Franchises

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video games span Konami’s late-1980s and 1990s arcade and home console beat ’em ups through Ubisoft and Activision’s 2000s–2010s tie-ins and into modern licensed releases such as Dotemu’s Shredder’s Revenge, Konami’s Cowabunga Collection compilation, and family-oriented Outright Games titles. Across platforms the series repeatedly returns Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo to co-op brawls against Shredder, the Foot Clan, and other Mirage/Nickelodeon villains.

Japanese RPG series also known as Far East of Eden, created by Oji Hiroi and Red Company (later Red Entertainment) and published by Hudson Soft. It debuted on PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1989 with Tengai Makyō: Ziria, an early CD-ROM RPG known for voiced animated cutscenes, and grew through Manjimaru, spin-offs such as Kabuki Klash, and later remakes and ports across Super Famicom, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and more.

Action-adventure sandbox developed and published by Re-Logic. Andrew Spinks began development in January 2011, and the Windows version released on 16 May 2011. Players explore a two-dimensional procedurally generated world with no set goal, gathering resources, crafting equipment, and fighting bosses. Terraria 2 was announced in October 2013 and has not shipped. The spin-off Terraria: Otherworld was canceled in 2018.

Tetris is Alexey Pajitnov’s falling-block puzzle series, licensed worldwide through The Tetris Company across arcade, home, and handheld platforms. Landmark Nintendo versions on Game Boy and NES helped define the brand, while later official releases span Spectrum HoloByte and Blue Planet Software ports, Arika’s Grand Master line, Ubisoft and Sega collaborations, Enhance’s Tetris Effect, and archival compilations such as Digital Eclipse’s Tetris Forever.

The Chronicles of Riddick video games are Starbreeze’s first-person stealth-action titles starring Vin Diesel’s Richard B. Riddick. Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) is a prison-break prequel to Pitch Black; Assault on Dark Athena (2009) pairs an HD remake of Butcher Bay with a new campaign aboard the merc ship Dark Athena.

Online racing series developed by Ubisoft Ivory Tower and published by Ubisoft. The Crew released on 2 December 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox 360, on a scaled-down map of the contiguous United States. Asobo Studio led the Xbox 360 port. Ubisoft delisted the game on 14 December 2023 and shut its servers on 31 March 2024. The Crew 2 followed on 29 June 2018, adding boats and planes, and The Crew Motorfest released on 14 September 2023, set in Hawaii.

Starbreeze first-person shooters published by 2K, based on the Top Cow comic. The 2007 original was followed by The Darkness II in 2012.

Action role-playing series primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios. The games emphasize free-form play in large open worlds, including Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.

2014 Tango Gameworks survival horror published by Bethesda and directed by Shinji Mikami. Detective Sebastian Castellanos is pulled through a distorted nightmare world.

EA's licensed open-world adaptations of Francis Ford Coppola's films, following an original Corleone soldier through the movie plots. U.S. Gold also published a 1991 run-and-gun based on the trilogy.

Naughty Dog action-adventure series set in a post-apocalyptic United States overrun by Cordyceps-infected humans. It follows survivors including Joel and Ellie.

Nintendo action-adventure series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Primarily developed and published by Nintendo, it centers on Link and Princess Zelda defending Hyrule—and sometimes other lands—from Ganon and other threats, across 2D and 3D entries from 1986 onward.

Wachowski film franchise that spawned Shiny Entertainment’s Enter the Matrix and Path of Neo, Monolith’s Matrix Online MMO, and later Epic’s Matrix Awakens tech demo. Known for bullet-time combat, dual-narrative storytelling with the movies, and cyberpunk aesthetic.

Licensed video-game series based on Fox’s animated sitcom. Early 1990s titles from Acclaim and Konami (including the arcade beat-’em-up) led to Radical Entertainment’s Road Rage and Hit & Run, then EA Redwood Shores’ The Simpsons Game (2007), plus later digital arcade remasters.

Maxis life-simulation series created by Will Wright and published by Electronic Arts. It began with The Sims on PC in February 2000 and continued through The Sims 2, 3, and 4, plus console spin-offs such as Bustin' Out and The Urbz. Players create and direct Sims in open-ended everyday life; the franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide.

HBO crime-drama franchise centered on New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano. Its sole major video game, The Sopranos: Road to Respect, was a 2006 PlayStation 2 beat-’em-up from THQ and 7 Studios with story input from series creator David Chase and voices from the show’s cast.

Telltale Games episodic graphic adventures based on the Robert Kirkman comic, set in that universe with original characters. Skybound later published the series.

Rockstar’s beat ’em up based on the 1979 film The Warriors, later joined by CXTM’s side-scroller Street Brawl. The Rockstar game launched on PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October 2005.

Fantasy action role-playing series by CD Projekt Red, based on Andrzej Sapkowski's novels. The games follow witcher Geralt of Rivia as non-canonical sequels to the books.