Why don't game titles use numbers anymore?

[Benjaminius]

Game publishers seem to hate numbering their titles these days. I've noticed the same thing in the film industry. For example: Star Trek Into Darkness (rather than Star Trek 2: Into Darkness), DOOM (instead of DOOM 4). Even Lucasfilm seems to avoid mentioning episode numbers when marketing the new Star Wars trilogy.

I have a few theories. For one, a lot of people feel fatigued by the endless storm of sequels and reboots. Dropping the number might be an attempt to mask the fact that a movie / game is the 15th or 20th entry in a franchise.

It's also possible that some people don't want to buy games without playing the preceeding entries in the franchise (out of fear of not understanding the plot or mechanics). A game title without a number might imply that it can be enjoyed and understood without playing the previous games.

There also might be some psychological or statistical aspect. There might be studies that show audiences are more receptive to games that don't have numbers in the title. I'm also aware of the Serial Position Effect in psychology (the first and last items in a sequence are given more importance). I'm pretty sure that's why Battlefield and Xbox rebranded themselves as Xbox One and Battlefield One.

Personally, I find this rather annoying, especially when multiple games in a series have the same title such as Doom (1993) and DOOM (2016). I'd like to know your thoughts on the matter and whether you have a definitive answer (everything I mentioned is purely speculation on my part).

[Hannah Nelson!]

couldnt

[Hannah Nelson!]

do

[Hannah Nelson!]

this

[shoopy]

Finding a way to not use a number seems more creative. It's like how band names stopped beginning with "The". It starts to seem cliche after a while.

[Naedmi]

Publicado originalmente por thesolo:

then again final fantasy keeps the numbers and it seems like they are doing ok

The real question though. Will they stop making Final Fantasy games when they reach XXX

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

ok report thesolo for spam, done

[Vince ✟]

I'm expecting to see a Zup!100

[僕の名前 (仮)]

I find it annoying for 2 reasons, first someone people don't know about which game you talk (doom or DOOM?) and then, when you look for streams on twitch both Unreal Tournaments are in same category. Or when you look for videos on youtube they all get mixed.

It's one of the strangest trends of last years.

[mellow]

xbox 1
battlefield 1

;p

[Thatbrownmonster]

the same reason bands don't use numbers
it's more appealling and numbers scare people
you know sum41?blink182?
numbers scare people!

[mellow]

Publicado originalmente por Thatbrownmonster:

the same reason bands don't use numbers
it's more appealling and numbers scare people
you know sum41?blink182?
numbers scare people!

math ptsd?

[Nomo]

Publicado originalmente por thesolo:

then again final fantasy keeps the numbers and it seems like they are doing ok

90% of FF games don't have numbers. Otherwise we'd be on 120+ by now... no seriously go look at how many FF games exist

[shoopy]

Publicado originalmente por Cookie~♥:

Publicado originalmente por thesolo:

then again final fantasy keeps the numbers and it seems like they are doing ok

90% of FF games don't have numbers. Otherwise we'd be on 120+ by now... no seriously go look at how many FF games exist

Side games aren't direct sequels so it makes sense to not have numbers.

[Nomo]

Publicado originalmente por ardiel:

Side games aren't direct sequels so it makes sense to not have numbers.

FF 15 is not a sequel to FF 14.
FF 14 is not a sequel to FF 13.
FF 13 is not a sequel to FF 12.

They all have nothing to do with the last. They are all individual standalone games. Whenever one is a sequel they like to name it like FF 13-2