History Main / MorePopularSpinoff

** The UsefulNotes/UnrealEngine, the UsefulNotes/GameEngine that was originally developed for the above games to run on, has become more well-known than its namesake game series, thanks to Creator/EpicGames' immense success in licensing it out to numerous other developers across the gaming industry.

* Also from the same producers, ''Series/FamilyMatters'' is a show everyone remembers, mainly for BreakoutCharacter Steve Urkel- but what many people don't know or realize is that it was a spinoff of ''Series/PerfectStrangers''- Harriette had originated on that show as an elevator operator, and Carl had made an appearance there too. But characters from ''Strangers'' never appeared on the new show, so many people simply thought it was a new show. It also doesn't help that, while ''Family Matters'' has been a syndication mainstay since the late 90s, ''Strangers'' wasn't nearly as popular in reruns and seemed to fall into relative obscurity after it originally aired. {{Creator/Hulu}} streaming and DVD releases have brought ''Strangers'' more exposure recently, but ''Family Matters'' and Urkel remain household names.

** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' quickly reached the same status: within three years of its release, it received two manga anthologies, [[VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight a rhythm game]] SpinOff, [[VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth a dungeon-crawler crossover]] with ''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4'', [[Anime/Persona5TheAnimation an anime adaptation]], and an UpdatedRerelease of the original game, with a sequel in the form of [[VideoGame/Persona5Strikers a hack-n-slash/action RPG hybrid game]]. If that wasn't enough, its protagonist appears as a DownloadableContent GuestFighter in Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s massively popular PlatformFighter ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''. Then, after its cast had multiple [[GuestFighter guest stints]] in various mobile games, 2023 saw ''Persona 5'' receive its own officially-sanctioned-by-Creator/{{Atlus}} mobile game spin-off.

* In 1998, a pilot for a Creator/CartoonNetwork show called ''Kenny and the Chimp'' was aired, called ''Diseasy Does It.'' Among the planned recurring characters were five children called "those Kids Next Door", who would eventually star in their own show, ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor.'' Now, ''Kids Next Door'' is one of the most famous and beloved Cartoon Network shows of the early 2000s, while ''Kenny and the Chimp'' never became a full show and has been forgotten by all but the most dedicated of Cartoon Network historians.[[note]]Yet the short airs as a part of the first episode (as the other two segments are only 7 minutes compared to the usual 11) every time ''KND'' airs on TV.[[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' actually first appeared in, back before they became popular, Peyo's major series ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'' (''Johan et Pirlouit''). Guess which series fell in the shadows after the blue critters showed up, [[CreatorBacklash to the frustration of Peyo]]?

* Rey Misterio Sr. was a successful lucha libre star in his day, but his successor, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, has all but eclipsed him in popularity.

* Wrestling/TheNexus were born after seven of the eight wrestlers from the first season of NXT banded together. They left a much longer lasting legacy with the stable than they did with the season, thanks to an unforgettable ''RAW'' debut. Their promise, however, was snuffed out when Team WWE's sole survivor Wrestling/JohnCena beat the odds to singlehandedly defeat their last two members in a 7-on-7 ''Summerslam'' match in the summer of 2010, then when Cena literally buried Wrestling/WadeBarrett in a pile of chairs at the main event of 2010's ''TLC'' pay-per-view. This is averted with the Nexus's splinter factions, Wrestling/CMPunk's New Nexus and the Corre, neither of which were nearly as popular or successful as the original Nexus.
* Wrestling/PentagonJr (as hinted by his name) is technically a LegacyCharacter to the older "Pentagón" gimmick established during the 90's in Mexico's AAA, but he has completely outclassed all other 9 persons to carry the name of Pentagón. Noticeably Wikipedia has a list of all the members to bear the gimmick, but only Pentagón Jr has a page of his own under the name "Pentagón".

