Fatigue is something we witness quite regularly in the video game industry, and naturally so. Although there are always a handful of studios that manage to push the boundaries in a meaningful way, many are seen to be rehashing the same mix of content and mechanics used the year before, albeit with a new title.
Such stagnation is arguably inevitable and not always a bad thing. There are only so many new ideas a developer can float without having to do a complete overhaul of its stable or create a brand new series. Not only that, there are great many of us who openly enjoy incremental improvements on existing genre and series templates. As Dave rightly points out, it’s a Catch-22 for companies who want to be seen as innovators while still making a mint from established game series.
There are plenty of examples to choose from, but Call of Duty is the most immediate stand-out in this respect. For Activision – and the industry as a whole – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was an indisputable game changer. So refreshing was its fast and easy online multiplayer that Infinity Ward and Treyarch managed to get away with an annual reskin year after year. It caught up to them eventually, however, and although Call of Duty: Ghosts still kept the tills ringing for Activision, it felt desperately tired, no longer being able to keep up with fan expectations. Of course, since then Activision has employed a different tack, passing the franchise between three developers as opposed to the same two. Neither are as acclaimed as Call of Duty 4, yet Advanced Warfare and Black Ops III have genuinely started to fight back against fatigue with new movement systems last year, and now a campaign built around 4 player co-op.
Teflon, though sympathetic, has continued to sense fatigue while also identifying ways big publishers have at tried to mix things up a bit.
“This is the eternal problem for major publishers, to keep their games feeling fresh and appealing to prospective buyers, while still clinging onto the brand and the gameplay that made them so popular in the first place.
“Without a similar injection of new game series at the start of the generation and a tendency to continue to forge ahead with hugely popular series like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty on a yearly basis, Ubisoft, Activision and EA have tried to mix things up. Need for Speed got to take a year off, AC Syndicate was developed by Ubisoft Quebec instead of Montreal, Call of Duty has moved to a three year development cycle and added a more mobile and fluid movement style, while Battlefield’s name was used for the cops & robbers of Hardline.
“They’re still immensely popular with the general populace, but it does feel as though they are in a gradual decline. Instead, newer, fresher feeling games are coming to fore, whether it’s Destiny’s blockbusting MMO-like shooter, the return of Star Wars Battlefront this week, and even Watch Dogs, which though lambasted as ‘Yet Another Ubisoft Game’, did a lot to create a new world for familiar gameplay elements to live in.”
It’s funny that Tef mentions Ubisoft. Despite some cracking games over the past several years, it seems as though some of us have begun to develop Ubisoft fatigue. This is due to the proliferation of its many open world game systems. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Watch Dogs, Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, or even games like The Crew, they all come tagged with the similar features and gameplay beats. Need to make full use of an environment in-game? Chances are, you’ll need to climb or knock down some sort of tower.
Although this was an idea that originated within Assassin’s Creed, it’s now become fairly widespread and has no doubt come back to bite the historical shank ‘em up series in its behind. Both Aran and Dave stressed that the franchise has been patchy of late, something I’m quite happy to agree with. If reiterating on the same formula each year was enough, Ubisoft went all-out in 2014 when it launched Assassin’s Creed Unity and Assassin’s Creed Rogue.
Going back to the original argument, publishers are the only ones who can dispel fatigue but they’re probably unwilling to let a successful series rest as long as there’s money in the pot. In other words, the only way to force their hand and reinvigorate their IP is to speak with our wallets. Nothing screams ageing formula as much as a sharp decline in sales. That said, we’re at this stage now where many of us are conditioned into buying annual sequels without batting an eyelid.
And now we hand the discussion over to you, our lovely readers. Which series are beginning to show their age after years of minor tweaking? Do you even mind? What can developers do to shake up their existing roster of games without pressing reset and potentially angering fans?
Eldave0
I’m actually on both sides of the fence on this (depending on which series we are talking about).
As a gamer who follows the news and picks up, on average, 15 games a year, its great when new IPs are announced. They’re usually something a little different and breathe a bit of life into (what can sometimes be) a bit of a stale hobby.
On the other side of the coin, I’m still a big fan of the Call of Duty series, which has been seeing annual releases for years. For all the stick they get, I find they (usually anyway) bring enough new stuff to the table to make them feel fresh while, at same time, keep the core formula familiar so I can instantly pick up a controller and start playing.
I think there is room for both types of games. As much as I will be glad when they finally put the Uncharted series to bed, I would have been a little disappointed if I’d played Uncharted 1, got to know the various characters only for Naughty Dog to not give us a sequel and expand on them.
Crazy_Del
Agree with Ubisoft they have used the same style from Assassins Creed to Far Cry and suprisingly WatchDogs. Although I feel Creed and Watchdogs are probably involved as I found related info in between them. But then again it could be just Easter Eggs. Black Flag was a huge change involving Sea Battles and Rogue as a Templar instead of Assassin. I am loving Syndicate as there are new additions added in the game.
I gave up Call of Duty years ago. Did not like the technology involved as it has speed up. Or maybe that is just me.
