10 Video Game Franchises That Need To Die

With increasing evidence of diminishing popularity, the boom period of World Of Warcraft is certainly over. Following the rise of the intensely fast eSports scene, Blizzard struck gold with Overwatch. But the success of that game is the final nail in the coffin of their former flagship franchise.

Overwatch is everything that World Of Warcraft isn't. It's fast, punchy, character-driven. It never needed a complicated backstory, just a handful of characters to bond with. World Of Warcraft requires time, and there are far more compelling games for players to spend that time on.

The dwindling popularity is best seen in the loss of the player base. In November 2014, about 12 million individual subscribers had a World Of Warcraft account. By September of the following year, it had fallen to less than half that number.

The simple fact of the matter is that in today's gaming environment, World Of Warcraft no longer belongs. The MMORPG genre has been dying off for years, it just took longer to really hit the biggest kid in the playground.

With its attention now firmly focussed on Overwatch, Blizzard seems likely to let World Of Warcraft whither away. Killing it now might cut off a huge amount of income to the company, but it will have to happen at some point.