* Wrestling/{{ECW}} to the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance. ECW began life as "Eastern Championship Wrestling" (formerly "The Tri-State Wrestling Alliance"), one of several organizations that made up the NWA during its days as a governing body for regional wrestling promotions. But after the organization publicly seceded from the NWA at the NWA World Title Tournament in 1994, it was reborn as '''Extreme''' Championship Wrestling--which soon became a nationwide cult sensation, and eventually developed enough of a following to compete directly with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's Wrestling/{{WWF}} and Creator/TedTurner's Wrestling/{{WCW}}. While ECW eventually folded as an independent organization in 2001 due to behind-the-scenes issues, it's widely regarded as [[GenreTurningPoint one of the most groundbreaking and influential organizations in the history of professional wrestling]], and it's often cited as a major influence on the creative direction of both WCW and the WWF during their heyday in the 1990s (likely helping to inspire WCW's Wrestling/NewWorldOrder angle and the WWF's Wrestling/AttitudeEra). While the NWA also played a pretty important role in wrestling history, their popularity and level of recognition were pretty paltry compared to the massive fanbase that ECW enjoyed at its peak.

*** Fed up with all this, after just two years five old-line members[[note]]Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming[[/note]] met in Denver and decided to go the Skyline/WAC route and form a new conference, eventually recruiting two more old-line members,[[note]]New Mexico, San Diego State[[/note]] plus 1996 arrival [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas UNLV]], to form the Mountain West Conference (MW), which began play in 1999. Today, the MW is one of the better leagues in FBS football's UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences, though two of the charter members have left (Utah for the Pac-12, and BYU as a football independent and the West Coast Conference in other sports, with BYU much later moving on to the Big 12). As for the WAC, it muddled along until its members became targets for leagues seeking to survive the conference realignment cycle of the early 2010s. It dropped football after the 2012 season, and only began to recover some semblance of stability in the early 2020s... or so it thought.

** While much more extensively modified than AK-47 variants, the M16 emerged from the attempt to create a lighter, more controllable version of the M14. The M14 is now largely relegated to reservist and ceremonial roles, while the M16 is among the most recogniseable firearms ever created.
** On the topic of the M16, the M4 was understandably created as a carbine variant of it, with the target buyers being special forces and other specialist roles. The M4 eventually took over the M16 as the US military's preferred service rifle, and found a huge audience in the civilian market as well.

* Panda Express is a scaled down fast-food version of the fairly upscale Panda Inn. Panda Inn is itself a chain, but it's a VASTLY smaller one -- six locations, all in California, compared to Panda Express and its 1600+ locations across the US and even internationally.

*** First, in 1932, the [=SoCon=] split along geographic lines when the 13 members located west and south of the Platform/{{Appalachia}}n Mountains left to form the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The [=SoCon=], which still had 10 members, mostly large and public, continued to thrive. However, in 1936, it added seven relatively small private schools, leading to more than a decade of conflict between large and small schools.

** The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a league formed in 1907 by Midwestern and Great Plains schools, experienced two decades of conflict along public–private school lines. In 1927, six of the seven state schools left, with ''both'' factions claiming the MVIAA name for a time. The departing schools eventually called themselves the Big Six Conference, with the schools that stayed becoming the Missouri Valley Conference. While the MVC remained a respectable conference, the Big Six, which later became the Big Seven and Big Eight, greatly surpassed it in status. The MVC dropped football in 1986, though several of its current members now play FCS football in the closely related Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Big Eight became one of the most powerful college leagues, and in the mid-1990s picked up four members from the collapsing Southwest Conference (SWC) to form a new league under a new charter: the Big 12 Conference, now another of the Power Five leagues. (Which now has 10 members, but that's for [[NonIndicativeName another trope]].)

