History FranchiseKiller / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/KunioKun'': The Western version of ''Renegade'' was a surprise hit in Britain, and ''Renegade'' became a {{spinoff}} series. The first two games were beloved by Platform/ZXSpectrum owners, but the third game -- with its bizarre TimeTravel plot, graphics that are monochrome even by the computer's low standards, and gobs of FakeDifficulty resulting from poor controls, missing moves, and strict time limits -- drew an end to the series (though, as it was titled ''Renegade III: The Final Chapter'', they were probably planning to end the series there anyway).

* The ''VideoGame/{{Mana|Series}}'' series got hit with this hard after the negative reception of ''VideoGame/DawnOfMana'' and ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMana'', which resulted in the series being stuck in limbo for nearly a decade (barring a few mobile ports of ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' and two spin-offs) and the departure of series creator Koichi Ishii from the company. This all changed in 2016 when the series was revived with a third remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'', followed by a remake of ''Secret of Mana'' in 2018, a CompilationRerelease for the Platform/NintendoSwitch and a high definition remake of ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' in 2020.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'': This nearly happened via ''VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand'': the game isn't ''bad'', per se, but was only available on the [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]] (with a franchise that has deep roots on the PC and Platform/PCEngine), has very bland, generic visuals that look like every other game of its era (which is worse in context since the setting is ''supposed'' to be exotic) and the music is all simple MIDI-synth (when ''Ys'' had become famous partly due to its powerful CD-supported Red Book-audio soundtracks). Fan backlash in Japan was intense to the point that developer Creator/{{Falcom}} took seven years before the next ''Ys'' [[VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim title]] was released. What prevented the death of the franchise was the good performance of {{Video Game Remake}}s for the first two games, which were already in development when ''Ys V'' came out and were put out to recoup development costs. Note that decades later, ''Ys V'' still has not been officially released outside of Japan.

* The first ''VideoGame/GravityRush'' was a WideOpenSandbox ActionRPG that began life as an intended KillerApp for the Platform/PlayStationVita, before later seeing an UpdatedRerelease on the far-more successful Platform/PlayStation4 when it became clear the handheld was doomed in the West. Both versions did well enough, but its [=PS4=]-only sequel, ''VideoGame/GravityRush2'', suffered poor sales due to it coming out in an unusually crowded first quarter of major releases alongside higher-profile games such as ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'', ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', and ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', all of which overshadowed it. While the developers had originally expressed plans to make a third installment for the Platform/PlayStation5, a triple-punch combination of Sony shutting down ''2'''s online servers only a year after release, creator Keiichiro Toyama leaving the company in 2020 to found his own studio, and Sony effectively shutting down developer Japan Studio just months later suggest that it is unlikely we'll see more gravity-manipulating adventures featuring Kat.

* The [=PS3=]/Xbox 360 ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' series took a sharp dive in quality when producer/director Tomonobu Itagaki departed from Team Ninja to form his own studio following the release of ''Ninja Gaiden II'', as evidenced by the negative reception to ''Ninja Gaiden III''. The ''NGIII'' re-release ''Razor's Edge'' would try to undo some of the damage, but it wasn't enough. The spin-off title ''VideoGame/YaibaNinjaGaidenZ'' flopped even harder, leaving Ryu Hayabusa and friends to continue their adventures in the SharedUniverse of ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' for the time being.

* After the first three games in the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series performed very well, ''VideoGame/BloodOmen2LegacyOfKain'' received lukewarm reviews, and to fans of the series its story and design aesthetic were a complete departure from the rest of the franchise. The series stumbled on to ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKainDefiance Defiance]]'', which got a bit better reception on both fronts, but it wasn't enough to save the series.

* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': The series hit quite the bump in the road with 2012's ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburV''. From a character standpoint, it removed over a dozen fan-favorite characters and [[ReplacementScrappy replaced less than half of them with less-popular ones]], who either received [[SpotlightStealingSquad too much attention]] (in the case of Sophitia's children) or [[FlatCharacter no development at all]] (Z.W.E.I., Viola, and especially Xiba being notable examples). The quality of the story also suffered greatly due to ExecutiveMeddling (reports state that ''three-quarters'' of the planned story had to be axed [[ChristmasRushed just to get the game out on time to capitalize on the end-of-January market]], with Project Soul's budget and staffing being cut by Namco mid-development), resulting in a pointless 17-year TimeSkip that was admitted to be arbitrary by the game's director Daishi Odashima. Additionally, a story riddled with IncestSubtext, {{Contrived Coincidence}}s, functional immortality for much of the cast, and the majority of the remaining cast's individual story arcs being LeftHanging with no true ending, combined with several gameplay modes and features removed from the last several games, [[ContestedSequel made this game divisive at best]], even for a fanbase that found the [[CharacterCustomization character creator]] (cosmetic-only, as opposed to affecting playstyles as was the case in ''SCIII'' and ''SCIV'') [[JustHereForGodzilla to be a redeeming factor]]. ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburVI'', released in October of 2018, [[AuthorsSavingThrow was an attempt]] to WinBackTheCrowd and, [[https://www.dualshockers.com/soulcalibur-6-could-be-last/ according to producer Motohiro Okubo,]] Project Soul's last shot due to the damage incurred from ''V''[='s=] controversial reputation; if ''VI'' didn't succeed, then the whole franchise would vanish, thereby cementing ''V'' as the FranchiseKiller. Fortunately, it seems to be doing rather well so far, having a very solid launch [[note]]the game sold over 400,000 units its first week and had surpassed the 1 million mark in roughly a month's time; compare this to ''V'' taking over three years to scrape by 1.3 million units solid[[/note]], being one of the highest-rated fighters of its generation (an 84 on Metacritic), and getting enough acclaim and attention to be included as part of the [[UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity EVO 2019]] lineup.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}'' was a fairly decent hack-and-slash arcade-style adventure series, until ''Seven Sorrows'' came along. Developed by Midway's San Diego studio after the former Atari Games had been closed down, it is an ObviousBeta, with a lot of old standby techniques gone (like not being able to shoot potions), and none of the "new features" touted for the game anywhere. Any plans for the franchise after that were effectively shelved until Warner Bros. rebooted the series on PC and Platform/PlayStation4 a decade later, and while it scored better than their ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' reboot (see below), player and critical reaction was mixed.

* ''VideoGame/SpyHunter: Nowhere to Run'' was intended to be a tie-in to a cancelled movie. Needless to say, the game flopped belly up, and an attempt by Creator/WarnerBros and [[Creator/TravellersTales TT Fusion]] to reboot the series in 2013 with a [[MilestoneCelebration 30th anniversary]] game did even worse and killed the series off completely. At least [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=VVPFi1ikbeQ the theme song]] was awesome.

* The poor critical reception of ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark2008'' killed off the ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark'' series for several years, as even a rerelease on Platform/PlayStation3 to fix some of the bugs from the Platform/Xbox360 version couldn't save it. It's even worse when you consider that even though the game developers delayed the release of the game for three years to try to stave off the bad publicity generated by Creator/UweBoll's failed [[Film/AloneInTheDark2005 film adaptation]], [[RetCanon some elements from the film still made it into the new game]]. Things got even worse with 2015's ''Alone in the Dark: Illumination'', which by comparison made the 2008 game look like ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'', which released ''the very same year''. It was mercilessly panned by critics, with some calling it one of the worst games of all time, and one that could definitely be said to have murdered the troubled franchise once and for all, to the point that the franchise was later bought by Creator/THQNordic from Atari. They finally announced a new entry, [[VideoGame/AloneInTheDark2023 a full reboot of the original game]], in 2022.

* ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' was never the most well-known of Nintendo's series, with the first game [[NoExportForYou not seeing release outside of Japan]], but still sold modestly well, until 2015's ''Megamix'' suffered from the one-two punch of being inexplicably digital-only in North America despite physical editions being released in Europe and Japan, and being released at the time that {{Rhythm Game}}s as a whole were starting to decline in Western popularity. Outside of a couple of CompanyCrossReferences in the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series by the same developers, ''Rhythm Heaven'' has remained silent for the time being, despite producer Tsunku♂ expressing interest in a potential installment for the Platform/NintendoSwitch.

* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': With the franchise already in trouble due to the ChristmasRushed ''VideoGame/SpyroEnterTheDragonfly'', the poor sales and mediocre reviews of ''VideoGame/SpyroAHerosTail'', combined with the similarly-average reception for ''VideoGame/SpyroShadowLegacy'' (the franchise's debut on the then-new Platform/NintendoDS), killed the original series. Following the consolidation of Universal Interactive to Sierra Interactive by Vivendi, Sierra launched a ContinuityReboot series titled ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro''. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'', the third game, failed to meet Sierra's sales expectations; this, along with the Creator/ActivisionBlizzard merger that year and Sierra's eventual shutdown the following month, killed off for good what remained of the main series. Creator/{{Universal}} canceled a proposed ''Spyro'' film adaptation following the failure of ''Dawn of the Dragon'', and Activision used the franchise as a jumping point to help launch the (otherwise unrelated) ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' series (which eventually ran into this itself). Eventually, following the success of the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'', Activision decided to follow suit with Spyro's original games with the ''VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy'', to very good reception, though unlike Crash which did receive [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime at least one sequel following the N Sane Trilogy]], nothing has been heard of from Spyro in similar regards since and with Toys for Bob being shuttered after the Activision/Microsoft merger, it's unknown if we'll see a proper mainline Spyro any time soon.

* ''VideoGame/FZero'' met this fate in its nearly-20 year SeriesHiatus, though weirdly, it wasn't any of the games' fault; rather, it was partly due to ''Anime/FZeroGPLegend'', TheAnimeOfTheGame. Nintendo was eager to turn ''F-Zero'' into one of their big franchises and bankrolled an animated series, presumably intending to replicate the success of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa''. Unfortunately, the show ended up being a complete ratings flop; particularly in North America, where Creator/FourKidsEntertainment only dubbed the [[UnfinishedDub first 15 episodes (out of 51)]] before washing their hands of it. The two tie-in Game Boy Advance games also did extremely poorly; while neither were bad games in the slightest, ''VideoGame/FZeroGPLegend'' saw low sales in both Japan and America (becoming the worst-selling first-party GBA release in America), and the NoExportForYou ''VideoGame/FZeroClimax'' only sold a minuscule '''5,000 copies''' in Japan in its opening week before falling off the charts. Because of this dismal streak of bad luck, lead character Captain Falcon would become more associated with ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' than anything else, and while games like ''VideoGame/NintendoLand'' and the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series paid tribute to its courses and music, interviews with Nintendo staff like Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto were clear about the lack of internal interest in making a new installment. It would take until 2023, '''''nineteen years'''''' after ''Climax'', before a new ''F-Zero'' game would release in the form of ''VideoGame/FZero99'', a racing-style BattleRoyaleGame for the Nintendo Switch, which has fans hopeful for a revival, but at the same time worried about the future of the franchise.

* ''VideoGame/FZero'': Though it was partly due to [[Anime/FZeroGPLegend the anime]]. Nintendo was eager to turn ''F-Zero'' into one of their big franchises and bankrolled an animated series, presumably intending to replicate the success of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa''. Unfortunately, the show ended up being a ratings flop; particularly in North America, where Creator/FourKidsEntertainment only dubbed the [[UnfinishedDub first 15 episodes (out of 51)]] before washing their hands of it. The two tie-in Game Boy Advance games also did extremely poorly; ''VideoGame/FZeroGPLegend'' saw low sales in both Japan and America (becoming the worst-selling first-party GBA release in America), and the NoExportForYou ''VideoGame/FZeroClimax'' only sold a minuscule '''5,000 copies''' in Japan in its opening week before falling off the charts. In the years afterward, lead character Captain Falcon would become more associated with ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' than anything else, and while games like ''VideoGame/NintendoLand'' and the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series paid tribute to its courses and music, interviews with Nintendo staff like Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto were clear about the lack of internal interest in making a new installment. It would take until 2023, nineteen years after ''Climax'', before a new ''F-Zero'' game would release in the form of ''VideoGame/FZero99'', a racing-style BattleRoyaleGame for the Nintendo Switch.