10 Ways The Video Game Industry Takes Advantage Of Its Biggest Fans

6. Releasing Games Annually To Cash In As Fast As Possible

Don€™t get me wrong, some franchises work quite well as annual releases; sports games for the most part, and 2K€™s WWE games... kinda. However, when it comes to more narrative driven titles like Assassin€™s Creed, there really is no excuse; nor is there any wiggle room when it comes to multiplayer-focused games like Call of Duty, which are never given enough time to adequately evolve their mechanics or drastically improve upon the overall experience.

Make no mistake, annually released games exist for one purpose, and one purpose alone: to capitalise on fan investment in a given series, and to milk them for all their worth.

It€™s also an incredibly difficult practice to keep up; following the latest Assassin€™s Creed, Ubisoft have had to announce that there will be no follow up in 2016, partly due to franchise exhaustion and partly due to the difficulty of keeping up with such an intense and unpractical release schedule.

Contributor
Contributor

Formerly an assistant editor, Richard's interests include detective fiction and Japanese horror movies.