Publishers are reviving dormant franchises
Publishers are going back to franchises they own and left alone for years, beside their new releases rather than in place of them, and Capcom now says so in a plan for investors. For players the schedule fills with names they know.
What is a dormant IP?
IP is intellectual property: a franchise a publisher owns, with the name, characters and world it can make new games from. A dormant one has had no new game for years. Capcom's own formulation is IPs that have not had a new title launch recently, and it attaches no number of years to the phrase. Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the game that prompted the statement, is by Capcom's count the first new title in the series in over 20 years.
Latest figure · Ocarina of Time
28 years
The original Ocarina of Time came out on the Nintendo 64 in 1998 and the Switch 2 remake is dated 5 November 2026.
Where it stands
Publishers are treating unused intellectual property, or IP, franchises they own but have not used in years, as an asset, while money for new studios thins, as the investment page shows. Capcom said in September 2026, after a million-copy launch day for Onimusha, that it is re-activating IPs it has not launched recently, alongside its new releases. Blizzard is bringing StarCraft back as a shooter for 2030, Nintendo has dated a remake of a 1998 Zelda, and Nexon has licensed its catalog to outside developers.
Every revival on this page brings back something that had been gone for at least thirteen years, and the Zelda remake reaches back twenty-eight.
SourceOur calculation from the dates each company published
| Year | How long each revived game had been away, in years |
|---|---|
| Freefall Racers | 13 |
| StarCraft, due 2030 | 15 |
| Onimusha | 20 |
| Tactical Commanders | 21 |
| Ocarina of Time | 28 |
| Market | What is being revived | The detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | Onimusha, a series with no new game in over 20 years | Onimusha: Way of the Sword sold more than a million units on 4 September 2026, its first day, and took series sales past ten million. Capcom says it is focusing on re-activating IPs that have not had a new title launch recently, alongside the major new titles it releases each year. | Capcom IR 2026 |
| Japan | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a 1998 game remade | Nintendo showed the first gameplay of its Switch 2 remake of the 1998 game on 8 September 2026 and dated it to 5 November. It adds a jump button and an explorable Hyrule Castle Town, and keeps the original's loading screens between areas on purpose. | Nintendo Direct 2026 |
| USA | StarCraft, no new game since 2015, back as a shooter | The next StarCraft is an open-world first-person shooter due in 2030, the first new entry since 2015. Blizzard canceled two earlier attempts at a StarCraft shooter, Ghost in 2006 and Ares in 2019. Dan Hay says it is a standalone story with a definitive ending and not a seasonal game. | GamesIndustry.biz 2026 |
| USA | Kinect and Wii games, relicensed to a new console | Nex Playground relaunched Freefall Racers, a 2013 Kinect title, which the company says reached 150,000 families in its first month, and has signed Sega and Bandai Namco for Sonic and Pac-Man games. The console sells in the United States and the United Kingdom, with Germany due later in 2026. | GamesIndustry.biz 2026 |
| South Korea | Nexon's back catalog, licensed to outside developers | Nexon Replay, unveiled on 18 December 2025, lets outside developers build games from Nexon's intellectual property. ChogaSoft used it to remaster Tactical Commanders, whose servers closed on 31 December 2005, and the Steam page for Tactical Commanders R went live on 7 September 2026. | Inven Global 2026 |
| Global | Remakes and remasters as a category | Ampere Analysis counts 72.4 million players of the remakes and remasters released across 2024 and 2025 on Xbox, PlayStation and Steam, who spent over $1.4 billion. Of the 42 titles it examined, the average remake drew 2.2 times the spending of the average remaster. | Ampere Analysis 2025 |
Timeline
2019
Capcom tells investors its unused franchises are part of the long-term plan
Capcom tells investors that unlocking value from its older intellectual property is part of its long-term plans. It uses almost identical language in a December 2024 investor release tied to the reveal of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and again in September 2026. The back catalog is described as an asset the company has not yet spent.
2021
Publishing sources tell VGC that Konami is bringing back three dormant series
Konami restructures its game development divisions and moves to return its largest brands to premium games, according to publishing sources who speak to VGC anonymously. Its last new Metal Gear was 2018 and its last mainline Castlevania 2014. A Castlevania reimagining is internal, a Metal Gear Solid project goes to the external studio Virtuos, and several Silent Hill games go to outside developers.
