People love to milk a popular franchise. Studios and publishers will continue to release sequels and spin-offs of a particular IP as long as fans keep buying them. While this decade saw its share of new series like Horizon: Zero Dawn and The Last of Us, plenty of well-established brands kept chugging along. Some even got more well known than ever.
The following list will detail ten franchises with the most games put out this decade, including spin-offs that made their way to either consoles or handheld devices like the PS Vita or Nintendo DS. Sports games get a mention, but not individually. Otherwise, every entry would be a sports league, due to their annual release schedule.
10 Pokemon - 7
Maybe this one isn't exactly fair to put on the list because each title doubles up, but even without counting all of them twice it comes out at seven mainline entries in the franchise. If made into fourteen, then Pokemon stands as one of the most prolific franchises of the decade.
With the ado surrounding the new Switch titles, it's also shaping up to be one of the most controversial of the last ten years. Fans are still eating it up, though. For those who haven't played, it is hard to wrap one's head around the obsession with collecting all these lovable creatures.
9 Resident Evil - 8
Capcom's legendary survival horror franchise had a rough start this decade. The console games slowly strayed from their roots. Oddly enough, the portable efforts kept the flame alive long enough for the company to realize what fans really wanted from the series.
Resident Evil Revelations 2 and Resident Evil 7 were a return to form, and the recent Resident Evil 2 remake is a contender for game of the year. With a Resident Evil 3 remake all but a sure thing, thanks to some leaked artwork, the series is back on track and scaring gamers more than ever.
8 Dragon Ball - 9
Dragon Ball has been going strong since its serialized manga began in 1984. Like any popular anime worth its weight in ink, video game adaptations have flowed like they were a broken water pipe.
About twelve games relating to series came out since 2010. Most of them are fighters, but RPGs and an MMO exist among the crowd as well. Sadly for fans, the online multiplayer game was shut down and is no longer playable. Non fans may not understand all the attention surrounding the series, as few solely gaming franchises get that many entries in a ten-year span.
7 Zelda - 9
Nintendo keeps its iconic franchise close to the chest, making each release a momentous occasion. They've been pretty generous this decade with the tunic-wearing hero, presenting nine entries for fans' consumption.
The Switch's Breath of the Wild stands out as a particular highlight. Its magnificent open-world gameplay brought back the sense of wonder veteran players had when they first booted up Legend of Zelda on their NES back in 1986. The console launch title also helped bring a legion of new fans into the fold.
6 Madden NFL And All Other Sports Games - Annual Releases
People who don't play sports do not understand the need for annual releases. The rules of the sport never change, so why does each league need an update?
Other than the tweaked features, rosters change and people switch teams, so a new game comes out to reflect this. Of course, this could just as easily be done with an update to the current game, but then people wouldn't be paying an extra sixty dollars every year for a new game, would they?
5 Yakuza - 11
This cult franchise only just started gaining recognition in the west over the past few years. To catch up non Japanese fans, several remakes hit shelves. It's a good thing, too, because some of the old titles haven't aged too gracefully. In addition to mainline games and remakes, a couple of portable offerings are available as well.
The upcoming Yakuza 7 looks to shake up the formula by becoming a turn-based RPG. The studio cannot be blamed for the gameplay twist, considering the number of brawlers they've developed over the years.
4 Mario - 11
These days, pitching an Italian plumber as a mascot would be nearly impossible, but he was just what the video game landscape needed in the mid-1980s. The title was a revolution in game design and for the medium's place in pop culture.
The ex-plumber is still going strong, starring in eleven titles this decade alone. This doesn't count the innumerable spin-offs featuring the lovable guy and his friends. Super Mario Odyssey is an especially divine platforming experience, making one wonder just how the next game is going to top it.
3 Call Of Duty - 11
It is impressive for a series of this magnitude to contribute to the gaming landscape every year without fail. Sure, some Call of Duty titles are better than others, but they've never put out an outright clunker, save for the portable outing Black Ops: Declassified. Casual observers decry the series as repetitive.
Fans playing from year to year know the truth, however. Black Ops 4 is a wildly different experience than this year's Modern Warfare. Whatever the next decade has in store for the series, we're sure it'll involve tight shooting and hard-hitting set pieces.
2 Assassin's Creed - 14
Too much of a good thing is possible. Assassin's Creed stuck to an annual formula since 2009, and even had spin-offs to boot. Finally, they took a break in 2016 to recoup, coming back stronger than ever in 2017 with Assassin's Creed: Origins.
The series is also skipping 2019, though 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey saw regular updates well into the next year. The next outing will probably make its way to PS5 and Project Scarlett, though if this generational transition is anything like the last, it'll end up on PS4 and Xbox One as well.
1 Final Fantasy - 15
This legendary JRPG series used to pump out numbered entries all the time, though for the past twenty years only six mainline Final Fantasy games have come out. Spin-offs picked up the slack, however, and it seems like a new Final Fantasy product comes out every six months or so.
With Final Fantasy XIV standing as one of the finest currently active MMOs, the series is never out of the spotlight. Well over a dozen games bearing the brand have come out since 2010. Some of them are traditional RPGs, while others take more liberties with the franchise.