*** But then Oklahoma and Texas announced in 2021 that they would leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference no later than 2025 (eventually confirmed for 2024), leading to a cascading series of realignments that eventually touched the WAC. New Mexico State, which had joined in 2005 (making it the longest-tenured WAC member at that time), and Sam Houston, which was one of the four 2021 entries, announced they would leave for Conference USA in 2023. The WAC didn't stand still, poaching (football-sponsoring) Southern Utah from the Big Sky Conference and bringing back non-football UT Arlington, which had been a WAC member for one year during the 2010s realignment cycle. However, WAC football suffered three body blows in mid-2022. First, Lamar, another one of the four 2021 entries, announced it would return to its former home of the Southland Conference in 2023. Next, Incarnate Word, another football school out of Texas that had announced it was joining the WAC in 2022, backed out of that move and stayed in the Southland Conference. Finally, Lamar accelerated its return to the Southland Conference to 2022.
*** All this led to the WAC merging its football conference with that of the ASUN Conference ahead of the 2023 season. The two conferences were partners in a football alliance that operated in 2021 and 2022; the aforementioned 2021 football-only members in Alabama, Arkansas, and Kentucky were all full ASUN members.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' is this to some extent to the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series. It's not uncommon to find players who love this title in particular, but have never touched a ''Metal Gear'' game in their life due to ContinuityLockOut and StoryToGameplayRatio. Not to mention, [[MemeticMutation shitposting of this game overtaking internet discourse]] after discussion of ''Metal Gear'''s themes and politics have been exhausted. Part of it has to do with the fact that until the ''Master Collection'' released, ''Rising'' was one of the two canonical ''Metal Gear'' titles to be available for purchase on modern platforms (in this case, Steam), with the other being ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV''. However, between the two, ''V'' suffers more from ContinuityLockout due to it directly following up on ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3Snake'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', whereas ''Rising'' is a standalone story set after the events of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' and only contains minimal references to past installments.

** The ''VideoGame/CompilationOfFinalFantasyVII'', started with the eponymous ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', is a CashCowFranchise within a CashCowFranchise, consisting of multiple spinoff titles (''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''), mobile games (''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIEverCrisis''), short stories (''Literature/FinalFantasyVIIOnTheWayToASmile''), animated films (''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'', ''Anime/LastOrderFinalFantasyVII''), and a trilogy of games remaking the original game (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth Rebirth]]'', and a yet-to-be-titled third game). It's reached the point where it's not uncommon to find people who have only played ''VII'' and no other title in the franchise, while ''Final Fantasy''[='=]s overall representation in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' consists almost entirely of content from ''Compilation of Final Fantasy VII''.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' is this to some extent to the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series. It's not uncommon to find players who love this title in particular, but have never touched a ''Metal Gear'' game in their life due to ContinuityLockOut and StoryToGameplayRatio. Not to mention, [[MemeticMutation shitposting of this game overtaking internet discourse]] after discussion of ''Metal Gear'''s themes and politics have been exhausted.

* Wisconsin bands Spooner and Fire Town are best known for the subsequent producing career of drummer Butch Vig (best known album being Nirvana's ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'') and the band Vig and guitarist Duke Erikson went on to form, Music/{{Garbage}}.

** K'[='s=] partner, Maxima, was originally the main character of ''VideoGame/RoboArmy'', a belt-scrolling BeatEmUp released during the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo's early years.

** In particular, ''VideoGame/Persona4'' turned into a CashCowFranchise of its own, receiving two [[VideoGame/Persona4Arena fighting]] [[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax game]] {{sequel}}s that also featured ''Persona 3'' characters, [[VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth a dungeon-crawler]] {{Crossover}} with ''Persona 3'' again, an UpdatedRerelease for the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation Vita}}, and [[VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight a rhythm game]] {{sequel}} to the two {{Fighting Game}}s. Furthermore, there were two {{manga}} adaptations, two [[Anime/Persona4TheAnimation anime]] [[Anime/Persona4TheGoldenAnimation adaptations]], [[Literature/PersonaXDetectiveNaoto a light novel]] SpinOff, and two live stage productions. Well into ''Persona 5''[='s=] release, the characters from ''Persona 4'' also guest starred in the crossover fighting ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle'' and even got a release on PC via Steam in June 2020, well after ''Persona 5 Royal'' was out. And then ''Persona 4 Golden'' was ported again in October 2022, this time to various home consoles (Switch, [=PS4=], [=PS5=], Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S) and Windows PC.[[labelnote:*]]Though its release was accompanied by ''Persona 3 Portable'' and ''Persona 5 Royal'' also being made available on all these platforms; the mainline games were previously exclusive to the [=PlayStation=] brand.[[/labelnote]] To really hammer this trope home, ''Persona 4'' was the start of where ''Persona'' slowly phased itself out as its own individual franchise divorced from ''Shin Megami Tensei'' by removing "Shin Megami Tensei" as its title.

