9 Series That Have Found Their Footing Without Their Creators

Swirling rumors would have you believe that Hideo Kojima, the man who is synonymous with the Metal Gear series, is set to leave Konami – and the franchise he built – behind following Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

– and the franchise he built – behind following Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. To this point, no official confirmation has come from Konami or Kojima aside from the man (once again) stating that the upcoming release will be his final Metal Gear game. When combined with Konami saying that it already has plans in place for a new Metal Gear gameamidst all of these rumors, some fans are worried.

Many have speculated that the Metal Gear series would never be the same without the legendary designer. While that may be true, if history is to be believed it doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the franchise. Several well-known series have lived on without their beloved creators at the helm, while others, such as Mega Man, have seen new entries cease.

While IPs like Unchartedand Fable have yet to show how they will fare without their respective visionaries, it’s not an untraveled road to be successful following such change. Check out some of our favorite series that have experienced some level of success following the departure of their creators – even if the transitions haven’t been completely bulletproof.

Devil May Cry

Joining Capcom in 1994, Hideki Kamiya worked on the first two entries of the Resident Evil franchise before coming up with an idea for a Resident Evil sequel so radical that Capcom decided to make it a separate IP. The result was an action-packed slash-fest with tight controls that sought to challenge players. The new series was dubbed Devil May Cry, and it released to high praise in 2001. While Kamiya moved around Capcom to work on other series like Viewtiful Joe, Ōkami, and Phoenix Wright, he never worked on another Devil May Cry game.

A new Dante altogether in 2013, but Kamiya’s divergence from the series was noticeable long before DmC: Devil My Cry. Devil May Cry 2 fell flat for many fans, but the third and fourth entries returned the series to former glory, even if they felt like different games from the original. Hideki Kamiya has since founded Platinum Games, which has taken his love of challenging players while delivering rewarding experiences with games like Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101, and the upcoming Scalebound.

Assassin’s Creed

In 2010, following the release of Assassin’s Creed II, Patrice Désilets departed Ubisoft to join THQ’s new Montreal studio, which was eventually bought by Ubisoft in January 2013. Désilets was terminated by the publisher later that year and the two sides have been locked in litigation over Désilets’ new IP ever since. Jade Raymond also left the series following Assassin’s Creed II, and left Ubisoft in 2014.

The series has seen its share of ups and downs since Désilets and Raymond left, but it certainly hit the right notes on games like Brotherhood and Black Flag. Despite these highs, the series remains changed in obvious ways, as the direction of the more recent games feels less intentional than that of the earlier games. Despite Unity’s well-documented technical issues, it still provided a good experience that tried new things while refining older mechanics and hopefully set a well-defined direction for the future of the series.

The Legend of Zelda

With Ocarina of Time, the team at Nintendo, led by legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto, crafted a masterpiece that made great strides for the adventure genre. Following that release, however, Miyamoto – remaining in a supervisory producer role – gave up directorial responsibilities to Eiji Aonuma. Aonuma’s first games as director, Majora’s Mask and The Wind Waker, were divisive upon release, but have both stood the test of time and are now regarded by most as classic entries in the long-running series.

Aonuma has since become the face of the Zelda franchise, serving as director on Twilight Princess and producer on subsequent entries. Miyamoto has remained on in a production role as well, though it seems that Aonuma is much more hands-on with the actual design and development now. In addition to being a producer alongside Aonuma on the upcoming Wii U Legend of Zelda game, Miyamoto is currently working on a new Star Fox game for Wii U, as well as two new titles currently called Project: Guard and Project Giant Robot.

Resident Evil

The Resident Evil series has undergone drastic changes following the departure of its visionary creator, with Shinji Mikami’s survival-horror masterpiece evolving into more of a tense action shooter experience. Even under Mikami, however, the Resident Evil franchise was well on its way to a more modern and approachable action experience, as Mikami left Capcom following his role as director in the more action-oriented Resident Evil 4.

With Resident Evil 5, the series moved to a decidedly more western vibe. The franchise shifted away from the on-edge, low-ammo scenarios that made the franchise so great in the first place, and gravitated toward action-packed sequences with massive set pieces and a cooperative gameplay focus. That carried on with Resident Evil 6, which many consider to be a low point of the franchise. Luckily, the Resident Evil Revelations games have brought back what made many of the entries so great, with Revelations 2 hitting that sweet spot for many players. Mikami is currently playing on his roots as a survival-horror mastermind through last year’s exceedingly stressful title, The Evil Within, under Tango Gameworks, the studio he founded following his shift from Capcom.

On the next page: Living out our rock star dreams with a new record label, fighting space aliens under a different banner, augmenting our bodies with a different surgeon, and more!