Top 10 Video Game Franchises Whose Futures We're Concerned About

A shining legacy doesn’t always mean a bright future. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down the Top 10 Video Game Franchises Whose Futures We’re Concerned About.

While some series stay consistently fresh, innovative, and ultimately great, weird business decisions, stale gameplay or rehashed stories can stain any great history. While we want these franchises to do well, some questionable decisions have us hesitant for the future, so everyone take a seat, It’s time for an intervention.

While the first couple of entries stand up as some of the finest examples of survival horror gameplay with their limited resources, eerie atmospheres and shocking cutscenes, latest installments of the series have just plain fallen flat. 5’s African setting tried to change up the formula by focusing on the action, and while we appreciate the attempt, the combat was slow, plodding, and just too ridiculous to be scary. RE6 looked promising, but ended up just being a mashup of too many different styles and fell short of being a true return to form. Fear is all about immersion, and there’s something about these new, hulking characters that just makes them hard to relate to.

Bethesda’s recent release; Fallout 4 may have been critically praised, but it releasing to just lukewarm reception from fans, and with the undeniable bust that was Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda is now starting to show a few chinks in its armor. The Elder Scrolls is a great series that fans adore, but we’re not alone in worrying about whether the flaws that plague the series are ever going to be fixed. Bland, shallow worlds, bugs, and dull, mindless combat systems have yet to be improved upon, and that’s just not good enough in a series with such long development cycles. It’s undeniably an immersive series, but it’s fair at this point to expect better.

Oh, how this one hurts. Nintendo’s relaxing community sim has drawn in millions of fans with its subtle charm, quirky humor and laid back gameplay. New Leaf was an addicting, major success, but more and more it seems like the Japanese giant just has no idea how to progress with this beloved franchise. Already a shallow concept, Happy Home Designer was stretched way too thin, while Amiibo Festival was a shameless cash grab that really tested the loyalty of the hardcore fan base. And now with the next entry slated to appear on mobile as a freemium title, the series doesn’t look poised for a comeback anytime soon.

A rare franchise with environments you can truly get lost in, yet repetitive installments are starting to milk the cash cow dry. With each passing game, the same old Ubisoft formula is present and beginning to get stale. We’ve been attacked by so many wild animals, and cleared so many strongholds that it just doesn’t pack the same punch as it used to, and aside from the hilarious Blood Dragon DLC, the environments aren’t capturing us anymore. Primal was a step back in the right direction to try and freshen things up, but unless the core gameplay takes a couple of steps forward, it might not be enough to reinvigorate the series.

Ask anyone for a list of badass video game characters and Dante is sure to make the cut.The white haired smooth talking mercenary has been a timeless mainstay in every entry of the series, and when his character received a redesign in Ninja Theory’s reboot, fans weren’t happy. While perhaps not the biggest flaw in a game that featured a weak story, laughably easy combat, and unsatisfying bosses; it did draw the biggest frustration and is what most people will remember looking back. Ninja Theory has a lot to make up for, but with a planned sequel already having been cancelled, they might not even get that chance.

A pillar of gaming since the 80s, the world’s favorite badass bounty hunter has fallen on tough times as of late. Other M tried to push the series in a new, cinematic direction but was undermined by its weak story and completely flawed representation of Samus, who isn’t even the focus of the upcoming Federation Force, and I think the fan response to that trailer speaks for itself. With Retro Studios’ great Prime series setting the bar for any future releases, it seems unlikely that anything short of Prime 4, which isn’t even on the horizon, can meet those lofty standards.

Very few things in gaming feel as tight as the controls of the Arwing as you fly through the Lylat System, taking on Andross’ armada. Good responsive controls are important to any game, but are even more crucial to avoid getting shot down in these high octane space battles. The formula turned for the worse with Assault’s mixed bag of ground based missions, and while Zero promised to be a return to form, its confusing and tough to master control scheme alienated both the fans and the critics. A complete rehash of many Star Fox 64 levels, Zero was a flawed game that sold poorly, leading us to wonder what, if anything, is next for the team.

The men and women over at Microsoft have made some bad decisions in recent times when it comes to their iconic sci-fi shooter. The MasterChief collection was a great way to bring the series into the next generation of consoles, but was hampered by the awful connectivity issues that left players unable to even get into multiplayer matches consistently for months. 343 then followed up those frustrations by straight up cutting split-screen multiplayer from Halo 5 altogether. Combined with a comparatively weak story and squad focused missions that don’t really let you fly solo, Guardians was a good, but not great addition to the Halo Franchise that still left us with a sour taste in our mouths.

While Castlevania and Silent Hill could have easily made this list on another day, we went with Konami’s stealth action titan. With The Phantom Pain bringing the series into the next-gen with new open world elements it’s hard to imagine a way for future installments to keep pushing the franchise forward. A difficult task for anyone, it will be even more difficult with the visionary behind the series, Hideo Kojima, leaving to pursue other projects. Could a new director take the series in a bold direction? Sure. But the expectations will be massive, and given Konami’s recent track record with some of their other franchises, notably Castlevania and … whatever they turned Silent Hill into, (Hit the Lever) yeah we’re not holding our breath.

Speaking of expectations, could anything Gaben creates live up to Half-Life 2 after fans have spent more than a decade waiting for a follow up? First person shooters have evolved, and have seemingly left Valve’s masterpiece stuck in a different era. With every year that passes, more and more features are going to be expected, and unless Half-Life 3 is a visual masterpiece that can match the atmosphere of its predecessors, while still providing the multiplayer experiences people have come to expect from their shooters in this day and age, it’s likely to be a colossal disappointment. Do we still want it? Of course. Are we concerned? Definitely. We still remember what happened to Duke Nukem.

Agree with our list? Worried about the futures of any other of your favorite series? For more fun top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com