** Downplayed, but still notable, with the aforementioned ''VideoGame/Persona3'', which received (in addition to the above crossovers) a manga of its own, several [[AudioAdaptation drama CDs]], [[Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade a five-part stage musical]], [[VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight a rhythm game spin-off]], and -- unlike its successors -- [[Anime/Persona3TheMovie a four-part theatrical adaptation]]. Note that most of these came long after the release of the original game, ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable Portable]]'', well into ''P4'' and ''P5''[='s=] eras of prominence. Things came full circle with, following ''Portable''[='s=] re-release on the same eighth and ninth gen consoles as ''[=P4G=]'' and ''[=P5R=]'', the announcement that ''P3'' would be getting a full-on, built-from-the-ground-up remake in the form of 2024's ''VideoGame/Persona3Reload'', basically ''Persona'''s answer to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake''.

* ''Film/GoldenEye'' was a successful movie in the ''Film/JamesBond'' series. ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye 007]]'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 is one of the most beloved games of all time, a triumphant {{aver|tedTrope}}sion of TheProblemWithLicensedGames, and one of the games which basically made the FirstPersonShooter genre [[GenreTurningPoint into something other than Doom clones]]. Not to mention proving that the genre could have first-rate console titles, not just inferior ports of PC games. Many players didn't even know the game was based on a film.
* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' was a well-received series of console [=RPGs=], albeit a series that was consistently overshadowed by ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''Franchise/DragonQuest''. ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' went on to become more popular than the original games, being one of the KillerApp games for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast.

* ''VideoGame/{{Aleste}}'' started off as "''VideoGame/{{Zanac}}'', [-[[AlternateCompanyEquivalent BUT ON A SEGA CONSOLE!]]-]" It then ended up spawning a much more popular series with numerous sequels and a CompilationRerelease with Creator/{{M2}}'s [[PolishedPort touch]], while ''Zanac'' got relegated to a single sequel with the original game as a tie-in and an average-quality UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole rerelease.

* Creator/PlaygroundGames' ''VideoGame/{{Forza}} Horizon'', an open world arcade-style racer, was initially a spin-off of Creator/Turn10Studios' semi-sim track racing series ''Forza Motorsport'', which already had four well-regarded games, one on the original UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} and three on UsefulNotes/Xbox360, prior to the first ''Horizon''[='=]s release. But during the UsefulNotes/XboxOne's lifespan, ''Motorsport''[='=]s reception took a hit with ''Motorsport 5'', which was released as a launch title for the console, as it was seen as a bit lacking in content. ''Horizon 2'' was released to [[EvenBetterSequel greater acclaim and success]] than the first ''Forza Horizon''. Both sub-series' next games got better reception, with ''Motorsport 6'' being seen by ''Forza'' fans as a return to form, but ''Horizon 3'' did ''{{even better|Sequel}}'' than ''Horizon 2'' with its [[SceneryPorn beautiful depiction]] of [[LandDownUnder Australia]] (helped by a chillingly stellar [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEOMPZalKvQ reveal trailer]]), to the point that it was seen as the Xbox One's KillerApp. The next games after those, however, did quite differently; ''Motorsport 7'' lost some of its goodwill thanks to some questionable decisions by Turn 10, while ''Horizon 4'' got '''[[SerialEscalation even more acclaim]]''' than ''Horizon 3'' and became one of ''the'' best-selling games on the Xbox One. It has now gotten to the point that the first ''Forza'' game on the UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS is not the still-in-development eighth ''Forza Motorsport'' (which was announced in 2020), but ''Forza Horizon 5'', which was revealed at E3 2021 as Creator/{{Xbox|Game Studios}} and Creator/{{Bethesda}}'s "best for last" game during their presentation and won "Best of Show" for the 2021 E3 Awards.
* The history of ''VideoGame/MicrosoftFlightSimulator'' dates back to 1979 with ''[=FS1=] Flight Simulator'' for the UsefulNotes/AppleII and (a year afterwards) the [[UsefulNotes/{{TRS80}} TRS-80]]. When Microsoft commissioned a version for the UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer, their brand was applied to the game's title, and the series has been primarily known as ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' ever since.

