When looking at some ofgaming’s longest-running series, it’s interesting to see where some franchises stumbled or even fell into the unfortunate void of irrelevancy. Factors that can harm a franchise’s critical and commercial reception include advancements in gaming hardware, which can immediately date certain genres; a reluctance to change or to innovate; and, of course, achange in development team.
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There have been countless examples of franchises changing developers and immediately dropping in quality, with notable examples beingSpyro the Dragon,Championship Manager, andCrash Bandicoot, which has only recently found its feet again. Changing development studios is certainly not a death sentence for franchises, however, as numerous series have seen theiroriginal creators leave only for the series' quality to remain consistent or even improve.
7Wolfenstein
Wolfensteinis one of gaming’s longest-running series that is still active today, with the franchise’s first game,Castle Wolfenstein, having first hit stores all the way back in 1981. 1981’sCastle Wolfensteinwas developed by Muse Software and is a 2D action-adventure game that is played from a top-down perspective; it was one of the first games to ever featurestealth gameplay.
Stealth wasn’t the only genre thatWolfensteinhelped popularize, however, as id Software’sWolfenstein 3Dwas instrumental in the rise of first-person shooters. TheWolfensteinseries never looked back fromWolfenstein 3Dand has continuously put out solid FPS efforts over the years with MachineGames now at the helm. Swedish studio MachineGames has been on a hot streak since their first game in the series,Wolfenstein: The New Order,and have earned the right to develop Bethesda’s highly anticipatedIndiana Jonesgame.
6Halo
Although many would argue that 343 Industries’Haloreleases have struggled to reach the heights of Bungie’s legendary first threeHalogames, there’s little doubt that the series can still be classed as ‘great.’
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343 Industries' firstHalogame wasHalo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a remake of the series' first game. 343 Industries have released every main seriesHalogame since then, along with a handful of spin-off games, such asHalo: Spartan Assaultandthe real-time strategy gameHalo Wars 2. Ensemble Studios also deserve mention for developing the originalHalo Wars, which did a great job of replicating the thrill ofHalocombat in a different genre.
5Gears Of War
LikeHalo,Gears of Warwas at its best with its original developers - in this case Epic Games - at the helm, though the series has certainly remained great. Before they were raking in eye-watering sums of cash withFortnite, Epic Games were developing the iconic originalGears of Wartrilogy.
The Coalition, who developedGears of Wars 4andGears 5,first developed a remake of the originalGears of Wargame, much like how 343 Industries got their start by developing a remake of the firstHalogame. Polish studio People Can Fly did a great job when they co-developedGears of War: Judgmentwith Epic Games and British Studio Splash Damage deserve credit for their work onthe spin-off turn-based tactics gameGears Tactics.
4Donkey Kong
Donkey Kongfans certainly can’t complain about the prestige of gaming studios that have developed their favorite series, as the IP has been in the very safe hands of esteemed development teams like Rare, Namco, and Nintendo.
Nintendo developed the iconic originalDonkey Konggame, while Rare were at the helm for the legendaryDonkey Kong Countryand highly-regardedDonkey Kong 64.Namco came out of left field with theDonkey Kongatrilogy, which wasn’t ever going to win any game of the year awards but wasgreat fun to play with friendsanddeceivingly addictive. Retro Studios ensured that the series didn’t falter during the 2010s, withDonkey Kong Country ReturnsandDonkey Kong Country: Tropical Freezeboth being well received.
3Civilization
TheCivilizationseries has been a cornerstone of the strategy genre since MicroProse created the 4X series in 1991. As is common in the 4X genre, theCivilizationseries tasks players with building a thriving civilization over time that will achieve one of the game’s win conditions, such asscienceordomination, before any other civ. TheCivilizationseries has stayed true to its roots over the decades but has grown to become one of the most engrossing and addictive PC franchises of all time.
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The first twoCivilizationgames were developed by MicroProse, before Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds, and Jeff Briggs left the company in 1996 to found Firaxis Games, which has developed the main series andspin-off titlessince then.
2Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombathas been one of the biggest names inthe fighting genresince the first game came to arcades in 1992. The series is known for itsover-the-top violence, particularly its brutal Fatality finishing moves, which sparked a ton of controversy from concerned parents throughout the ’90s.
The series was created by Midway Games, who developed the series' games for almost two decades before filing for bankruptcy in 2009; Warner Bros. purchased many of the company’s assets, includingMortal Kombat.Fans of the fighting series were understandably worried about the series' future, though NetherRealm Studios have done an excellent job of maintaining the series' high quality.
1Tomb Raider
The firstTomb Raidergame hit shelves in 1996 and was developed by Core Design. The game took a risk by featuring a female protagonist, which was uncommon in the ’90s, though it certainly paid off as Lara Croft soon became one of gaming’s biggest icons and is credited as being instrumental in the rise ofstrong female protagonists in gaming.
Crystal Dynamics’LegendandSurvivortrilogies have both done excellent jobs at reinventing the classic original trilogy for modern systems. Crystal Dynamic passed the torch to Canadian development studio Eidos-Montréal for the latest main series game,Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which capped off theSurvivorseries in style.
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