History FranchiseKiller / VideoGames

* ''Trauma Team'' is a rare case of a FranchiseKiller not being a bad game in the slightest, as the game received decent-to-good reviews upon launch in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii. Unfortunately, it sold horribly, badly enough that there was no game released for the ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' series ''since 2010'', effectively ensuring the series is on ice as of the time of this writing. Interestingly, it may be also a factor of Creator/{{Atlus}} losing interest in the series, as there were originally plans to make ''Trauma Team'' into a televised MedicalDrama that were sadly never realized, continuing the series in its state of limbo.

* ''VideoGame/CorpseParty: Blood Drive'' ''[[DamnedByFaintPraise technically]]'' [[DamnedByFaintPraise didn't kill the franchise]], but the fallout of that game was bad enough to have left the series in such a state of stagnation that it might as well have been. Billed as the GrandFinale to the Heavenly Host saga fresh after the {{Anthology}} VisualNovel ''Book of Shadows'', ''Blood Drive'' was utterly trashed critically and commercially, retroactively ruining the first game for many with the amount of [[FanDislikedExplanation Fan-Disliked Explanations]] that paint the game in a worse light in hindsight. While the original, ''much'' more highly-regarded ''Corpse Party'' and even the [[ContestedSequel divisive, but still liked]] ''Book of Shadows'' still has its fandoms, the backlash to ''Blood Drive'' saw any potentially new installments to the franchise be driven to a screeching halt for the foreseeable future. The original ''Corpse Party'' may still get ports to this day, but there hasn't been a new entry to the ''Corpse Party'' franchise that wasn't a milking of the first game in almost '''ten years'''; with the first chapter of ''VideoGame/CorpseParty2DeadPatient'' being released in 2013 and only seeing one polished-up port of the first chapter since then. As a result, it's not unreasonable to suggest the series would qualify as a FranchiseZombie hadn't the ports of the first game become literally the ''only'' thing still keeping the series relevant and alive.

* The critical and commercial failure of ''VideoGame/BombermanActZero'' soured many people on the ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'' franchise. While there would further releases over the next four years that scored lukewarm reception, ''Act:Zero'' was the last retail release the series saw before going dormant internationally after ''Bomberman Dojo''. The series would not leave Japan until six years later with the retail release of ''VideoGame/SuperBombermanR'' in 2017.

* The critical and commercial failure of ''VideoGame/BombermanActZero'' soured many people on the ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'' franchise. While there would further releases over the next four years that scored lukewarm reception, ''Act:Zero'' was the last retail release the series saw before going dormant internationally after ''Bomberman Dojo''. The series would not leave Japan until six years later with the retail release of ''Super Bomberman R'' in 2017.

* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'': Going through one of the most infamous examples of Development Hell in entertainment history, ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' essentially killed the entire franchise, taking all of 3D Realms' money and [[CreatorKiller several people's own careers]] down with it (most notably was series creator, George Broussard). While the company had plans to clean up the mess after the game, they seemed to have forgotten that they sold the rights to Duke's very own IP to Creator/GearboxSoftware. What resulted was a series of ongoing legal battles with 3D Realms ultimately losing their grip on the whole thing, and since then Duke hasn't had a proper new advancement aside from DLC in ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'', the UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' named ''20th Anniversary World Tour'' and a Duke Nukem-themed virtual pinball table for ''Pinball M'', painting a bleak-looking future for the franchise.

* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey2ThePowerOfTwo'' is this for the ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' series, since its failure [[CreatorKiller wiped out Junction Point]] entirely. A big reason is the fact that critics complained that ''Epic Mickey 2'' failed to fix any of the problems of its predecessor and added new issues on top of it. In 2024, a third ''Epic Mickey'' installment was finally announced, confirming the series' return.

* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey2ThePowerOfTwo'' is this for the ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' series, since its failure [[CreatorKiller wiped out Junction Point]] entirely. A big reason is the fact that critics complained that ''Epic Mickey 2'' failed to fix any of the problems of its predecessor and added new issues on top of it.

* ''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.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe: Beast Rider'' is a failed attempt to translate the gameplay of the classic side-scrolling beat-em-up series to 3D, and did enough lasting damage to put an end to any further games in the franchise until the announcement of a revival in 2023.