* Creator/{{Apple}} first developed Safari by forking the [=KHTML=] engine, created as part of the KDE Desktop Environment for Linux, into its own engine called [=WebKit=], which quickly overtook the original in popularity due to UsefulNotes/{{macOS}}'s larger install base than Linux. Later on, Creator/{{Google}} began development of its own broswer, Chrome. At first they used standard [=WebKit=], but eventually they forked it to create another engine called Blink. Since Chrome was MultiPlatform, unlike the aforementioned Safari and KDE, as well as the default browser on Android (which eventually displaced UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows as the most widely used operating system in the world) it eventually became the most popular browser in the world by far. Many other browsers (such as Microsoft Edge) would eventually abandon development of their own rendering engines in favor of simply using Blink, making Google's engine much more popular than its predecessors by a longshot.

*** First, in 1932, the [=SoCon=] split along geographic lines when the 13 members located west and south of the UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}}n Mountains left to form the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The [=SoCon=], which still had 10 members, mostly large and public, continued to thrive. However, in 1936, it added seven relatively small private schools, leading to more than a decade of conflict between large and small schools.

* UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows:
** UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows was originally an add-on program for MS-DOS, eventually merging with the text-based OS and finally replacing the DOS kernel when NT was released[[note]]albeit only in business-oriented versions until Windows XP made versions of the more stable NT line available to home users, with the DOS-based 9x line discontinued as a result[[/note]] to form a stand-alone operating system.

* ComicBook/LadyDeath started out as a supporting character in Brian Pullido's ''ComicBook/EvilErnie'' comics, serving as a LadyMacbeth to the title character. She went on to star in her own series, gained her own animated adaptation and all-around is much more well-known now than Evil Ernie himself. This is because ''Evil Ernie'' is [[TooBleakStoppedCaring much more nihilistic in tone]], whereas ''Lady Death'' at least has a major SexSells thing going for her.

* ComicBook/LadyDeath started out as a supporting character in Brian Pullido's ''ComicBook/EvilErnie'' comics, serving as a LadyMacbeth to the title character. She went on to star in her own series, gained her own animated adaptation and all-around is much more well-known now than Evil Ernie himself. This is because ''Evil Ernie'' is [[TooBleakStoppedCaring much more nihilistic in tone]], whereas ''Lady Death'' at least has a major sexy thing going for her.

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' and [[Series/SavedByTheBellTheCollegeYears its sibling]] [[Series/SavedByTheBellTheNewClass series]] are far more popular and remembered than the show it spawned from, the Creator/HayleyMills vehicle ''Series/GoodMorningMissBliss''. Tellingly, ''Miss Bliss'' was shown as part of the ''Saved by the Bell'' rerun package under the new title of ''Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years'' and with a new intro that made use of the original ''Saved by the Bell'' theme and intro graphics. "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" would actually be far more successful than the original "Saved by the Bell" series at 143 episodes compared to 86 for its' predecessor.

