Recently I’ve been playing through the first Dark Cloud for the first time in over a decade. I don’t remember much beyond the first couple worlds of the game, but the second game is engraved into my brain. It made me think about potential sequels to some of my beloved gaming franchises. Where’s Dark Cloud 3? Where’s Black 2? Rune Factory 5? City Of Heroes 2? Condemned 3? TimeSplitters 4? Dear lord, just give me a TimeSplitters 4.
Now some of these have valid reasons for not existing such as Rune Factory 5 whose developer has gone out of business. But for games like TimeSplitters which is an IP that was purchased from Free Radical by Crytek, the makers of Crysis, you’d expect there would be a little more pressure put upon them for a true sequel. Sure, we’re supposedly getting a fan made remake of TimeSplitters called TimeSplitters Rewind sometime this year, but that’s not really the same thing, now is it? What makes things worse is when you check back on the history of Crytek’s comments regarding the TimeSplitters IP. It’s a wishy-washy mess of “there’s no interest” to “we’re definitely considering pursuing this, the fans want it” which just seems to make no sense.
It makes me think of games like Yooka-Laylee, a spiritual successor (a term I hate) to the incredible Banjo-Kazooie series. It’s a game born out of its fans and crowdsourcing. Doesn’t that show these big AAA companies potential ways of inquiring about interest? Doesn’t it show someone like Microsoft how stupid they are to have pinned Rare to Kinect games for so long?
In reality the problems are much larger than they seem at surface level. From a business standpoint it almost seems like a giant missed opportunity, but it’s also a case of following trends, looking toward the future and realizing that while some games were great and/or revolutionary in the past, their formulas might not work in today’s gaming world. How much money do you want to spend in practically re-developing an entire IP? The rebirth of a franchise is a lot riskier than it seems. It’s an all or nothing attempt, so if you get it wrong, like Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, it could prove fatal to a whole brand. Who’s going to trust them to get it right the second time? Don’t you think we’ve experienced enough pain with Nuts and Bolts? Why would we let ourselves get hurt like that again? It leaves me torn between wanting a sequel to something I cherish and wanting to preserve the franchises’ legacy. Ultimately, is it worth the risk?
Written by G. S. Martin
Truly Abrasive 