* 2007's ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongBarrelBlast'', while [[BrokenBase not without its fans]], was generally ill-received and ended the line of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' spin-offs that had persisted throughout the 2000s decade following Creator/{{Rare}}'s departure. Funnily enough, most fans ''don't'' see this as a bad thing; this era of the series was widely considered to be [[AudienceAlienatingEra alienating for them]], and fans were happy that Nintendo took it as a sign to return to the popular ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' sub-series after a 10-year hiatus, with Creator/RetroStudios' ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' releasing in 2010.

* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'': Going through one of the most infamous examples of Development Hell in entertainment history, ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' essentially killed the entire franchise, taking all of 3D Realms' money and [[CreatorKiller several people's own careers]] down with it (most notably was series creator, George Broussard). While the company had plans to clean up the mess after the game, they seemed to have forgotten that they sold the rights to Duke's very own IP to Creator/GearboxSoftware. What resulted was a series of ongoing legal battles with 3D Realms ultimately losing their grip on the whole thing, and since then Duke hasn't had a proper new advancement aside from DLC in ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'' and the UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', ''20th Anniversary World Tour''... which ultimately ended up selling poorly and wasn't anywhere near as loved as the ''Megaton Edition'' of the game that was pulled from storefront shelves prior to release, painting a very bleak and unlikely future for the series.

* Despite moderate success, the ''[[VideoGame/{{Bonk}} Bonk series']]'' downfall was not from commerical or critical failure, but from unforseen circumstances for the franchise's studio, Pi Studios. The latest unreleased game of the franchise, ''Brink of Extinction,'' was meant to be a [[{{Revival}} series revival]] for the franchise in MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames, but was cancelled due to the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami and Konami fully buying the rights of the studio's parent company, Hudson. The cancellation lead to the extinction of hopes for a new entry in the franchise after ''Bonk's Return'' in 2006.

* While ''Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller'' got decent reviews (and even then, they aren't as positive as the highly-acclaimed first two games), it sold poorly. Other than a few ports of the first game on modern systems, another ''VideoGame/CrazyTaxi'' game was not seen until the free-to-play ''City Rush'' was released more than ten years later.
* ''VideoGame/{{Cruisn}}'': Following Midway's departure from the arcade business, the series didn't have much of a future after the release of ''Cruis'n Exotica'', the third and then-final ''Cruis'n'' game made for arcades and ported to the Platform/Nintendo64. Midway nonetheless made attempts to continue the series specifically for game consoles to no success. The first attempt, ''Cruis'n Velocity'' on the GBA, was hardly known and even less remembered. The second attempt several years later, ''Cruis'n'' for the Platform/{{Wii}}, became widely recognized as one of the most wretched games released for the platform, and for good reason--it was a [[DolledUpInstallment dolled-up]] PortingDisaster of Midway's ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' arcade game, [[SerialNumbersFiledOff with all references to the film within the game scrubbed out]]. ''Cruis'n'' Wii was met with critical drubbing and abysmal sales, and escorted the series into hibernation. It would take [[CreatorKiller Midway's bankruptcy]], [[ChannelHop the license to the series reverting to series owner Nintendo]], and ''nine years'' for the series to resurface in ''any'' format with 2017's ''Cruis'n Blast'', a new arcade game licensed out to developer Raw Thrills (who produced the aforementioned ''Fast and Furious'' arcade game).

* ''VideoGame/{{Cruisn}}'': Following Midway's departure from the arcade business, the series didn't have much of a future after the release of ''Cruis'n Exotica'', the third and then-final ''Cruis'n'' game made for arcades and ported to the Platform/Nintendo64. Midway nonetheless made attempts to continue the series specifically for game consoles to no success. The first attempt, ''Cruis'n Velocity'' on the GBA, was hardly known and even less remembered. The second attempt several years later, ''Cruis'n'' for the Platform/{{Wii}}, became widely recognized as one of the most wretched games released for the platform, and for good reason--it was a [[DolledUpInstallment dolled-up]] PortingDisaster of Midway's ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' arcade game, [[SerialNumbersFiledOff with all references to the film within the game scrubbed out]]. ''Cruis'n'' Wii was met with critical drubbing and abysmal sales[[note]]This can actually be attributed to manufacturing problems that happened at the time of the game's release, though the negative reviews couldn't have helped at all either[[/note]], and escorted the series into hibernation. It would take [[CreatorKiller Midway's bankruptcy]], [[ChannelHop the license to the series reverting to series owner Nintendo]], and ''nine years'' for the series to resurface in ''any'' format with 2017's ''Cruis'n Blast'', a new arcade game licensed out to developer Raw Thrills (who produced the aforementioned ''Fast and Furious'' arcade game).