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' and [[Series/SavedByTheBellTheCollegeYears its sibling]] [[Series/SavedByTheBellTheNewClass series]] are far more popular and remembered than the show it spawned from, the Creator/HayleyMills vehicle ''Series/GoodMorningMissBliss''. Tellingly, ''Miss Bliss'' was shown as part of the ''Saved by the Bell'' rerun package under the new title of ''Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years'' and with a new intro that made use of the original ''Saved by the Bell'' theme and intro graphics.

* ComicBook/LadyDeath started out as a supporting character in Brian Pullido's ''ComicBook/EvilErnie'' comics, serving as a LadyMacbeth to the title character. She went on to star in her own series, gained her own animated adaptation and all-around is much more well-known now than Evil Ernie himself. This is because ''Evil Ernie'' is [[TooBleakStoppedCaring much more nihilistic in tone]], whereas ''Lady Death'' at least has a major EvilIsSexy thing going for her.

*** Fed up with all this, after just two years five old-line members[[note]]Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming[[/note]] met in Denver and decided to go the Skyline/WAC route and form a new conference, eventually recruiting two more old-line members,[[note]]New Mexico, San Diego State[[/note]] plus [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers 1996 arrival]] [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas UNLV]], to form the Mountain West Conference (MW), which began play in 1999. Today, the MW is one of the better leagues in FBS football's UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences, though two of the charter members have left (Utah for the Pac-12, and BYU as a football independent and the West Coast Conference in other sports, with BYU much later moving on to the Big 12). As for the WAC, it muddled along until its members became targets for leagues seeking to survive the conference realignment cycle of the early 2010s. It dropped football after the 2012 season, and only began to recover some semblance of stability in the early 2020s... or so it thought.

* The first major work in the ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' universe was a 2013 novel called ''Sacred and Terrible Air''. Self-published by the creative collective that would go on to develop the game, it sold only a thousand copies before vanishing into obscurity. ''Disco Elysium'', on the other hand, was immediately met with widespread acclaim, eventually going on to sell almost 3 million copies on Steam alone. The game's success looped back into renewed interest in the long-out-of-print book, culminating in an English fan translation being released 10 years after its initial publication.

* Due to the much lower barriers of entry, some video games based on ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'' almost certainly have far more players than the tabletop games ever did (but much lower revenue), as they cost low to mid double digits of pounds or dollars whereas pretty much everyone who plays the tabletop has spent [[https://creativetwilight.com/how-expensive-is-warhammer-40k/ several hundred at least]]. To wit, Games Workshop has grossed about [[https://i.imgur.com/MO47jEm.jpg 2.7 billion pounds of revenue]] on all their non-licensed products over the last three decades (most of the licensing revenue is from video games); assuming ''Fantasy'' products account for a third of that (a quite generous assumption as ''40,000'' is far more popular and they publish other lines besides, including ''Middle-earth'' and the quite successful ''Age of Sigmar'') and that the average ''Fantasy'' player only spent 300 pounds on the game over their entire lifetime (any player could tell you how much of a lowball that is), that puts its total player base around 3 million people. [[LongRunners Of which only a fraction would still be active in the 2010s and 2020s.]] The inhouse novels have even lower exposure than the tabletop - the revenue figures[[note]]in by far the best year on record, Black Library sales were only worth 2.4 million pounds. ''Fantasy'' likely accounts for a third of that or less, or <0.8 million. Making yet another extremely generous assumption that Black Library ''averaged'' that figure for the last three decades, that's still only 24 million pounds of revenue for ''Fantasy'' novels, or 2.4 million copies sold at an average 10 pound price.[[/note]] pointing to all ''Fantasy'' novels together having only sold in the low single digit millions of copies -- or less (and note that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Warhammer_Fantasy_novels there are over 150]] ''Fantasy'' novels in over three dozen series, meaning the average one has been read by very few people indeed). By contrast, at least two game series have bigger player bases than even the highballed 3 million figure despite having been out a fraction as long as the tabletop game:

