10 Famous Video Game Franchises That Haven't Made Anything Good In Years

7. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Originally this entry was only going to cover the Pro Skater sub-franchise of the Tony Hawk games, but the skating series' mistakes run far deeper than that.

Initially, every game with the Tony Hawk moniker Activision put out was an excuse to print money. The original run of four Pro Skater games perfected the style of arcade tricks and flips that defined the entire sub-genre, while the games managed to evolve with the times in the early 2000s with the Underground releases, and even the underrated Project 8 and Proving Ground.

It was once developers Neversoft were taken off the franchise that the rot started to set in. Activision moved their focus to peripheral-led spin-offs like Ride and Shred, and trying to play a game on a plastic skateboard in front of your TV was as finicky and frustrating as it sounds.

After a couple years on ice, the series received one more shot at redemption with Pro Skater 5, a back-to-basics sequel to a beloved sub-series, but the devs shat the bed on that one as well. Somehow, this was worse than the peripheral games, and proved that Activision had no interest in rejuvenating this once trailblazing series.