10 Reasons Behind Why Your Favourite Video Game Franchises Died

6. Activision Sidelined Crash Bandicoot In His Own Game

Crash Bandicoot Mind Over Mutant
Radical Entertainment

After Crash Bandicoot's first PS2 effort, The Wrath of Context, failed to recapture the magic of Naughty Dog's original trilogy, Activision made an attempt to modernise the PlayStation mascot with an entirely new look.

After re-branding the character, the series introduced the Titans, large tank-like creatures that Crash could control in the game's biggest set-pieces. While a neat idea on paper, after a few releases that put more and more focus on this aspect it got to the point where Crash felt like a side character in his own game, as you spent most of your time controlling anyone else but him.

Unfortunately the final effort from Activision, Mind Over Mutant, continued with this new version of the series that resembled its predecessors in name only, being met with abysmal sales in the process.

Putting the franchise on hiatus, the studio gambled their hopes on a reboot of fan-favourite Crash Team Racing, a game which was canned before it even got to the prototype stage. The Bandicoot's days were well and truly over.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.