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' is this to some extent to the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series. It's not uncommon to find players who love this title in particular, but have never touched a Metal Gear game in their life due to ContinuityLockOut and StoryToGameplayRatio. Not to mention, [[MemeticMutation shitposting of this game overtaking internet discourse]] after discussion of ''Metal Gear'''s themes and politics have been exhausted.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' is the InNameOnly sequel to Toady's older RPG ''Slaves to Armok: God of Blood''. It's more this than SequelDisplacement, though, because the original game had ''very'' little to do with what DF is now.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Starsiege}}'' / ''Earthsiege'' series of HumongousMecha {{Simulation Game}}s, has been all but displaced by the ''{{VideoGame/Tribes}}'' series, multiplayer [=FPSs=] with an emphasis on extremely fast-paced team objective play, jetpacks, and no [[AMechByAnyOtherName HERCs]] in sight. After the release -- and enormous popularity -- of the first Tribes game, ''Starsiege: Tribes'', the ''Starsiege'' name was dropped entirely (instead simply becoming "Tribes ______"). Then again, [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo the series has never had a particularly consistent naming scheme to begin with]]. Ironically, the original ''Starsiege'' series is more familiar to fans of the ''Videogame/MechWarrior'' franchise, due them being DuelingGames up til 2001, when [[Creator/{{Dynamix}} Starsiege's creators]] went bust

* Due to the much lower barriers of entry, some video games based on ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'' almost certainly have far more players than the tabletop games ever did (but much lower revenue), as they cost low to mid double digits of pounds or dollars whereas pretty much everyone who plays the tabletop has spent [[https://creativetwilight.com/how-expensive-is-warhammer-40k/ several hundred at least]]. To wit, Games Workshop has grossed about [[https://i.imgur.com/MO47jEm.jpg 2.7 billion pounds of revenue]] on all their non-licensed products over the last three decades (most of the licensing revenue is from video games); assuming ''Fantasy'' products account for a third of that (a quite generous assumption as ''40,000'' is far more popular and they publish other lines besides, including ''Middle-earth'' and the quite successful ''Age of Sigmar'') and that the average ''Fantasy'' player only spent 300 pounds on the game over their entire lifetime (any player could tell you how much of a lowball that is), that puts its total player base around 3 million people. [[LongRunners Of which only a fraction would still be active in the 2010s and 2020s.]] The inhouse novels have even lower exposure than the tabletop - the revenue figures[[note]]in by far the best year on record, Black Library sales were only worth 2.4 million pounds. ''Fantasy'' likely accounts for a third of that or less, or <0.8 million. Making yet another extremely generous assumption that Black Library ''averaged'' that figure for the last three decades, that's still only 24 million pounds of revenue for ''Fantasy'' novels, or 2.4 million copies sold at an average 10 pound price.[[/note]] pointing to all ''Fantasy'' novels together having only sold in the low single digit millions of copies - or less (and note that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Warhammer_Fantasy_novels there are over 150]] ''Fantasy'' novels in over three dozen series, meaning the average one has been read by very few people indeed). By contrast, at least two game series have bigger player bases than even the highballed 3 million figure despite having been out a fraction as long as the tabletop game:

** Downplayed, but still notable, with the aforementioned ''VideoGame/Persona3'', which received (in addition to the above crossovers) a manga of its own, several [[AudioAdaptation drama CDs]], [[Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade a five-part stage musical]], [[VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight a rhythm game spin-off]], and -- unlike its successors -- [[Anime/Persona3TheMovie a four-part theatrical adaptation]]. Note that most of these came long after the release of the original game, ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable Portable]]'', well into ''P4'' and ''P5''[='s=] eras of prominence.

