10 Great Video Game Sequels That STILL Killed Their Franchises

We're all doomed if a game as good as Max Payne 3 can kill a franchise.

By Josh Brown /

Despite how much publishers love the idea of franchises, it can sometimes take a lot to justify continuation. Because while the likes of FIFA and Battlefield don't have to worry about their future if they release a dud or two, most games are forced to hit ridiculously high bars both commercially and critically if they want to guarantee a sequel.

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In fact, history is riddled with franchises that have been stopped dead in their tracks because of one disastrous misstep. In 2017, Mass Effect was thrown to the dogs because Andromeda didn't do as well as EA would have liked - and that game was far from a total disaster both in terms of sales and critical response.

With that said, while it can be disappointing when franchises are canned because of a bad game, it's even worse when they're put down despite the developers releasing a great game. Publishers demand such a huge margin of success for their titles that it means anything that doesn't rake in hundreds of millions of dollars is considered a total failure.

It isn't exactly fair, and these great titles didn't deserve to be the death knell of their respective works.

10. DmC: Devil May Cry

DmC was doomed long before anyone ever got a chance to play it. Written off as an insulting addition to the franchise just because the main character received an emo makeover, fans of the series didn't give the game the time of day when it hit shelves.

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Which was a huge shame, because DmC was a brilliant continuation of the hack-and-slash franchise's core philosophies. Featuring the same over-the-top action as the previous games, the reboot didn't put a foot wrong from a gameplay perspective, but still suffered because it had the gall to change Devil May Cry's signature visual design.

All because fans weren't ready to give the game a chance, DmC underperformed commercially despite scoring pretty highly with critics. Acting as a false start for the franchise's new direction, the Devil May Cry brand has been dead ever since, and this new version of Dante probably won't be brought back if the series ever returns.

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