Poll: Poll: Why are we seeing so many reboots?

[DoPo]

"Reboots are important because I want a ReBoot reboot!"

Spoiler: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, thanks. I'd rather not have one.

As for why we're seeing so many reboots - safe investment. Pretty much the entire thing - big names sell better and slapping a big name guarantees some amount of customers. Also, less advertisement is required, since people know what the old one is about, you don't have to explain it to them in the first place.

 

[rob_simple]

I like reboots that are a re-imagining of --and don't necessarily detract from-- the originals, (like, in film terms, I love Nolan's Batman trilogy every bit as much as Burton's films). I see nothing wrong with taking an established universe and putting your own spin on it, like with DmC.

I get a bit upset when a series 'reboot' turns out to just be the first game with a slightly altered story and some shiny new graphics, but even then if it's been long enough since I played the original I'll probably still enjoy it.

But to answer your question OP, with an option that wasn't on the poll really, reboots are a good way for developers to try new things but still have the security of a brand to guarantee decent sales.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Reboots should be used when the game has had a very long life and no longer can be "milked" and it became very stagnant with the same gameplay that you knew to come and expect. I can think of many different games/tv series that has done this and some of them had success.

Sometimes just continuing with a sequel can be a good thing, but usually rebooting a franchise is really needed to come up with something new and fresh within the supposed universe using only the characters but maybe changing the canon or story and keeping only the main important bits.

You can have sparks of innovation if you do it like this, either in gameplay or new mechanics or story elements that haven't been used before. I don't think any of us wants the same old CoD for example for the next 10 years although it usually sells like hotcakes without any changes being made to it, apart from either different setting and extra few weapons which we have all seen before, aside from a few examples.

I respect and fully support developers that don't back down to pressure from publishers and take their time with a game trying to make it the best way they can. CD Projekt RED are one of the ones that put creative innovation over making money as fast as possible, which is why they got my undivided attention to everything they do.

 

[Something Amyss]

Reusing old ideas that are guaranteed to sell is a classic sign of a recession. Risks are discouraged and investments are almost exclusively on the "safe" side. Blame the economy, I guess.

Yeah, that's why Hollywood crashed in the mid-00's, right?

 

[Something Amyss]

Honestly, it's sometimes nice to shed the baggage of a series' prior games.

Spoiler: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, thanks. I'd rather not have one.

I'd much rather have that trilogy continue it, myself.

 

[DoPo]

Spoiler: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, thanks. I'd rather not have one.

I'd much rather have that trilogy continue it, myself.

Yes, me too. Or be a spin off set in some other system or something.

 

[Panorama]

Reusing old ideas that are guaranteed to sell is a classic sign of a recession. Risks are discouraged and investments are almost exclusively on the "safe" side. Blame the economy, I guess.

yes, this

 

[Absolutionis]

Reusing old ideas that are guaranteed to sell is a classic sign of a recession. Risks are discouraged and investments are almost exclusively on the "safe" side. Blame the economy, I guess.

This is pretty much the answer.

Odd that it's not reflected in any of the poll choices.

 

[krazykidd]

Reusing old ideas that are guaranteed to sell is a classic sign of a recession. Risks are discouraged and investments are almost exclusively on the "safe" side. Blame the economy, I guess.

This is what i was going to say.

While i have nothing against reboots . And i can see why sometimes they are cool . I just find that they reek of unoriginality and using the name of a series to ensure sales . There is no reason why a reboot couldn't be a new IP, other than the fact that new IPs bring risk , and slapping an old and popular name on the cover ensures that the game sells .

Originality is overrated. If it's original and a bad idea, no one cares. They'll perpetually complain it should have been like everything else. If it's original and a good idea, everybody else will do it until it becomes monotonous and then people will complain no one does anything original anymore. Reboots are risky but they're acceptably risky. In my opinion, different is better than original. Furthermore, a popular name doesn't ensure sales. If Batman Begins, Casino Royale, Tomb Raider, etc. were done terribly for example, they would end up more akin to Superman Returns. Maybe not bad but certainly not good enough to continue.