Only game that can tire me out are either a double HD such as Metro or trilogy such as Hitman, Tomb Raider etc….. I have decided to play one old game and then a rest or play or something else before returning to play the 2nd one and so on.
Starman
Some yearly games have definitely had a dip in their sales like CoD & Assassins Creed so some are clearly getting bored of them and playing other games. I haven’t bought either for a few years.
I think some people are preferring a single release with lots of long term dlc & support like Driveclub, Titanfall & Destiny have had, rather than a sequel every year.
hornet1990
The problem with the Destiny/DriveClub approach is that it can create a winner takes all situation because once a gamer buys into it they’re unlikely to devote much time or money to anything else, so great for the publisher that won their business, bad for the rest.
This will ultimately lead to the publishers trying to throw a bit of everything into new games to try to appeal to the broadest range of gamers, even though it may not fit the game particularly or just end up doing a lot of things badly instead of a few things incredibly well.
Starman
Yeah you’re right but the profitability of the publishers isn’t my concern. If it makes them try harder for my money then I won’t complain.
These days I tend to avoid the games that I’ll finish in a few days then sell on, I prefer games that will keep me occupied for a long time like Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Gears of War. Maybe just because I’m a bit tighter with my money though!
Lieutenant Fatman
There are a few games series where it feels as if they’ve just held down control & v. Then given each one a slightly different coat of paint.
But some people want that. Sometimes a sequel just isn’t needed even for a new series. The amount of people who wanted The Last of Us 2 instead of a new IP from ND. I think The Last of Us is great but I’d rather see something fresh than a sequel.
JustTaylorNow
I don’t think there is enough sequels out, we can’t call games like AC & CoD sequels, they are beyond sequel level now. Games like TLOU sequel can work if the story is right but it’s ND so it will work.
Right now I feel like new gen is all about the 4th in the title. Looking forward to the likes of dishonoured 2, Just cause 3, UC4, TR2 etc
beeje13
It comes and goes, when I was younger I would get hyped up for cod between World at War and Black ops. In my view MW3 was when I started to notice fatigue, yet I still bought that out of habit, as well as Blops 2. There are many possible reasons why, and I’m sure people have a different game in the series that they view as being the point in which it became tired.
I tend to enjoy the campaigns, in the same way you enjoy a 4 star action movie, quick an entertaining, not overstaying their welcome. However I feel there is some clever storytelling and really interesting themes (advanced warfare comes to mind, but the original Black Ops was great too). I don’t really play cod multiplayer anymore because it’s so intense and there’s so many decent players now and It’s harder to do well than it used to be.
As for Ubisoft games, I’ve only really played AC4 and Unity but I thought they were really good, yet I can imagine to someone who has played the 4 or more previous games that they would be tired of the homogenized open world game design. I couldn’t believe they had the tower system in the Crew when I played the Beta. I can imagine that The Division and Ghost Recon wildlands will be the same case, along with below average graphics. I’m hoping that this isn’t the case.
And despite there being 6 or 7 GTA’s I still get hyped for a new entry because they don’t come around often and are of the highest quality.
Blayney
JUST MAKE MODERN WARFARE 2 DEFINITIVE EDITION IT’S ALL ANYONE WANTS!!
Seriously though modern warfare 2 game play with the full story from 1 and 2 (maybe 3 I didn’t play it). Update the graphics a bit. All multiplayer maps from 1 and 2. Maybe add gun game and sticks and stones from blops.
Then leave everything else alone!
The story peaked at modern warfare. Online peaked with modern warfare 2.
In other series the only sequels I want are for half life and mirrors edge. I don’t think I’m invested in any other stories.
ron_mcphatty
In the last decade it seems like the speed with which it’s possible to produce computer generated media has increased massively. Then because games can be made faster they will be made faster, episodic output happened and DLC took to the skies. Sequels make good business sense, especially if they use resources from their predecessors, and as much as I winge about greedy boardroom members it’s better that these big sequel-machine companies stay afloat to sell games, keep increasing interest in the industry and keep selling consoles. As part of a mixed bag I don’t mind sequels, the yearly output spreading from sports to other genres seems greedy to me but to a whole generation it’s totally normal. As long as we get the odd standalone AAA with a great story and big production values to sit beside the franchises theb im happy :)
Andrewww
Just like Eldave0, it really depends on the series. As much as I liked Far Cry 2 and 3,for example, I just didn’t want to play another of the same series and gave no.4 a pass.
So, I guess, that was a clear case of sequel fatigue.
On the other hand, I’m really looking forward to Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Uncharted 4, Outlast 2, and I wish there ever was a sequel to Alien:Isolation (which is unlikely), as these are all games I didn’t get enough of just yet.
Tastes are very different, and so there’s room for a lot of different games in the market, and I’m happy there’s still a good mixture of both sequels and new IPs. Of course, there’s a lot of sequels by publishers playing it safe, but we as consumers can vote with our wallets against it if we want.
Mick939
Im abit tired of certain yearly games, not got cod yet and dont think this gen ive properly given a crap about it, but I eat up ac, my Xmas isnt xmas without an assassins creed.