Although uncommon, some spin-offs end up being more successful than the games that originated them. Sometimes games have almost everything to be successful but some crucial details are missing and sequels have a chance to get it right.
In this article, we will list some of the most famous games that grew to be more popular and lucrative than their original titles.
The Sims
First on the list is the Sims franchise, which began in 1989 with the notorious SimCity, a city-building simulator. There were several spin-offs, but none as popular as The Sims, released in 2000 for PC. The game challenges players to customise and manage the life of digital characters, including their work, home and relationships.
The Sims spawned its own series with four main games, several expansions, and an influence on popular culture. For instance, just a few months ago, The Sims orchestrated their first-ever in-game music festival. Unsurprisingly, The Sims is one of the most profitable media franchises in the world and has hit the $5 billion mark in revenue in the last 20 years, considered far more popular than any other game in the Sim series so far.
Counter-Strike
In the late 1990s, Half-Life revolutionised the industry with fresh ideas and extremely entertaining mechanics, but Gordon Freeman’s franchise never reached as wide an audience as its multiplayer spin-off of terrorist versus counter-terrorist.
Counter-Strike is one of several mods of the first Half-Life developed by the gaming community. Seeing how promising the mod was, Valve acquired the rights to it and released it as a game under its own label. Version 1.6 of Counter-Strike broke out with the rise of the internet cafes era, but 21 years later, Counter-Strike is easily regarded as one of Steam’s most played games, one of the most-watched on Twitch, and one of the best-selling video game franchises in the world.
Additionally, CS has never been more popular than it is now with CS: Global Offensive, one of the leading competitive titles in the world of eSports. In fact, Global Offensive attracts thousands of players in several tournaments and contests.
For example, there’s the ESL Pro League, a professional eSports league comprising 24 teams from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania. With Season 14 of the ESL Pro league currently underway, G2 Esports is at 1/16 to win Group B, Natus Vincere is at 1/66 to win Group C and Gambit is at 1/100 to win Group D, according to the current Esports odds in the betting markets. The best teams will earn crucial points in the ESL Pro Tour Road, while the winners take home a prize tool of $750,000. Divided into 4 groups of six, the 1st place teams advance directly to the Quarterfinals, while the 2nd and 3rd place teams advance to the Round of 12.
Release Notes are up for today.
It’s back (in Danger Zone): https://t.co/jAkK4LE6pL pic.twitter.com/L6tq1Sjpg8
— CS:GO (@CSGO) May 7, 2019
World of Warcraft
There’s no doubt that Warcraft is one of the biggest and best real-time strategy franchises ever made. However, the absolute success of this universe came with the spin-off, World of Warcraft. WoW is practically a sequel to Warcraft 3, but the change from RTS genre to online multiplayer RPG for crowds makes it a spin-off. In this new version, players create their characters and can explore the world of Azeroth with their friends while doing missions.
WoW made the Warcraft brand one of the most profitable in the video game industry and represents about half of the MMORPG market, with approximately 7 million active players in 2020.
We hope you learnt more about these historic games and if you’re feeling curious, you can always check out their original versions.
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