Summary
Video game sequels can beboth a blessing and a cursefor their respective franchises. If done correctly, these follow-ups can elevate an IP and cement it as a mainstay of the industry, but if something goes wrong, they risk staining their legacy forever, and maybe even killing their franchise’s current momentum.
This is a strange but oddly recurring phenomenon that can happen not only due to the actual quality of a sequel, but also because sometimes they are released way too soon, thus putting a sudden brake on their momentum earlier than expected and killing all the excitement for the fans in the process. This has happened in the video game industry on several occasions, but the following sequels are the most prominent examples.
Back in 2001,Devil May Crychanged the gaming industry forever because this stylish action-adventure game laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the character action genre. However, it has been reported that Capcom rushed development of its sequel and greenlit it just a few months after the original game’s release, without any involvement from director Hideki Kamiya and his team, Team Little Devils.
This tumultuous development process resulted inDevil May Cry 2, a disappointing sequel that came out less than two years after the original. The change in development team was extremely evident, as the combat was watered down, the challenge was non-existent, the story lacked a real direction, and the main character, Dante, was devoid of all personality. Needless to say, the negative reception ofDevil May Cry 2almost killed theDevil May Cryfranchise, and it certainly wouldn’t still exist today if it weren’t for Hideaki Itsuno, who wanted to rectify this mistake and began working on the third entry,Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening, almost immediately.
2009’sDragon Age: Originsis highly regarded asone of the best Western RPGs ever made, not to mention that it put BioWare on the map, as this studio had been making great games since the 90s and finally got the recognition it truly deserved. The success of this title marked the promising beginning of a brand-new franchise during a time in which open-world RPGs were becoming more and more popular.
Unfortunately, Electronic Arts supposedly greenlighted the sequel while BioWare was still working on theAwakeningexpansion forOrigins, and to make things even worse, it gave the team fourteen to sixteen months to finish it. The inevitable result of this rushed development wasDragon Age 2, a game that has been endlessly criticized for its smaller scope, repetitive gameplay, and boring combat. This series would probably have ended up on a permanent hiatus if it wasn’t for the subsequent third entry,Dragon Age: Inquisition, which is widely considered one of the best games of 2014.
Dead Spacewas one of the absolute best survival horror franchises of the seventh generation of consoles, as these games basically took the third-person gameplay ofResident Evil 4and put it in a dark science-fiction setting reminiscent of theAlienfilm franchise. The first title was an unexpected masterpiece, andDead Space 2, which only came out two years later, maintained that momentum by flawlessly improving on almost everything from the original.
However, the subsequent release ofDead Space 3completely obliterated that momentum by committing one huge mistake: changing genres.Dead Space 3is more of a co-op action-adventure title instead of a creepy survival horror game, which was something that Electronic Arts had ordered Visceral Games to do. This sudden shift in genre and style completely ruined the franchise’s reputation, which is a real shame, because the core gameplay is quite solid and fun. Sadly, the critical and commercial failure ofDead Space 3led to the closure of Visceral Games and a ten-year-long hiatus for this IP.
There’s no denying thatBattlefield 1is one of thebest things to have happened to theBattlefieldfranchise, as this World War I-themed FPS was critically acclaimed for both its refreshing single-player campaign and its excellent multiplayer mode that could compete with Activision’sCall of Dutyfranchise. It’s clear that, at first, Electronic Arts and DICE took advantage of this game’s success and spent the following year constantly supporting it via updates and DLC expansions.
Battlefield 1had successfully reinvigorated its franchise, but this newfound momentum was killed when its direct sequel,Battlefield 5, came out two years later. Most fans deemed it unnecessary, and its World War 2 theme was seen as boring and unoriginal, not to mention that it had many glaring technical issues at launch. While EA and DICE eventually fixed some of these problems, the damage had already been done, and theBattlefieldseries was never able to gain back the reputation it had earned whenBattlefield 1was originally released.
