Mike Diskett, creator of Syndicate Wars, is Kickstarting a spiritual sequel! I’d encourage everyone to pledge their support!

I would consider James Bond (and really anything similar) to have implied subtitles. Plus, even if they were explicit, people naturally focus on the subtitle. Nobody ever refers to “The Elder Scrolls #: Subtitle,” but instead focus on the actual title of the game. In instances like that, the “full title” merely denotes the franchise, making it clear that other titles exist (which the audience might be interested in) without drawing undue attention to matters of continuity.

On the flip side, I was just reading about how Bioware/EA are trying to emphasize that Dragon Age 3 isn’t a continuation of either of the preceding games. About now they’re probably wishing they had ditched the numerals.

That being said, the ability for a universe/franchise to adapt to different genres is going to very much depend on the universe in question. Might and Magic always struck me as a fairly generic fantasy setting that easily stretches to accommodate the different games that have been set in it. Something like XCOM or Civ on the other hand is so inherently bound up with what it is that there’s almost no scope for adapting it to something else.

I’m also a big believer that companies need to embrace subtitles. Sequential numbering, besides being kind of ugly as part of a title, implies continuity. If I didn’t play Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 2, will I be able to follow the plot of Devil May Cry 3*? I personally believe that Bethesda would have been better served if they had used the title Fallout: DC or something, allowing them to more easily sidestep some of the criticisms levied at Fallout 3 from franchise fans and freeing them from having to adhere to really anything that came before.

*Answer: Yes, though they’re barely coherent to begin with and contradict one another, which is kind of amazing given how simple they are.

BUT DID YOU?

(No)