Which Video Game Franchise Do Gamers Want Rebooted?
Photo by Enrique Guzmán Egas on unsplash

Which Video Game Franchise Do Gamers Want Rebooted?

Recently I stepped back into the boots of Isaac Clarke onboard the USG Ishimura in EA’s remake of Dead Space. I played the original when it was released 15 years ago and have been blown away by the improvements made. The sound design alone has made playing through the new version a great experience.

This remake got me thinking about other games that are deserving of a revival. For example, I spent a lot of time playing SOCOM: US Navy Seals and SOCOM II. The other sequels never captured the fun and excitement of the first two entrants in the franchise and faster paced games like Call of Duty and Halo took over the online FPS world. However, I would love to see a reboot of the SOCOM franchise and relive those late night gaming sessions from 20 years ago.

We decided to ask gamers which franchises they want to see a new game from in order to revive the series, leveraging the survey used for our weekly Video Game Tracking. This survey is fielded to 1200 gamers in the US each week, and asks them about their gaming habits overall, as well as various consumer sentiment metrics for a variety of games. 

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Our team was not surprised to see Silent Hill at the top of the list. Konami recently announced a number of new titles for this franchise and consumers are clearly excited to revive their relationship with Pyramid Head. Star Fox was second, which was a bit of a surprise because it has been 30 years since the original title was released and the franchise has only been available on Nintendo platforms. However, Fox McCloud’s inclusion in every installment of Super Smash Brothers probably keeps him top of mind for gamers, and fans apparently feel there is untapped potential for a rebirth.

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Personally, I was happy to see Contra make it into the top 5. This is a franchise that most gamers know well…or at least they are familiar with the “Contra Code.” While there have been a number of Contra releases since the original game was introduced as an arcade game in 1986, none of them have garnered gamers attention like that first game. The nostalgia factor had a huge impact here with 22% of people aged 35-54 including it. As for my favorite franchise, SOCOM, I was a little disappointed to see that only 11% of gamers would be interested in a remake.

If you are interested in learning more about this data, where your favorite franchise ranked, or our Video Game Tracking service, just let me know. 

.Patrick Olszowski

🚀 Moving outdoor & active brands from overwhelm to customer delight through knowledge sharing festivals & insight research training #EveryonesGreatOutdoors

11mo

Omg bring back Wing Commander. Xenon 2. LucasFilm’s Indiana Jones games. And of course, Eye of Horus. Platform scrollers for the win.

Tricia Houston

Closing experience gaps for people-first businesses. Studies business models, designs time, and catches Pokémon.

11mo

Portal would be my vote. And it's been so long, the new Skyrim will feel like a reboot.

And I don't know of a game specifically but would love to see the use of the Contra code become some sort of Easter egg in other games.

I'd like to see Tanooki Mario get his own game. Not a full reboot, but my favorite. I think a cool 'reboot' would be an AI / Lens-based / AR vilter version of Tetris. Turn buildings into Tetris boards. Get people outside like Pokemon-go and each city and town would have more interesting and difficult levels.

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