10 Risky Sequels That Saved Dying Video Game Franchises

9. Fallout 3

While Fallout fans can be split down the middle, divided into those who prefer the isometric, tabletop RPG-orientated earlier games, and those who embraced Bethesda's more streamlined, first-person shooter revival, there's no denying that the post-apocalyptic series was six feet under before the latter studio took the reigns.

After a couple unsuccessful attempts to break the mainstream, the original developers went out of business after two genre-defining games, leaving the IP to languish for years, and a cancelled version of Fallout 3 destined to go down as one of the biggest "what ifs?" in gaming history.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on what you think of Fallout 4 and 76), Bethesda picked up the franchise, and while it kept the iconography and broad story, completely refitted the game to fit into its Elder Scrolls mould. It resulted in one of the highest-rated RPGs of all time, and one of the best spin-offs of all time in Obsidian's New Vegas.

They might have driven that momentum into the ground a little recently, but for those few years, Fallout was bigger than it had ever been.