LogFAQs > #965214216

This isn't a contest, just a discussion. Because here's the funny thing...franchise-making is pretty much dead. If you look at the list of games in our Game of the Decade contest for the 2010s, do you know how many of them are actually both "the first game in a franchise consisting of at least two games" and "released in 2010 or later in all regions"?

One, and it only got a 14-seed. Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. (Bayonetta was released in 2009 in Japan, but just narrowly counted as a 2010 game by NA release date, which is what was used). There were a couple of games that made the bracket that were the second game in a franchise where the first game would've also been eligible, namely VLR and Splatoon 2... although just like Bayonetta, 999 is a 2009 game by Japanese release date.

Dark Souls is not the first game in its franchise. Demon's Souls legitimately made the first GotD.

It's all about indie games these days, and established franchises. Though there is, of course, one indie game that became a franchise, and did so with remarkable speed. Five Nights at Freddy's was just under a year old when Five Nights at Freddy's 4 was released, an incredible release schedule, and even more impressively, it turned into a multimedia franchise.