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Has there ever been an actual "<insert popular IP> killer"?

Morrigan

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
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Oct 24, 2017
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This was posted in PC-Era Discord just now:

IMG_20181105_094259.jpg


Laughs aside, it made me wonder... ever since I was a kid, I've heard of upcoming games that were purported, whether by publishers trying to hype their own product or by media being kind of clueless, to be the "X killer", where X is an established, successful franchise. For example, I remember some previews calling Syphon Filter the "Metal Gear Solid killer", and... well, no disrespect to Syphon Filter, but, that really didn't happen.

And it got me to wonder -- has there ever been an actual "killer"? Something that was advertised in some way as blowing away the dominant, established IP and actually did so? I can't think of any example, but maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Note: for an example to qualify, it should be explicitly advertised or predicted to have been the "franchise killer", not simply become popular and huge on their own. So, while you might think that Resident Evil blew away Alone in the Dark for example, unless people at the time anticipated that RE would be an "Alone in the Dark killer" or Capcom advertised it as such, it wouldn't count.
 
Caiusto

Caiusto

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Oct 25, 2017
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Not that I can thing about, unless we count the studios themselves like Sega = Sonic Killer, Konami = everything killer.
 
Imran

Imran

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Oct 24, 2017
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You could make an argument that Fortnite cut off PUBG's runaway momentum, though you could also make an argument PUBG did a good enough job of that themselves.
 
Yuntu

Yuntu

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Nov 7, 2019
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I think Call of Duty was kinda put up against Medal of Honor ... and completly eat it alive.
 
KartuneDX

KartuneDX

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Jan 12, 2018
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People used to joke or even preach Destiny would be the Halo killer and though very different games I wouldn't call it far from the truth, though not necessarily because one dominated the other.
 
Legacy

Legacy

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Oct 25, 2017
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Nicktock

Nicktock

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Nov 14, 2018
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I don't know if it was ever positioned as a "killer" but Mortal Kombat's sales compared to Street Fighter are...well it's not even close. It's weird because the disproportionate sales numbers are not reflected in popular consciousness it seems.
 
vixolus

vixolus

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Sep 22, 2020
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I think The Culling 2 was The Culling killer but it ended up hurting itself in its confusion.
 
Yuli Ban

Yuli Ban

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Feb 1, 2021
391
If an IP dies, it's usually by its own failures more than someone else rendering it obsolete, especially nowadays in the era of nostalgia pandering. Another, better or more popular title can certainly affect things by offering a quality alternative, but if the original IP is still super-solid, it's probably not going to lose its fans to a newcomer.

Take Driver. It could've been the runner-up in the "open-world crime sandbox" genre if Driv3r was a polished success. But it wasn't, and the franchise hobbled for a decade before going out with a solid title.

Maybe Legend of Zelda killed Hydlide? But did anyone care about Hydlide?
 
SkoomaBlade

SkoomaBlade

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Oct 30, 2017
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Don't think it has ever explicitly happened in the sense that a games marketing claimed it was "X killer." Although many have certainly tried.
 
Coop

Coop

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Jan 9, 2020
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What, PUBG made +2 Billion dollars last year, more than Fortnite, how the fuck is PUBG dead ?
 
Nexus2049

Nexus2049

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Oct 25, 2017
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Medal of Honor being killed off by CoD comes to mind. Sigh. We lost the better of the two.
 
ByWatterson

ByWatterson

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Oct 28, 2017
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Fortnite killed PUBG's dominance.

COD killed Halo's mindshare.

Not literal killers, but certainly games have come along that supplant others.
 
Yuli Ban

Yuli Ban

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Feb 1, 2021
391
Quad Lasers said:
Original Call of Duty working title was "MOH killer"

Questionable how accurate that is, though. CoD 1 and 2, at the start at least, were very much PC gamer nerdlinger shooters.
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CoD and Medal of Honor were both fairly solid competitors in the early 2000s, but I think it's forgotten just how oversaturated the WW2 spunkgargleweewee shooter was at that time, since you also had your Battlefields and Brothers in Arms and whatnot. Call of Duty only truly pulled through with Call of Duty 4. Maybe CoD 3 counts, but a lot of that was more or less hype from it being a high-quality next-gen shooter as well as momentum from their previous games, momentum MoH still had but was definitely losing at the time.
 

rawhide

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Oct 28, 2017
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Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite fell headfirst into its own grave but Dragon Ball Fighterz definitely gave it a huge push.
 
