How To Save A Dying Video Game Franchise

Sometimes it's a simple fact that players are tired of a franchise - of its aesthetic, of its gameplay, of basically everything about it. Maybe the franchise over-saturated itself with an excess of titles, or perhaps it simply failed to move with the times.

There are worse things than for franchises to take an "extended hiatus" and actually sit a generation out, allowing fans to actually miss them and crave their return.

Take Streets of Rage, which went into hibernation in 1994 after the release of the third game, and due to numerous stalled attempts to get a fourth game made, Streets of Rage 4 wasn't finally released until earlier this year - to strong acclaim, even.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash 4 both succeeded on the virtue of fans having long missed the series, no matter its considerable downturn over the years, yet without such a huge gulf of time, these projects could've struggled in the market.

Waiting for a generation (or two) to pass is typically a smart idea, because it affords developers the opportunity to truly wow fans with a shiny new game that takes full advantage of modern platform tech.

But again, it doesn't always work - Guitar Hero Live and Rock Bond 4 both attempted to revitalise the rhythm game in 2015 to little success, despite sitting out around five years a-piece.

And though it's vitally important for publishers to consider all of these pointers before attempting to rejuvenate a dying franchise, there is one more fact to consider - a fact they absolutely won't want to hear...