As an aging gamer, I like my nostalgia and legacy series just as much as the next 30–something gaming fan. I mean, it was just last October that I was singing the praises of the Silent Hill 2 remake and I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about more than a few sequels, remakes and spiritual successors during Virtual Bastion’s decade-plus lifespan. Yet, lately, I’ve had this nagging thought that, just like with movies, all this attention we pay to the past might be robbing us all of a proper future for video games.

This thought really solidified earlier this week when I was talking about Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. After Halo 5 and especially after Halo Infinite, it would make sense for the IP to finally be put to bed, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not really Halo anymore; not in the way that Halo 1 through Halo: Reach were, and fans obviously aren’t happy with it, so why continue to drag it ever onward? Why not let it rest so that a new IP can get a spot in the sun?

Well, I suppose we all know the answer to that, don’t we. Established series are easier to market and sell than new IP. It’s the same across all media, be it books, movies, TV or games. People already know more or less what to expect from an entry in an established series, so the developers/publishers don’t have to put in the extra effort to communicate what kind of experience buyers will get from that new IP.

As we’ve seen in recent years, though, new IP can still explode onto the market and enjoy instant massive success. Just look at Baldur’s Gate 3, Black Myth: Wukong and, most recently, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for proof of that. Are these exceptions? Sure, for now they are. But, how many more of these excellent, highly popular, new ongoing IP could we have if AAA publishers and even platform holders would be willing to actually invest in them rather than cancel them the second the annual cost-cutting season comes around?

Instead, we keep dragging along these 20, 30, even 40-year old series despite them getting more and more tired with every year that passes. Again, I like that we’re getting more of the likes of Silent Hill and such, but what I’d like to see even more is entirely new horror games, or at least new entries in recently established series, like what we’re on track to get with Tormented Souls II. 

Of course, I don’t think anything I or anyone says will stop the likes of Activision-Blizzard from pumping out a new Call of Duty every year. That only ends when it stops being profitable, which will probably be never. No, AAA isn’t the place to look for this, but it’s kind of a shame since AAA has the resources to turn one-off new IP into long-running series. Ah well, we’ve still got the AA and indie sectors are doing great work on this front, and that’s more than enough, right?

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Do you think it’d be better for some of these old series to either stop or have a break? What do you think about seeing more new IP in their places?

Image by Flickr user: commorancy (cc)