6 Beloved Video Game Franchises That Died In 2017

3. Titanfall

Three words: "Bought by EA".

Yes, Titanfall was always published by EA, but until last year, Respawn remained an independent developer - something that was obliterated when EA purchased them entirely for $400 million.

And do you know what happens to literally every studio EA buys? They die. They die, after having been bled dry by their corporate overlords.

It happened to Bullfrog, Pandemic, Maxis, Dreamworks, Blackbox - it even happened to Visceral back in October.

EA have a godawful track record with this sort of thing, and as we saw across 2017 with Need for Speed, Battlefront 2, UFC and Mass Effect, microtransactions/blind boxes will be prioritised, and quality will go right down the sh*tter.

Titanfall 3 is still coming, but the soul and spirit that was present in those first two games? That is long gone.