* The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series kicked off strong with ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' and its follow-up ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' -- both games received universal praise and were commercially successful, and both games are considered groundbreaking, ahead of their time and genre-defining to this day. Compounding financial troubles shuttered developer Looking Glass Studios but that didn't stop ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' from releasing, which received less glowing but still generally positive reviews. Unfortunately the game was a commercial flop, which shuttered the series and cancelled plans for a fourth game. In 2014 publisher Square-Enix attempted to reboot the series with ''VideoGame/{{Thief 2014}}'' but it wasn't meant to be. The game received lukewarm reviews and community reaction was decisively negative, with many lamenting the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, gritter tone]] and the stealth mechanics were considered inferior to the prior games. The community consensus was that as a game it was a very average stealth title that couldn't possibly live up to the ''Thief'' legacy. The game underperformed commercially and future plans were scrapped, with ''Thief'' being on ice to this day.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series kicked off strong with ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' and its follow-up ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' -- both games received universal praise and were commercially successful, and both games are considered groundbreaking, ahead of their time and genre-defining to this day. Compounding financial troubles shuttered developer Looking Glass Studios but that didn't stop ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' from releasing, which received less glowing but still generally positive reviews. Unfortunately the game was a commercial flop, which shuttered the series and cancelled plans for a fourth game. In 2014 publisher Square-Enix attempted to reboot the series with ''VideoGame/{{Thief 2014}} but it wasn't meant to be. The game received lukewarm reviews and community reaction was decisively negative, with many lamenting the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, gritter tone]] and the stealth mechanics were considered inferior to the prior games. The community consensus was that as a game it was a very average stealth title that couldn't possibly live up to the ''Thief'' legacy. The game underperformed commercially and future plans were scrapped, with ''Thief'' being on ice to this day.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}} series kicked off strong with ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' and its follow-up ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' -- both games received universal praise and were commercially successful, and both games are considered groundbreaking, ahead of their time and genre-defining to this day. Compounding financial troubles shuttered developer Looking Glass Studios but that didn't stop ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' from releasing, which received less glowing but still generally positive reviews. Unfortunately the game was a commercial flop, which shuttered the series and cancelled plans for a fourth game. In 2014 publisher Square-Enix attempted to reboot the series with ''VideoGame/{{Thief 2014}} but it wasn't meant to be. The game received lukewarm reviews and community reaction was decisively negative, with many lamenting the [[DarkerAndEdgier]] tone and the stealth mechanics were considered inferior to the prior games. The community consensus was that as a game it was a very average stealth title that couldn't possibly live up to the ''Thief'' legacy. The game underperformed commercially and future plans were scrapped, with ''Thief'' being on ice to this day.

* ''VideoGame/{{Crackdown}}'' found success as one of the exclusives on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and was seen as having a lot of potential at the time. It wasfollowed by ''Crackdown 2'' in 2010, which received more middling reviews and didn't sell well enough to greenlight a third game and the then-planned ''VideoGame/Crackdown3'' was put on hold indefinitely. ''Crackdown 3'' was finally announced in 2014 but a prolonged development, shifting studios and multiple delays caused it to debut in [[SequelGap 2019]]. Reception was negative and the game was widely considered inferior to both of its predecessors from a decade ago. The series has quietly been put on ice and as of now there's no indication of a revival, especially now that developer Sumo Digital has been acquired by Tencent and moved to other projects.

* ''VideoGame/Crackdown'' found success as one of the exclusives on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and was seen as having a lot of potential at the time. It wasfollowed by ''Crackdown 2'' in 2010, which received more middling reviews and didn't sell well enough to greenlight a third game and the then-planned ''VideoGame/Crackdown3'' was put on hold indefinitely. ''Crackdown 3'' was finally announced in 2014 but a prolonged development, shifting studios and multiple delays caused it to debut in [[SequelGap 2019]]. Reception was negative and the game was widely considered inferior to both of its predecessors from a decade ago. The series has quietly been put on ice and as of now there's no indication of a revival, especially now that developer Sumo Digital has been acquired by Tencent and moved to other projects.

