How To Save A Dying Video Game Franchise

Alternatively, developers can decide to get a little more brave and creative, and actually take strides to thoroughly reinvent the series as something very different.

There's perhaps no more impressive example of this in recent years than Resident Evil 7, which both shifted the gameplay style from third-person to first-person, and also switched the tone back from shooter to survival horror. That's without even getting into the inspired addition of VR support.

Elsewhere, Metroid Prime brought the series back from an eight-year hiatus - due to Super Metroid's mediocre sales - and restored the franchise's good name with a slick change-up from 2D side-scroller to 3D FPS.

Then there's Hitman 2016, which reinvented the series with a more sandbox-focused approach and also an acclaimed episodic release model.

These risky moves don't always work, admittedly - as with Driv3r's risible attempt to add on-foot gunplay to the series - but when they do, they can lend a sputtering-out franchise a whole new lease on life.

But in slightly less-drastic terms, developers can instead focus their attention on giving their hero a much-needed facelift...