2025
Ampere Analysis measures what two years of remakes and remasters earned
The analytics firm Ampere Analysis reports on 3 November 2025 that the remakes and remasters released across 2024 and 2025 drew 72.4 million players on Xbox, PlayStation and Steam, who spent over $1.4 billion on full games and in-game purchases. Of the 42 titles it examined, the average remake drew 2.2 times the spending of the average remaster.
Nexon opens its back catalog to anyone who wants to build on it
Nexon unveils Nexon Replay on 18 December 2025, an open licensing project that lets outside developers make games from its intellectual property. Tactical Commanders, an online strategy game that launched on 1 January 2001 and shut down on 31 December 2005, is in the published lineup.
2026
Ubisoft cancels a remake it had already delayed for years
Ubisoft cancels six games in a reset announced on 21 January 2026, among them the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, a mobile title and four unannounced games of which three are original IP. It also gives seven games more development time, closes its Halifax mobile studio and its Stockholm studio, and targets a further 200 million euros of fixed-cost reduction over two years. The company says the reshaped portfolio follows more selective quality criteria.
Konami reports five million sales for the Silent Hill 2 remake
Konami announces on 12 March 2026 that as of 31 January the Silent Hill 2 remake, released on 8 October 2024, has passed five million units worldwide, counting digital and physical sales, store downloads and subscription services across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. It marks the figure with a half-price sale on the deluxe edition.
SNK says it is rebooting Metal Slug in the series' thirtieth year
SNK launches a thirtieth anniversary website for Metal Slug on 19 April 2026 and says the project's mission is reigniting and rebooting the franchise, including the development of new games. The series reached arcades in 1996. No new title, platform or date is attached to the statement.
ChogaSoft puts a Nexon game that closed in 2005 back on Steam
The Steam page for Tactical Commanders R goes live on 7 September 2026. ChogaSoft, an outside developer working under the Nexon Replay license, announced the remaster in May 2026. The original ran for about six years before Nexon closed it at the end of 2005, and the remaster keeps its territorial control and faction warfare systems.
Capcom says it will focus on re-activating the franchises it left alone
Onimusha: Way of the Sword, described by Capcom as the first new title in the series in over 20 years, sells more than a million units on its launch day of 4 September 2026 and takes cumulative series sales past ten million. Capcom says it is focusing on re-activating IPs that have not had a new title launch recently, and is working to further maximize corporate value by leveraging its rich library of content.
Nintendo dates a remake of a 1998 Zelda for November
Nintendo shows the first gameplay from its remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a 1998 Nintendo 64 game, on 8 September 2026 and dates it to 5 November on Switch 2. The remake adds a jump button, a Hyrule Castle Town that can be fully explored and a Threads of Time record of what the player has done, and keeps the original loading screens between areas on purpose.
Blizzard brings StarCraft back as a shooter, for 2030
Blizzard announces at BlizzCon 2026 that the next StarCraft is an open-world first-person shooter due in 2030, the franchise's first new title since StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void in 2015. General manager and vice president Dan Hay leads it. Blizzard has twice tried and canceled a StarCraft shooter, Ghost in 2006 and a project codenamed Ares in 2019.
Nex Playground says every major publisher has asked it about old motion-control catalogs
Nex Team president Thomas Kang says every major publisher has approached the company to review its old Kinect catalog and Wii catalog and to consider its IPs. The micro-console has relaunched Freefall Racers, a 2013 Kinect title, which chief executive David Lee says reached 150,000 families in its first month, and has signed Sega and Bandai Namco for Sonic and Pac-Man games.
Nex raises over $150 million to take its motion-control catalog worldwide
Nex raises more than $150 million in equity and debt in September 2026 to expand Nex Playground globally, broaden retail distribution and grow its content ecosystem with gaming and entertainment partners. The console's library is built largely from motion-control games the original platforms abandoned, and the company has said every major publisher has approached it about old Kinect and Wii catalogs.
A remaster of a 2004 game draws 807,000 peak viewers
World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard's remastered and expanded version of the 2004 original, reaches 807,000 peak viewers across its reveal and beta in September 2026, according to Streams Charts, with watch time rising across platforms. The beta opened on 17 September 2026 and the full release follows on 4 November.
