A new year sets in and after a long pandemic and also big budget dev cycle paralysis we should start to see the delivery of major new games increase in pace at long last. But, many popular franchises and projects were already MIA even before lockdowns started to be imposed around the world.
Time for a 2023 check on where our beloved franchises stand right now:
Bioshock 4
Rumours have long circulated and an announcement of sorts has come and gone and yet the silence has broadly continued with even the team that wanted to get away from it years ago having come back with a very similar looking game as well as the predecessor to this series as well, all without the main franchise itself rearing its head - 10 Years Since Last Entry
Burnout 6
EA has pulled Criterion apart, then tried to put it back together and mined all sorts of approaches from Burnout to try and keep the tired, knackered old wheels going on the Need for Speed franchise. Yet, outside of a remaster, they have never followed up on the last Burnout despite the obviousness of the move - 15 Years Since Last Entry
Castlevania
Silent Hill might have finally reared its head out of this category but Castlevania remains untapped despite being used by Netflix. With the resurgency of development from Konami could it come back... - 9 Years Since Last Entry
Fallout 5
A harder one, Fallout 76 has been keeping the torch going despite it not being for everyone, but the central franchise is amongst the ranks of Bethesda RPGs where the wait for a new entry is getting longer and longer without end in sight - 8 Years Since Last Entry
Grand Theft Auto VI
Retouched and rereleased and milked till its teats run dry, when a sequel does arrive there's a good chance several of us could genuinely be dead before another game comes out at the rate Rockstar is going about the franchise but 2022 did provide some sign of life with the leaked footage from early builds - 10 Years Since Last Entry
Mario Kart 9
An eye watering wait and yet at the same time it's never truly away from us thanks to the high sustained sales and belated content coming to the last entry. As big as the game is, it's now an old title and whilst spin-offs have also arrived such as Tour and Live fans eagerly await the next numbered entry - 7 Years Since Last Entry
Mega Man 12/X9
Capcom continues to monetise Mega Man in many ways but new games aren't really amongst them. A new title could in theory come via any one of a number of arms this franchise has but as things stand the company still seems intent on allowing the rust to build up - 5 Years Since Last Entry
Metal Gear Solid VI
An easy one to put aside after Kojima went his separate ways and Konami threw their gaming division out with the baby water but the company has been making moves to get back into the tentpole game business and this remains their biggest franchise - 7 Years Since Last Entry
Ridge Racer 8
Despite rumours of an attempt a year or two ago, Namco has revived each of its key franchises in some form except this renowned racer which still sits languishing in the pits - 11 Years Since Last Entry
Super Mario Bros 12
The world is never short of Mario titles being released by Nintendo and sometimes they will only release a single new main entry per generation but the Switch train continues a pace and the time that has passed since Odyssey is now the second longest gap ever between main entries, closing in on the longest - 5 Years Since Last Entry
The Elder Scrolls VI
Another franchise who's latest and biggest entry has been heavily milked. Bethesda has also had to sustain Fallout fans and build Starfield so hasn't been as singularly minded as Rockstar but making a sequel has taken a lot longer than you'd ever expect the maker of a mega-hit to wait. Here we still are though - 12 Years Since Last Entry
Uncharted 5
It's not uncommon for Naughty Dog to move on from franchises but the series remains a key property for Sony who not only is making a push on PC for it but also at the box office. Rumours of a new developer taking over have circled but despite this the franchise is sliding into the long term group - 5 Years Since Last Entry
Which of these do you think we'll at least see concrete news or reveals on in 2023?
Which long absent sequels not on the list are your watching for?
Time for a 2023 check on where our beloved franchises stand right now:
Bioshock 4
Rumours have long circulated and an announcement of sorts has come and gone and yet the silence has broadly continued with even the team that wanted to get away from it years ago having come back with a very similar looking game as well as the predecessor to this series as well, all without the main franchise itself rearing its head - 10 Years Since Last Entry
Burnout 6
EA has pulled Criterion apart, then tried to put it back together and mined all sorts of approaches from Burnout to try and keep the tired, knackered old wheels going on the Need for Speed franchise. Yet, outside of a remaster, they have never followed up on the last Burnout despite the obviousness of the move - 15 Years Since Last Entry
Castlevania
Silent Hill might have finally reared its head out of this category but Castlevania remains untapped despite being used by Netflix. With the resurgency of development from Konami could it come back... - 9 Years Since Last Entry
Fallout 5
A harder one, Fallout 76 has been keeping the torch going despite it not being for everyone, but the central franchise is amongst the ranks of Bethesda RPGs where the wait for a new entry is getting longer and longer without end in sight - 8 Years Since Last Entry
Grand Theft Auto VI
Retouched and rereleased and milked till its teats run dry, when a sequel does arrive there's a good chance several of us could genuinely be dead before another game comes out at the rate Rockstar is going about the franchise but 2022 did provide some sign of life with the leaked footage from early builds - 10 Years Since Last Entry
Mario Kart 9
An eye watering wait and yet at the same time it's never truly away from us thanks to the high sustained sales and belated content coming to the last entry. As big as the game is, it's now an old title and whilst spin-offs have also arrived such as Tour and Live fans eagerly await the next numbered entry - 7 Years Since Last Entry
Mega Man 12/X9
Capcom continues to monetise Mega Man in many ways but new games aren't really amongst them. A new title could in theory come via any one of a number of arms this franchise has but as things stand the company still seems intent on allowing the rust to build up - 5 Years Since Last Entry
Metal Gear Solid VI
An easy one to put aside after Kojima went his separate ways and Konami threw their gaming division out with the baby water but the company has been making moves to get back into the tentpole game business and this remains their biggest franchise - 7 Years Since Last Entry
Ridge Racer 8
Despite rumours of an attempt a year or two ago, Namco has revived each of its key franchises in some form except this renowned racer which still sits languishing in the pits - 11 Years Since Last Entry
Super Mario Bros 12
The world is never short of Mario titles being released by Nintendo and sometimes they will only release a single new main entry per generation but the Switch train continues a pace and the time that has passed since Odyssey is now the second longest gap ever between main entries, closing in on the longest - 5 Years Since Last Entry
The Elder Scrolls VI
Another franchise who's latest and biggest entry has been heavily milked. Bethesda has also had to sustain Fallout fans and build Starfield so hasn't been as singularly minded as Rockstar but making a sequel has taken a lot longer than you'd ever expect the maker of a mega-hit to wait. Here we still are though - 12 Years Since Last Entry
Uncharted 5
It's not uncommon for Naughty Dog to move on from franchises but the series remains a key property for Sony who not only is making a push on PC for it but also at the box office. Rumours of a new developer taking over have circled but despite this the franchise is sliding into the long term group - 5 Years Since Last Entry
Which of these do you think we'll at least see concrete news or reveals on in 2023?
Which long absent sequels not on the list are your watching for?
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