A long-running video game franchise suddenly switching developers for a new game isn't an inherently bad thing; it's just a reality of the business. That being said, there are some notable changes that only made things worse.
Whether it was because of a questionable creative decision or the studio was forced to obey their publisher's demands, these games series suffered greatly after their original creators left. In fact, some of these franchises died after the changing of the guard.
10 Devil May Cry Was Forced To Return To Basics After The Divisive Prequel
Even though Devil May Cry 4 was a hit with fans and critics, Capcom felt that Dante's signature series needed a breath of fresh air. With this in mind, and after being impressed by Heavenly Sword, Capcom collaborated with the British studio Ninja Theory and encouraged them to do whatever they wanted with Dante and his fight against Hell.
Ninja Theory created the prequel DmC: Devil May Cry, but it sparked an intense backlash that was impossible to ignore. Though the gameplay was fine, fans took offense to DmC's retcons and Dante's new self-serious backstory. Rather than continue the prequel timeline, Capcom returned to the series with the better-received Devil May Cry 5.
9 Halo Polarized Fans In The Post-Bungie Era
Despite the odd spin-off like Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach, fans and Bungie considered Halo 3 to be the definite end of Master Chief's saga. Microsoft Studios thought otherwise and made their in-house team, 343 Industries, not only inherit the franchise from Bungie but continue Master Chief's war with a brand new trilogy.
Instead of attracting newcomers or exciting Master Chief's older fans, the new Halo games split the fanbase thanks to lukewarm gameplay and outside controversies. 343's Reclaimer Saga made a slight comeback with Halo: Infinite, the new trilogy's best-received entry so far, but it still fell short when compared to the original trilogy.
8 Fallout Became More Generic Without Black Isle Studios
When it began, Fallout was a niche but critically acclaimed role-playing game best known for its morally complex narratives and characters. However, most sequels/spin-offs after Fallout 2 sacrificed depth and methodical gameplay for action and simpler stories, starting with the bland Fallout 3 and culminating in the disastrous Fallout 76.
This was because Fallout's original creators, Black Isle Studios, only made the first two canonical games before selling the game's rights to Bethesda following their parent company's closure. Strains of Fallout's original old-school complexity emerged in Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas, which was made by former Black Isle developers.
7 Call Of Duty Lost Its Luster When It Became An Annual Release
Infinity Ward was an unfortunate victim of its success, as its signature Call Of Duty didn't just shape the FPS game, but arguably doomed them. Following the blockbuster sales of the original game up to Modern Warfare, publisher Activision basically cheated the developers out of their flagship title through a shady contract.
After firing the original COD team, Activision tasked Infinity Ward's remnants and former COD expansion-makers Sledgehammer Games and Treyarch to churn out annual entries. This led to games that kept increasing in budget and graphical capability but yielded diminishing results as COD became a slave to a formula that long outlived its welcome.
6 Mass Effect Failed To Expand Under BioWare Montreal
Despite a finale so divisive that it had to be retconned by a DLC, BioWare Edmonton's Mass Effect trilogy ended on a high note. Since Mass Effect's original team was busy working on the ill-fated Anthem, BioWare decided to pass their flagship sci-fi series to their Montreal team, a team that previously worked on Mass Effect's DLC and multiplayer.
BioWare Montreal created Mass Effect: Andromeda, which was set to be the next chapter in the franchise's spacefaring saga. However, thanks to EA rushing production, among other things, Andromeda released in such a terrible state (most notoriously seen in the face animations) that it didn't just flop on launch, but it arguably killed any goodwill Mass Effect once commanded.
5 Duke Nukem Was Doomed The Moment Forever Started Production
It's easy to blame the Duke Nukem franchise's death on Gearbox Software, the developers who actually finished the long-gestating sequel, Duke Nukem Forever. However, Duke's fate was sealed the moment work on Forever began. The problem was that 3D Realms kept restarting production thanks to director George Broussard's impossible demands.
From 1997 to 2010, Broussard kept rebuilding Duke's fourth game because he wanted it to be as up-to-date as possible. Take-Two Interactive, the game's publisher, got tired of waiting and sued 3D Realms, which led to Gearbox taking over. Though Gearbox only added the finishing touches, their mediocre work drove the last nail into Duke's coffin.
4 Command & Conquer Died A Slow Death After EA Disbanded Westwood Studios
At its peak, Command And Conquer dominated the real-time strategy scene. Seeing the potential in Red Alert and Tiberian Sun, EA acquired the games' developers, Westwood Studios, and demanded that may make nothing but hits. When the RTS/FPS hybrid C&C: Renegade flopped, EA retaliated by shutting Westwood down.
EA mandated that Westwood's employees either relocate to their Los Angeles studios or leave. In the aftermath, every new C&C game was made by EA's in-house developers like EA Pacific. Beginning with Generals, each new C&C title saw diminishing returns in sales and reception, and the once immovable RTS series slowly faded away.
3 Star Wars: Battlefront Became Controversial Under EA's Watch
Star Wars games tend to be really inconsistent in terms of quality, with the Battlefront multiplayer shooters being some of the rare and amazing exceptions. The first two Battlefront titles were developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, and they've since become some of the best-revered movie tie-in and FPS games ever played.
Following Star Wars' sale to Disney, the games' rights shifted to EA. Battlefront was revived by EA's developers, DICE, but not for the better. Thanks to a lack of content, predatory microtransactions, and deliberately counterproductive game progression, gamers didn't just turn on the rebooted Battlefronts, they became the focus of different international anti-gambling committees.
2 Silent Hill Was Never The Same Without Team Silent
In light of Resident Evil's success, Konami wanted their own survival-horror game and told a bunch of employees from failed projects to come up with something. The developers who would be retroactively called "Team Silent" created the emotionally charged Silent Hill and were surprised by its success. That then led to three more hit games.
Rather than capitalize on this, Konami dissolved Team Silent before outsourcing the production to foreign studios. Everything after Silent Hill 4: The Room was made by Westerners like Double Helix Games, and they paled next to Team Silent's work. Just when the series seemed back on track with Kojima Productions' Silent Hills, Konami shut it down and fired the developers out of spite.
1 Metal Gear Solid Imploded After Konami Fired Kojima Productions
There will never be a developer change as controversial and publicized as the forced divorce between Hideo Kojima and his brainchild, Metal Gear Solid. While working on MGS V: The Phantom Pain, Kojima and Kojima Productions had such a falling out with their publisher, Konami, that their names were stripped from the game's ads and copies.
A month after The Phantom Pain was released, Konami fired Kojima Productions and swore to make more MGS games even without Kojima. Konami's in-house developers, Konami Digital Entertainment, made the zombie-survival game Metal Gear Survive, which was received so poorly that it killed the once legendary MGS overnight.