10 Fatal Video Games That Killed Popular Franchises

There are many rumours surrounding the popular, short-lived franchise, Shenmue. For one thing, the budget was said to be anywhere between $50 and $70 million, which would have been an industry record at the time of its release. The second instalment in the series was particularly costly, and was ultimately blamed for the death of the franchise. In fact, it’s been estimated that the game was so expensive to produce that for it to break even, every Dreamcast owner would had to have bought two copies of the game.

Worse still, Shenmue 2 was one of the principle factors behind SEGA’s decision to transition from a first-party into a third-party developer. The Dreamcast was a huge commercial failure, and Shenmue 2 cost a ridiculous amount to produce. In the end, SEGA were spending more money than they actually had on an underperforming game, for a system that relatively few people owned. The result: SEGA stopped making games consoles, and was soon purchased in its entirely by Sammy Corp, who remodelled the company considerably, and for the worse.

In the end, Shenmue 2 drastically altered the videogame landscape, making one of the most important games in the history of the medium. Currently, a planned sequel is in the works, but considering the franchise’s long, disappointing history, who’s to say it’ll be a success?

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Let us know in the comments which other games completely tanked their respective franchises? Let us know in the comments!