Mugen X

Mugen X

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Personally, I think CoD MP ended up being the Halo MP killer. Now by "killer" I just mean it hasn't been the top pvp shooter since modern warfare imo.
 
jwhit28

jwhit28

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Oct 25, 2017
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NBA 2k. It's the only one I can think of that actually finished off their competitor.
 
Yuli Ban

Yuli Ban

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Feb 1, 2021
391
The closest example I can think of isn't really an IP killing off another IP but I will say that Halo: Combat Evolved definitely killed off a style of game: the GoldenEye and DOOM clone style of console shooter completely died off not long after Halo. The kind built for one analog stick (if that) and with that unique kind of control, holstering as many weapons as possible, having a dedicated weapon slot for projectiles rather than a dedicated button, health pickups instead of regenerating health— the aforementioned Medal of Honor was like that, as was Timesplitters. By 2005, you weren't seeing too many games of that type.

At least until the past half decade with the rise of battle royale shooters, the Halo style definitely killed off most alternative styles of console shooter controls and design. Heck, Call of Duty eventually adopted it too with CoD 3.
Playing through Halo: CE again, I can see why; it still feels amazing to control, and most of the copycats were just that, but I'll riot if the Perfect Dark reboot doesn't play like Timesplitters 4 (even if Future Perfect started cripping from Halo too).
 
TheBaldwin

TheBaldwin

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Feb 25, 2018
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Yuntu said:
I think Call of Duty was kinda put up against Medal of Honor ... and completly eat it alive.
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Yeah this is the one. Cods success and MoH continued to flounder in the mid to late 2000's. Also EA already had Battlefield so it didnt exactly need two FPS's.

rawhide said:
Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite fell headfirst into its own grave but Dragon Ball Fighterz definitely gave it a huge push.
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This is a good one too. MvC I wouldnt exactly have done great due to...you know...how it looked but people didnt buy it because DBFZ had already taken peoples hype


Also those saying Fortnite killed PUBG. It certainly took its mindshare but can hardly call it 'dead' or that it came out to try and kill it. A game needs to be out for a while for it to have a _____killer
 

Colocho

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Oct 25, 2017
217
PUBG was the highest grossing mobile game in 2020, it will never fit in any kind of "killed" description.
 
I Wanna Be The Guy

I Wanna Be The Guy

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Oct 28, 2017
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Faddy said:
Uncharted as a Tomb Raider Killer.

www.gamespot.com

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

This new game from Naughty Dog features jungle adventures in a Pitfall-esque setting.
www.gamespot.com www.gamespot.com
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Post Uncharted, Tomb Raider is coming off the back of its most successful period ever with the latest trilogy. The best selling game in the series came after 3 Uncharted games( 4 counting Golden Abyss). Even if you just want to talk criticial reception, the latest trilogy are the best recieved TR games since the original.
 

Deleted member 68874

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Chumunga64

Chumunga64

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Jun 22, 2018
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Forza didn't faze into obscurity and actually has critical acclaim and sells a lot

which puts it as one of the most successful "x killers" ever
 
I Like Ginger Cats:3

I Like Ginger Cats:3

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Mar 31, 2018
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While not exactly what you ask it would be any MMO that tried to frame itself as 'something different than WoW and do it better'.

Many examples. And the hypes were huge as well. It was like killing your own game in advance.

Then the players tried them but they didn't want anything different most of the time. I played WoW 'till what, 2011 or something and I remember so many MMO games launching but looking them up now is uh... Well.... I guess Tera is still around?

Of course WoW completely wrecked the genre at the release but I don't think it framed itself to be that.
 
Mecha

Mecha

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Oct 25, 2017
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You could argue that CP2077 is a CDPR killer. 😅

Serious answer for me would be COD for Medal of Honor.
 
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