10 Exact Moments That Killed Video Game Franchises

4. "Miss Me?" - Batman: Arkham Knight

Remember the end of Arkham City? The absolute STONES on Rocksteady deciding to kill Joker in canon, and have Batman walk his corpse out amongst various police officers, as the credits rolled.

It was seismic, legendary, bold, experimental, and everything that gave you hope for Rocksteady as a creative force.

For the years that followed, they'd only reinforce what went down.

"Joker is definitely dead" they'd say, focusing the spotlight on the Arkham Knight, an "entirely new character created for the game".

Come launch, and not only did the Arkham Knight calling Bruce Wayne "old man" heavily imply from the get-go it was Jason Todd all along, but then Joker pops up half an hour later, forcing himself into the rest of the game.

I say "forcing", because the reality of Joker's role in Arkham Knight is the polar opposite of being "dead all along".

He's practically another main character, popping up in Bruce's psyche at every turn - even injecting himself into ventilation shafts and the edge of buildings, so you're never without a random quip or cackle from Mark Hamill.

It goes without saying that Hamill's Joker is iconic and loveable, but we'd made peace with his passing. We wanted something new.

For Rocksteady to undo so much goodwill and forward momentum to play it as safe as possible was notably jarring, and as the franchise has since disappeared for almost half a decade, a clear indication they were getting tired of the Bat-mythos overall.