* Many fans of the ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}}'' series seem to be unaware that there was a PC ''DJMAX'' game that preceded ''DJMAX Portable'', or at least have only heard of it.
** Lately, ''[[OddballInTheSeries DJMAX Technika]]'' has been gaining popularity, becoming even more popular than ''Portable'' in areas that have ''Technika'' arcade machines.

* The Dwarves vs. Zombies "genre" of ''Minecraft'' server was originally created for livestream-only events. As people wanted to play [=DvZ=] on their own time, they made their own clones. Years later, even with the original Dwarves vs. Zombies server having long since switched to an on-demand system, the now-outdated clones are much more popular than the heavily updated original. Part of the reason is that the official [=DvZ=] server was never really advertised, while the clones are common on Minecraft server list websites.

* While ''VideoGame/SimCity'' is by-far no slouch in sales, in the 2000s ''VideoGame/TheSims'' began eclipsing it. Many people even think the latter came first. They're both popular in their own right however more people remember the 90s ''Sim City'' games than the newer ones, while ''The Sims'' pretty much gets more popular each game.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' was relatively well-received, but it and its various spinoffs mainly catered to a niche fandom, with game sales typically along the lines of 100k total. Then along comes ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', which not only became such a moneymaker to the point Sony Music consistently cites it in investor reports since release as a primary source of profit, it [[https://twitter.com/myrmecoleon/status/926047881991036929 managed to rocket]] the fanbase to ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' and ''VideoGame/KanColle'' levels at Comiket after only a year into release.
** The ''Franchise/{{Fate|Series}}'' series itself is this to the rest of the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, especially after Type-Moon started putting their other works on the backburner to promote it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'''s Battle Royale mode started off a side game to the main ''Save the World'' mode. ''VideoGame/PlayerUnknownsBattlegrounds'' fans flocked to the game due to PUBG's buggy launch state and price, while Fortnite was comparatively less buggy and free to play. ''Fortnite: Battle Royale'' has since eclipsed both PUBG and ''Save the World's'' popularity and is usually the first thing people think of when talking about Fortnite.

* The fanmade ''VideoGame/SonicRoboBlast2'' (which itself had [[SequelDisplacement completely overshadowed the first installment]]) was modified by different developers into ''VideoGame/SonicRoboBlast2Kart'', a MascotRacer that ended up being just as popular as the original platformer, if not more-so. In fact, the game [[https://sonicretro.org/2019/07/01/retro-spotlight-srb2kart-and-the-kart-krew-part-two/ singlehandedly broke the "Most Users" record on SRB2's forums]] when it was released.

*** Fast forward to today. The [=SoCon=] still operates, but dropped to the second level of NCAA Division I football, now known as FCS, in 1982, and is clearly a "mid-major" conference. The SEC and ACC, by contrast, are two of the so-called [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballPower5Conferences "Power Five" conferences]] in [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball college football's]] top tier, Division I FBS.

*** Fed up with all this, after just two years five old-line members[[note]]Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming[[/note]] met in Denver and decided to go the Skyline/WAC route and form a new conference, eventually recruiting two more old-line members,[[note]]New Mexico, San Diego State[[/note]] plus [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers 1996 arrival]] [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas UNLV]], to form the Mountain West Conference (MW), which began play in 1999. Today, the MW is one of the better leagues in FBS football's "Group of Five", though two of the charter members have left (Utah for the Pac-12, and BYU as a football independent and the West Coast Conference in other sports, with BYU much later moving on to the Big 12). As for the WAC, it muddled along until its members became targets for leagues seeking to survive the conference realignment cycle of the early 2010s. It dropped football after the 2012 season, and only began to recover some semblance of stability in the early 2020s... or so it thought.

* ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'' (''Manga/NeighborhoodStory'') -- The former is more popular outside of Japan since, unlike it, the latter does not have as many official foreign language translations. (Neighborhood Story has French and Spanish translations for the manga and an Italian translation for the anime, at least, but Paradise Kiss has at least 10 translations, including to English, according to [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]]. As of 2023, Neighborhood Story finally has an English translation.)