Gaming Weird Conspiracy?

[Panache]

Well I have noticed something weird recently. In the past there were three very well made games on the PS2. Here is a quick synopsis of each.


Zone Of the Enders 2-It' a mecha. It's a very good mecha...perhaps the best mecha ever to come out for the Ps2. AMAZING graphics. EXTREMELY fun gameplay. A VERY moving story. Also it had some of the best boss fights EVER. It even had a decent v.s. mode. Easily much better than it's predecessor.

Jade Cacoon 2-Well it's an rpg. It' a very good rpg. It is sorta like a mix of pokemon final fantasy and the original digimon combined. It is pretty fun and has decent graphics. The gameplay is actually pretty unique. Again easily much better than it's predecessor.

Dark Cloud 2-I'm sure you've heard of the original dark cloud. It was at first one of the "killer apps" for the ps2. The first one was a great game! Now the second was a work of art. A very good story SPECTACULAR graphics. So many different fun things to do. For the third time it is a big improvement from the last game.

Now to the point. These three games are great games. Yet none of the developers plan a sequel(at least to the knowledge of gamespot.com...). They were all more successful than the original game. Also they are all sequels. They were all on the PS2.
So my question is why? Why did these three games get forgotten? Is this just some odd coincidence or are these three games connected?

I usually don't make up conspiracy theories but this hits me as very odd.

Please share your thoughts with me.(If you know anything about a sequel please share!)

[James]

[color=#606060]There are many reasons why this sort of thing can happen.

First of all, many of the people involved in the teams who created the games you mentioned were probably assigned to next gen (now current gen) projects in late 2005/early 2006.

In many cases - probably in most cases - this means that the teams are working on something new. And considering that it takes a long time to develop a game (especially on a totally new platform - I would expect few if any PS3 games to be developed in less than two years), this starts to answer your question.

It's not that the publishers/developers have forgotten about those titles, it's just that all companies have limited resources that need to be constantly shifted around.

You'll often find that one team will be responsible for various franchises - but often a single team or division can only work on a single title at once. And depending on what's being created, staff from one team might move to another for a single development cycle.

So there are all sorts of reasons why this happens. You may very well find that we see a Dark Cloud 3 in 2009 or something - there may very well be a design document already written for it. But if the team members are busy on other titles for the next 18 months? Well, it's unlikely you'll hear about any planned sequels before then.

Also, some of the games you listed - while great and while they probably sold good amounts - are not "mega blockbuster" titles. None of them really reach the heights of the massive franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Mario, etc...

With the really massive franchises, you're likely to see regular games being released (or at least semi-regular). Developers know they can count on these games to bring in loads of profit - they are a sure bet. And in some cases, entire "permanent" teams are set up to continually develop games within a particular franchise.

So yeah. Hopefully that sheds some light on the mystery.[/color]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Well, Dark Cloud 1 sucked completely. Regardless of how good the second game is, I doubt it would have sold well in the wake of a sucky game that few liked.

As for Zone of te Enders, I think its just the story. I can't think of a good ay to continue ot - it's brilliant as-is.

I've never heard of that other one. Which probably speaks volumes about it's sales.[/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]James pretty much summed up all my thoughts on the subject, this can't be called a "conspiracy" when it's simply likely that the developers or publishers are busy with other projects when many developers are responsible for many different projects, like Ubisoft for instance.[/SIZE]

[Goodbye, Face]

[font=arial][size=1]Wasn't ZOE2 taken off store shelves in America? I didn't have the money to buy it immediately so I rented it right when it came out, and by the time I returned the rental, I NEVER saw another copy of the game ever again.

And I've never played Dark Cloud 2, but the first one was pretty freakin' terrible. Jade Cocoon and Zone of the Enders were amazing games to begin with, that I recall. So that doesn't really fit.[/font][/size]

[Doublehex]

[quote name='Goodbye, Face'][font=arial][size=1]Wasn't ZOE2 taken off store shelves in America? I didn't have the money to buy it immediately so I rented it right when it came out, and by the time I returned the rental, I NEVER saw another copy of the game ever again.[/font][/size][/QUOTE]

That would explain why I am unable to find the thing. Its predecessor, however, can be found very easily. The only way I imagine I'll be able to get it will be to buy it off of Amazon for $50+ dollars.

But like James said, its doubtful there's a conspiracy going on. Chances are, the company's resources are just being used elsewhere and they don't have the capability to develop another title right now.

But, I have heard from Gamespot that Kojima has ideas for ZOE 3, so there's a possibility that will be his next project..