Consequences
012026
The back catalog is a line in the strategy, not a nostalgia project
Capcom set out the plan in an investor release with a stated financial purpose, maximizing corporate value from its library, and placed it beside the major new titles it releases each year. A franchise that has shipped nothing for two decades is being counted as capital that can be put to work, and its owner is the only company that can do so.
022026
A revived name can come back as a different kind of game
The asset being revived is the franchise, not the genre that built it. StarCraft returns in 2030 as an open-world first-person shooter, eleven years after the last entry and thirty-two after the original strategy game, and Dan Hay describes a standalone story with a beginning, a middle and an end, not a seasonal game.
032026
Old catalogs become inventory that other companies can license
Nexon Replay lets outside developers build games from Nexon's intellectual property, and ChogaSoft used it to bring back a strategy game whose servers closed in 2005. The publisher that owns an old game no longer has to be the company that revives it, or to carry the cost of doing so.
042026
A hardware maker can assemble a catalog out of other companies' abandoned games
Nex Playground relaunched Freefall Racers, a 2013 Kinect title, and reached 150,000 families in its first month. Sega and Bandai Namco have signed Sonic and Pac-Man games to the platform. A console with no library of its own can build one from motion-control games the original platforms left behind.
Objections
Counterpoint2025
The market figure counts two different products as one
Ampere Analysis puts spending on remakes and remasters across 2024 and 2025 at over $1.4 billion from 72.4 million players on Xbox, PlayStation and Steam. In the same note it says the average remake drew 2.2 times the spending of the average remaster and costs far more to make. The headline figure adds together two products with different costs and different returns.
Counterpoint2026
Reviving an old game is not the safe bet it is sold as
Ubisoft canceled the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake in January 2026 after years of delay, one of six games cut under what it calls more selective portfolio criteria. The same reset cut three original IPs, closed two studios and targeted a further 200 million euros of fixed-cost reduction. A remake can fail the test a new game fails.
Counterpoint2026
One publisher reviving its catalog says growth comes from breaking with it
SNK chief publishing officer Ozan Kocoglu, speaking about his own company, says SNK needs a fresh perspective on how to keep growing by bringing new things, staying innovative, and breaking from the legacy of what it has been doing. SNK is the publisher behind the Metal Slug reboot and the new VS Studio under Katsuhiro Harada.
Counterpoint2026
The broadest claim on this page comes from the party that needs it to be true
The claim that every major publisher has approached a company about its old Kinect and Wii catalogs comes from Thomas Kang, president of the company selling the console those games would run on. No publisher has confirmed it. The deals named in the same interview number two, with Sega and with Bandai Namco.
What to watch
2026
The Ocarina of Time remake reaches players
5 November 2026, when Nintendo releases its remake of a 1998 Zelda on Switch 2. Nintendo has said the remake keeps the original's structure, including the loading screens between areas. It is this year's largest test of whether a faithful rebuild of a very old game sells like a new one from the same publisher.
2026
Nex Playground reaches Germany, then Japan
Later in 2026, when the Nex Playground micro-console launches in Germany at 319 euros, and 2027, when the company says it will enter Japan. Nex raised more than $150 million in September 2026 to expand distribution and its content ecosystem. Whether relicensed motion-control games travel beyond the United States and the United Kingdom is the test, and Japan is the harder half of it.
2026
SNK attaches a new game to its Metal Slug reboot
2027, when SNK ships Metal Slug Ultimate Collection, announced on 9 September 2026 for Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam. It is nine past games plus a location-test build, so the reboot SNK announced in April 2026 still has no new game of its own attached. Watch for the first one.
Further reading
- ReportingCapcom says it will focus on reviving dormant IPs after Onimusha: Way of the Sword breakout launchgamesindustry.biz
- PrimaryOnimusha: Way of the Sword surpasses one million units on launch day; Capcom to focus on re-activating IPscapcom.co.jp
- DataGamers spend twice as much on remakes as remastersampereanalysis.com
Where to follow it GamesIndustry.biz, Video Games Chronicle, Gematsu, Inven Global, publisher investor days
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