It's not about continuing . It's about here and now . Let's say the new tomb raider game was a new IP . If it was a new IP ( with a different name )it would have sold less , because few people would know what it is and what's it's about . Because it's named Tomb raider , you go a fanbase from go . Day 1 sales will be a lot higher and thats when companies make the most money. So inatial sales would be higher.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It's the same reasons why medias (film and cartoon) get reboot too, it safer to make a profit by updating/ facelift a established franchise than it is to risk at making a new (and maybe original) franchise in the hope it will make a huge profit from it.

 

[Auron]

I'm still waiting for the remake of Deus Ex.

 

[hermes]

Mainly the first two: Reboots are needed to refresh established IPs, and also as a way to introduce people to old games.

I have no issues with reboots. They make use of established franchises and feel more fresh than just pure sequels. Sure, some are overly commercially focused (like Bionic Commando, Syndicate and the FPS X-Com) but, lets face it, in those cases, they used franchises they haven't used in years (or decades). Its not like DMC was THE reason Capcom wasn't doing a common Devil May Cry 5...

For the rest, a reboot can be far more interesting than a tired up sequel: Modern Warfare, Mortal Kombat 9 and Resident Evil 4 are reboots of franchises that were going nowhere, and reinvigorated the interest in the IP.

In fact, abusing of often-sequels with little change over the originals is the reason my interest for God of War and Assassins Creed dried up. In fact, I would take a revision of Kratos story and gameplay over yet another sequel/prequel/sequel version with the same old angry white-and-tattooed guy.

 

[BrotherRool]

I actually think it's because the industry wants to make new IPs and do new things with games at the moment, but is still a bit hesitant because the new console generation has gone on longer than they thought.

So they make clean breaks at established games and freshen up the weight of continuity a bit

EDIT

In fact, abusing of often-sequels with little change over the originals is the reason my interest for God of War and Assassins Creed dried up. In fact, I would take a revision of Kratos story and gameplay over yet another sequel/prequel/sequel version with the same old angry white-and-tattooed guy.

Someone get a publisher to hire this person. I would freakin' adore a God of War or Assassins Creed reboot over another sequel/prequel.

Assassins Creed sells on the idea of freerunning through parts of ancient history and it's pretty clear that the game has lost its way now. It no longer feels like the sequels are going anywhere with the story, but are just there to be pumped out endlessly. So break it off, destory the continuity, tell a new reimagined story and pick a new interesting era of history to give us freerunning powers (*coughRome*coughrevolutionaryfrance*cough)

Same with God of War. Greek mythology is cool, hack 'n slashes are cool, but Kratos has nowhere to go as a character and the franchise has gone into zombie mode. Kickstart it's heart again

 

[hermes]

Reusing old ideas that are guaranteed to sell is a classic sign of a recession. Risks are discouraged and investments are almost exclusively on the "safe" side. Blame the economy, I guess.

Except reboots are inherently risky, because of the potential to alienate the fanbase while also going unnoticed to the mainstream audience. Sure, they are safer than brand new IPs, but they are still not without risks.

Want to know an example of playing on the "safe side"? Look at sequels that are barely different, like GOW:Ascension, AC:Revelations or GoW:Judgement...

 

[Singularly Datarific]

We have reboots because people keep fucking buying them.

 

[Full]

I've said this in another thread. They are going to copy what's popular anyway, may as well do it with another franchise to get brand recognition.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Make reboot, sell reboot, new gamer plays reboot, new gamer likes reboot, new gamer is now interested in older games in franchise and purchases them.

New IP's don't do that, how many copies of the original Fallout games were sold because people liked the newer FPS games? I would guess the answer is more than if they had just made it a new IP called "Radiation Exploration and Murder Simulator" or whatever.

 

[Kazam24a]

BRAND RECOGNITION....

 

[theSteamSupported]

I actually prefer reboots over sequels. No franchise ever deserves to die, and in order to avoid creative stagnation and chaotic continuities, the story needs to be retold in a new fashion, a.k.a the Zelda method.