The weird thing in the case of Alpha Protocol … I wasn’t even considering whether there’d be a sequel or not. If Sega hadn’t said anything I never would’ve even factored it in. But as soon as they said there wouldn’t be one I thought… “Huh, if they don’t have faith in this IP, why should I?”

That could work against me, however. I pre-ordered The Saboteur because the pre-launch info looked intriguing and because I have a soft spot for Pandemic. When it was announced that EA was shutting down Pandemic I almost canceled my order. I had my mouse on the button. Not because it wouldn’t get a sequel – who cares? – but because it meant no support in the form of bug-fixes, title updates, or even potential DLC. I chose to keep my order because of the aforementioned soft spot for Pandemic and The Saboteur ended up being the first game I’ve ever gotten all 1000 achievement points for, I had such a blast with it.

I also pre-ordered Alpha Protocol because of the pre-launch info. It actually is a good RPG I suspect too many people are trying to play it as a straight shooter. Oh, it has issues, but what Obsidian game doesn’t? In this case I do wish I’d waited for a sale but absolutely something worth experiencing regardless.

Note that in both cases it was the pre-launch “journalism” that affected my decision to pre-order? For the corporate shills, mission accomplished-the publisher got my $60. But look at the latest victim, Crackdown 2. Every single pre-launch interview mentioned how it was set in the same city but a few years later so it would be both familiar yet different. The “journalists” ate this up, it would be a great thing, etc. Now the game ships and every review says the opposite, that it’s too similar and a new city would have been better. I say shape up the “journalism” and get them asking relevant questions pre-launch.

Now, if the game were *made* to be a chapter that required a sequel, and then I found that they quit on it… say, like Advent Rising… yeah, I’ll probably not bother with it.

If it’s a good cohesive game on its own with a story that wraps sufficiently, sequel potential is irrelevant to me.

That said, I don’t think it’s lunacy to care as you do. I don’t think that way, but it’s not unreasonable.

Due to the huge amount of sequels spawned by every successful movie or game, we’ve become conditioned to believe that If it’s worth investing time into, it must be worthy of a sequel. The announcement of no sequel seems like giving up, that they know it’s not “worthy”.

The sad thing is that just because it has ten sequels doesn’t mean it’s good. On the flip side, could an incredibly awesome game intended to be a standalone, ever not have a sequel that would most likely tarnish the first?