are:
- Gran Tourismo 4
- NBA Street Vol. 3
- Xenosaga: Episode 2
- Star Fox: Assault
- World of Warcraft
Every single game listed is part of a game “franchise” or a direct sequel to another game. I know that many games within a certain franchise can be excellent, but I find it really interesting that most games coming out now are all just building upon previous game universes. I think that one of the biggest problems with the game industry is that gamers tend to hold loyalty to a franchise instead of a certain development house.
The question is; why are gamers drawn to sequel or “franchise” titles? Well I think I first need to explain what I mean by a sequel title and a franchise title. Usually sequels just take the gameplay from the original and then improve and add features. Take Halo and Halo 2 for example. Halo 2 took the exact same gameplay of Halo 1 and just added in new features like new weapons, storyline, vehicles, playable characters, and multiplayer capabilities (Xbox Live). I think that these “sequels” can be classified more as an upgrade and an expansion pack than a totally new game. There is nothing really groundbreaking about Halo 2, but Halo was possibly the most groundbreaking console title ever. The reason why Halo 2 was so successful is that the brilliant people over at Bungie added in all the features gamers wanted, the most obvious was Live support.
Developers love to do sequels because if the first game was a bestseller you know that you gave the people what they wanted. You have already found the fun factor, now if you just expand the experience with a few new features and a new story line you can essentially sell an upgrade for full retail price. All the hard work is done when the original game is released. Also gamers tend to trust sequels; we believe that because the first game was awesome the next one will be better.
Franchises are usually any game universe that has multiple games. A good example could be Super Mario . There are dozens of games out featuring the characters and story of Mario. There are adventure games, tennis games, racing games, and party games. These games are not considered sequels to the original Mario games because the gameplay is changed greatly.
When you look at long running game “franchises,” like Super Mario or Star Fox , you see that most gamers that are fans of the franchise will buy anything from that franchise. The best example of this phenomenon is the Dead or Alive franchise. Dead or Alive started out as a fighting game (a very good one too) but then turned into Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball . Many people bought this game because it was under the Dead or Alive Franchise. I think that gamers as a whole should start to shy away from Franchise loyalty and start showing developer loyalty.
I know that I am loyal to only a few good developers that have created great games. When a developer does not do the sequel I am hesitant about playing it. A good example is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic . The original was developed by Bioware while the sequel was developed by Obsidian Entertainment . The first game is considerably more polished although both games are well done. I hope that more gamers start to realize that the true “brand name” of a videogame is the developer, not the producer or franchise.
-Seth (8-Mar-2005)
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