Despite being one of the most iconic and important video game franchises out there,Sonic the Hedgehoggames have been very “hit-or-miss” during the mid-2010s. In celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary, Sega decided to publish two brand-newSonicgames in 2017, with the first one beingSonic Mania, a 2D throwback to the classic Sega Genesis entries, complete with fast-paced gameplay, impeccable level design, beautiful sprite work, and one of the catchiest soundtracks in the entire mainline series.
Sonic Maniawas a major critical and commercial success, not to mention that it had completely improved the franchise’s reputation, to the point that many people who hadn’t played aSonic the Hedgehoggame since the 90s were trying it out. But this newfound momentum was tragically killed by the very next 25th anniversary game,Sonic Forces(and yes, this is technically a sequel because their plots are directly connected). Widely regarded as one of the worst 3DSonicgames ever made,Sonic Forceswas panned for its absurd story, linear level design, short duration, and repetitive gameplay, and it made general audiences mistakenly believe that modern games in this series could never be good again.
Resident Evil 2 Remakeis one of the absolutebest video game remakes ever made, as it not only faithfully translated the 1998 survival horror classic into modern hardware but also greatly expanded its story and gameplay. The impeccable quality of this game inevitably made fans feel very excited about the prospect of a potential remake ofResident Evil 3,but weirdly enough, this ended up materializing just a year later, asResident Evil 3 Remakecame out in April 2020.
This is not a bad video game per se, but it was a disappointing remake for most fans, who criticized its short duration, its cheap scares, the mishandling of the Nemesis character, and the removal of certain areas. The lackluster reception ofResident Evil 3 Remakemade fans of this franchise worry about the quality of future games, especially if Capcom ever decided to remake the legendaryResident Evil 4. Fortunately,Resident Evil 4Remakeeventually came out in 2023, and it was incredible, perhaps even better thanResident Evil 2 Remake.
After a polarizing start, the Eighth Generation ofPokemon(and, in a way, the entire franchise) was completely revitalized with the release ofPokemon Legends: Arceusin January 2022. This was the semi-open world adventure set in the distant past that mostPokemonfans had been dreaming of for decades, and its refreshing change in the formula proved to be a gigantic success, as gamers around the world were praising and enjoying this new game, whether they were longtime fans of the series or not.
However, everybody knew that something was wrong when the next mainline entry in the series (Legends: Arceusis a mainline game, according to Game Freak) was announced in February and was set to come out in November of that same year. This questionable decision resulted inPokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, an admittedly fun game that doubled down on the open-world formulabut was plagued with glaring bugs, glitches, and other technical issues on release. It was evident that The Pokemon Company and/or Nintendo had forced Game Freak to rush the development of the first Ninth Generation games, and the final product ended up suffering a lot as a result. To put it into perspective: in January 2022, everybody was praisingPokemon, whereas everybody was criticizing the series by November of that year.
The reasoning behind the success ofSplitgateis quite simple: it was a free-to-play multiplayer FPS with a unique look and a dynamic combat system. For many people, this game filled the void that the (at-the-time dormant)Halofranchise had left, and to make things even better, developer 1047 Games kept supporting it via constant updates. It’s important to point out that multiplayer titles likeSplitgateare meant to be supported for many years, meaning that it’s not really necessary for their respective developers to make a full-on sequel if everything is going well for them.
Unfortunately, it seems like 1047 Games misunderstood this sentiment,as it releasedSplitgate 2in June 2025, and it was immediately panned by its large player base. Not only was its original announcement during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 highly controversial, but the final game was heavily criticized for its more generic presentation, watered-down gameplay, lack of content, and the inclusion of a battle royale mode, which felt like it was chasing a trend most fans were not interested in. The worst part is that there is still a very fun FPS game somewhere in there, but the polarizing reception ofSplitgate 2forced 1047 Games to “unrelease” this sequel and make it go back to its Beta phase, so the remaining developers can fix all of these issues for a potential 2026 re-release.