* ''[[VideoGame/Crackdown]]'' found success as one of the exclusives on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and was seen as having a lot of potential at the time. It wasfollowed by ''Crackdown 2'' in 2010, which received more middling reviews and didn't sell well enough to greenlight a third game and the then-planned ''[[VideoGame/Crackdown3]]'' was put on hold indefinitely. ''Crackdown 3'' was finally announced in 2014 but a prolonged development, shifting studios and multiple delays caused it to debut in [[SequelGap 2019]]. Reception was negative and the game was widely considered inferior to both of its predecessors from a decade ago. The series has quietly been put on ice and as of now there's no indication of a revival, especially now that developer Sumo Digital has been acquired by Tencent and moved to other projects.

* ''[[VideoGame//Crackdown]]'' found success as one of the exclusives on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and was seen as having a lot of potential at the time. It wasfollowed by ''Crackdown 2'' in 2010, which received more middling reviews and didn't sell well enough to greenlight a third game and the then-planned ''[[VideoGame//Crackdown3]]'' was put on hold indefinitely. ''Crackdown 3'' was finally announced in 2014 but a prolonged development, shifting studios and multiple delays caused it to debut in [[SequelGap 2019]]. Reception was negative and the game was widely considered inferior to both of its predecessors from a decade ago. The series has quietly been put on ice and as of now there's no indication of a revival, especially now that developer Sumo Digital has been acquired by Tencent and moved to other projects.

* ''VideoGame//Crackdown'' found success as one of the exclusives on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and was seen as having a lot of potential at the time. It wasfollowed by ''Crackdown 2'' in 2010, which received more middling reviews and didn't sell well enough to greenlight a third game and the then-planned ''VideoGame//Crackdown3'' was put on hold indefinitely. ''Crackdown 3'' was finally announced in 2014 but a prolonged development, shifting studios and multiple delays caused it to debut in [[SequelGap 2019]]. Reception was negative and the game was widely considered inferior to both of its predecessors from a decade ago. The series has quietly been put on ice and as of now there's no indication of a revival, especially now that developer Sumo Digital has been acquired by Tencent and moved to other projects.

* ''VideoGame//Crackdown'' found success as one of the exclusives on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 and was seen as having a lot of potential at the time. It wasfollowed by ''VideoGame//Crackdown2'' in 2010, which received positive reviews but didn't sell well enough to greenlight a third game and the then-planned ''VideoGame//Crackdown3'' was put on hold indefinitely. ''Crackdown 3'' was finally announced in 2014 but a prolonged development, shifting studios and multiple delays caused it to debut in [[SequelGap 2019]]. Reception was negative and the game was widely considered inferior to both of its predecessors from a decade ago. The series has quietly been put on ice and as of now there's no indication of a revival, especially now that developer Sumo Digital has been acquired by Tencent and moved to other projects.

* While ''Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller'' got decent reviews (and even then, they aren't as positive as the highly-acclaimed first two games), it sold poorly. Other than a few ports of the first game on modern systems, another ''VideoGame/CrazyTaxi'' game was not seen until the free-to-play ''City Rush'' was released more than ten years later.

* The ''VideoGame/XCom'' is a weird case of almost managing to kill a dead franchise a ''second time''. The series was praised for its innovative approach to strategy gaming and had multiple successful games throughout the 1990s. The first signs of trouble started with ''VideoGame/XComInterceptor'' which received less positive but generally above average reviews from fans and critics, who thought the series might be getting too formulaic. This wish for more innovation [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor backfired badly]] when 2001's ''X-COM: Enforcer'' ditched the strategy elements entirely in favor of being a third person shooter. The reaction to this was overwhelmingly negative among fans and critics were lukewarm on the game at best, and retrospective reviews have only gotten much more negative over time. ''Enforcer'' also was also a commercial disappointment, leading to the ''XCOM'' series being put on ice for 10 years. In 2010 [=2K Marin=] attempted to revive the franchise with a ContinuityReboot with a then-untitled first person shooter, the news of which was received negatively by fans. This could have potentially doomed the franchise a second time had [=2K Marin=] not decided to assign Creator/FiraxisGames to create a true spiritual successor to the original strategy games as a Hail Mary for fans. The result was ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' which received critical and commercial success and managed to save the franchise from the original reboot, which turned into ''VideoGame/TheBureauXCOMDeclassified''. It received lukewarm reviews and came and went with little fanfare.