10 Video Game Reboots That Saved Dying Franchises

1. God Of War

God of War was one of the franchises that defined a good decade of the Playstation brand. With the first two sequels giving the PS2 a killer app, offering some of the biggest spectacles you could find on any platform, the hack-and-slasher became an instant global success.

Each game got bigger and bigger, and by the third release the bloodthirsty Kratos literally killed Greek mythology itself. He also became a pop culture icon and, more importantly, an easy target for critics of video game violence. While a lot of the fear-mongering was unfounded, there was something to be said about Kratos as a character. He was defined purely by his rage, one-dimensional in a way that made evolution impossible.

The gameplay itself, while never bad, started with the bar set so high that subsequent sequels felt like diminishing returns. By the time 3's follow up, spin-off Ascension, came out, everyone was wondering whether Sony should retire the franchise. It had become a series of checklists being ticked off, and the scale had grown unwieldy.

The company recognised this, and put the series on ice for a few years. It would take the director of the second game, Cory Barlog, to persuade Sony that Kratos could be developed into a three-dimensional construct and continue to carry the franchise before another game was greenlit.

Of course, he was right to do so, as God of War 2018 not only saved the series, but set a new bar for Sony's exclusives as a whole.