It's June 2023, what sort of video game franchises/IPs you really miss at the moment?

Dear gamers in the Giant Bomb forums

We're about halfway through the year 2023 when I was doing more research on the BlazBlue series while I'm still waiting for a new installment to be developed, even though Mori Toshimichi left Arc System Works last year then this inspired me to create this thread and here is my personal list of franchises/IPs that I really missed at the moment.

• GTR (Originally created by Simbin): The next installment is under development by Straight4Studios while collaborating with Reiza Studios (The studio behind the Automobilista series).
• DiRT Rally: Codemasters cancelled the development of DiRT Rally 3.0, in favor to develop WRC series instead.
• Enthusia Professional Racing: A simcade racing game developed & published by Konami as an answer to Gran Turismo & Forza Motorsport by Polyphony Digital & Turn 10 respectively, but Konami doesn't care about this IP these days.
• RalliSport Challenge: A simcade rally franchise, developed by DICE and published by Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios and still have no plans to bring it back, but DiRT 4 was the last alternative (In terms of gameplay, when being set with Gamer Handling model) that I've ever known.
• Project Gotham Racing: A legendary arcade-style racing game franchise, published by Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios and there are no signs will it come back in the near future.
• Ridge Racer: Namco doesn't seem to care about this long-running arcade-style racing game franchise for no reason.
• Dirt Dash: A forgotten arcade-style off-road racing game, featuring high-speed pacing, dangerous off-road tracks and Namco's answer to Sega Rally.
• Sega Rally: A legendary arcade-style off-road racing game franchise that Sega doesn't care about that, so that's why I don't like them any more.
• MotorStorm: An underrated arcade-style off-road racing game franchise that has no signs if they're continuing or not.
• Burnout: EA has no plans for this street racing franchise to have its new instalment while they're not commissioning one of its subsidiaries including Criterion Games to continue the development for no reason.
• Blur: A racing game that appears to be a cross between Project Gotham Racing and WipEout in terms of racing and power-ups wise, but Activision doesn't seem to care about that for no reason.
• Split/Second: A racing game inspired by Michael Bay & various Hollywood car films for the racing and explosion scenes, but I dislike Disney though because they don't care about this along with other franchises that a lot of people really like including Star Wars.
• Midnight Club: Years after the release of Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Rockstar San Diego has no plans to develop the next game in the series while they were tasked to assist Rockstar North to complete the development of Grand Theft Auto V.
• Midtown Madness: After the release of Midtown Madness 3, Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios doesn't seem to care about this franchise for no reason, leaving fans to look forward to Midnight Club series as an alternative (Due to similar gameplay and handling model) on that time.
• F-Zero: A legendary futuristic racing game franchise that Nintendo doesn't have a plan on when to bring it back at the moment...
• WipEout: For whatever reason why Sony Interactive Entertainment doesn't have plans to bring it back after the release of the WipEout Omega Collection.
• Quantum Redshift: After the release of the first game (Developed by Curly Monsters), Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios doesn't seem to care about this afterwards for no reason.
• Spy Hunter: A mission-based driving game series, inspired by James Bond 007 in terms of plot and vehicular combat but Warner Bros. (Its current owner) doesn't seem to have plans to bring this franchise back and commission one of the developers to create a new installment.
• Girls und Panzer: After the release of Girls und Panzer Dream Tank Match for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, not many players seem to like it but I really wish if there is a new installment, to feature improved gameplay and more arcade pacing just like the TV show, OVA and anime films.
• Gradius: A sci-fi vertical shoot 'em up franchise taking space in outer space and the players pilot the spaceship to take down various villains, but Konami doesn't care about that, leaving it dead for no reason.
• Darius: A sci-fi vertical shoot 'em up franchise, taking place in outer space and on various planets, but Taito (The publisher) doesn't seem to have plans for a new installment to be developed after Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX+ (For PlayStation 4 & Nintendo Switch).
• BlazBlue: It's nearly 8 years after the release of BlazBlue: Central Fiction for the arcades and I'm still curious to see what's next in the story events for the next game.

Sidenotes:

• Here is the connection between GTR, and the Project Cars series, during the development of GTR - FIA GT Racing Game (The first installment) by Simbin, Blimey! Games has the licensing of FIA GT (Championship series), shared with Simbin, years later, Blimey! Games closed down and sold its assets to Slightly Mad Studios, established by Ian Bell (The CEO of Blimey! Games), later developed Need For Speed Shift 1 & 2, Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends then finally the Project Cars series. These days, Ian Bell and his original GTR development team, are all together in Straight4Studios.
• This year is going to be the BlazBlue franchise's 15th anniversary and I wonder what will Arc System Works do next.
• I personally do not care about Disney, because a majority of their IPs that I'm not into but Star Wars, Split/Second, Tron & Pixar Cars are the only four IPs I like from them.

Golden Sun

I really would like an old school Burnout game a la 3. No open world. Just races and crash mode. Good times.

I miss having the good clean fun of a Mario RPG.

Paper Mario insists on having a bizarre identity crisis nearly every game after that one really good Gamecube RPG. I don’t know what genre or audience that series is trying to go for anymore. The Mario & Luigi series had some high highs (especially Bowser’s Inside Story), then the dev financially fell off a cliff at the end of the 3DS era and went bankrupt.

I’d guess Nintendo has no intention of reviving the M&L series. Paper Mario soldiers on but I don’t think it resembles a JRPG in any way at this point. So yeah, no Mario RPGs anywhere on the horizon, other than the Mario+Rabbids games? So thanks Ubisoft I guess?

I realised the other day that it's been ten years since the last Grand Theft Auto game. Those were a big portion of my whole gaming while I was growing up and it really feels like something's missing.

Also DJ Hero.

Suikoden series comes to mind first. A new game with the same world and such, not using the name of the series like 'Suikoden Tierkreis' did and creating a new world within 'The Suikoden Metaverse' as Wikipedia describes.

F-Zero too. That's a good series that could use some love.

I stumbled into listening to a decent amount of Metallica the other week, which made me nostalgic for getting 100% on Expert on "Hangar 18". I doubt my wrists could handle it anymore but I'd really love one more crack at a plastic guitar.

More realistically, I was ridiculously into inFamous and Second Son, with my only gripes about 2 mostly being related to how flooded the New Orleans map was in that game and as much as I enjoyed the numerous unique aspects of Tsushima's setting and combat I'm a little sad we don't get to see what Sucker Punch would do with that engine when it's more than a technical showpiece.

Closer to the realm of fantasy, I'd love to see I'd love to see another noir detective game featuring countless Mad Men cast members.

Half Life, Max Payne.

The campaign driven linear first person shooter is super rare these days, mostly populated by Call of Duty and the boomer shooter scene which is awesome but... i want to do the AAA thing, i want to take on an alien threat using an arsenal of weapons, i want to do a dumb physics puzzle and be reminded of the golden era of PC gaming, i want memorable NPC's who encourage me to save the world.

Half Life Alyx was great... for people with VR... it was great to watch other people's reactions to it, but as a fan of the series after a 13 year wait you can't help but be disappointed, i'd like to be able to play the next one, thanks to the devs of Black Mesa for filling the void and making one of the best remakes of all time.

Remakes of the Max Payne's are coming... hopefully they're good, but The Matrix and Max Payne inspired a whole host of shooters trying to do "cool shit" and we just don't see it anymore, not for a very long time, besides Gears of War the third person shooter is relegated to free to play looter shooters or survival games, what happened to wall running, doing flips, slow motion bullet dodging and martial arts? "Cool" third person shooters were hit and miss with games like Bullet Witch, Wet and Total Overdose, but then we got Stranglehold, Sleeping Dogs or even something like Alan Wake, the cover shooter took over after Gears but we still got rude games like Vanquish and Binary Domain, i want that.

It's too much of a risk for AAA to make "cool" games, you're either telling a deathly serious story like The Last of Us or encouraging people to buy microtransactions but actually i want to have fun, we have to rely on indie to make games like Trepang2 which i hope has the content to be fulfilling, i'm very excited for Selaco which seems to be a little bit more than just a boomer shooter, but titles like these are very far between.

Breath of fire

Parasite Eve: The first game was great for its uniqueness and opera based soundtrack. The second game was more of a Resident Evil clone, but it was still good.

Einhandler: Surprisingly one of the greatest side-scrolling 2.5D shooters every made. The reason for the surprise is that it was made by Square-Enix, Squaresoft at the time.

Panzer Dragoon: Great series that was sadly ended by the failure of the Sega Saturn in the US. They made another good one for the Xbox, but since then, nothing else. A remake of Panzer Dragoon Saga with modern graphics would be epic.

A genuine Castlevania game: both level based or metroidvania based.

Adding to that, a genuine Contra game as well.

Wild Arms: I actually thought the original game was overall better than Final Fantasy VII. And I would love to see a new game in the series with modern graphics. I've yet to play the second and third game in the series, even though I keep meaning to do so.

Many other options I would've pick have already been mentioned up above, like Gradius, Golden Sun, and F-Zero.

Wave Race.

I miss 3D fighting games. There are a couple of the big AAA ones left like Tekken, and some indie arena brawlers, but not much else. Stuff like Bloody Roar, Rival Schools, or Tech Romancer is hard to come by these days.

@beggary said:

That will be good.

I almost forgot about DJ Hero (A rhythm game published by Activision), yeah I would love to see that franchise return one day.

I would love to see a new installment of Half-Life while the classic ones still look pretty fun to play! Oh, it will be good to see a new installment of Max Payne as well.

This is going to be great for those who love jet ski racing.

This is going to be good to see these fighting game franchises return, so the fans of this genre can enjoy them.

I’d like to see an Infamous remake.