A yearly or annual game is a game that is guaranteed to come out every year usually with the year number in the title. But with expenses building up and high prices every year, wouldn't the game studios be better off having one game to spend their time making perfect instead of always thinking of the next big thing?
Yearly Games
A yearly game is a game that, as the name suggests, comes out every year, usually in a specific month and with the new year name as the game number. (eg. Just Dance 2022 came out in November 2021). A new yearly game may include new features, new game modes and new interfaces while keeping the same style and gameplay as previous games with a few alterations. Famous yearly games include the Just Dance series, EA FIFA and Farming Simulator, all of which follow a yearly naming system.
Over anticipation and Hype
A problem that comes from yearly series is over-hype. People that get Just Dance 2015 and see loads of new features can get disappointed when the next few games in the series don't have as many new features and even remove some. It's hard for game developers to come up with brand new exciting features every year and we occasionally just end up with pretty much the same features as before. Over anticipation is another issue. Say a yearly series has always been announced in June and always releases in November, even the slightest change to that calendar can set the games community off. And one of the main reasons that the calendar isn't always followed is the strain of making a whole new game.
Late Announcements
If for whatever reason the series's "calendar" isn't followed the first thing the games community does is speculate about what's happening. "What if the games been cancelled?" A very good example of this was in 2020 when Just Dance 2021 wasn't announced in June because E3 was cancelled that year due to Covid-19. The game was later announced in late August on Nintendo Direct but not before the community bombarded Ubisoft on all social media channels they could.
But Ubisoft wasn't obliged to make Just Dance 2021, nor Just Dance 2022. They did, but they didn't have to. The trouble is that in everyone else's mind they've almost created a non-existent contract that gives the community the right to bombard Ubisoft if not followed.
Costs
Creating a whole new game is costly and this is no different with yearly games. When you add up the developer's salaries, game art, marketing, getting the game on consoles, etc, the costs can add up quickly. EA's FIFA also includes the added costs of licensing for the use of professional footballers' likeness. Just Dance meanwhile includes the cost of sets, props, backgrounds and professional dancers.
While both franchises make millions from the sale of these games, it would be much less expensive to merely create a single game that they update constantly, adding new features, more characters, etc. If the FIFA franchise, for example, were to create a single game to keep, it would create longer licenses for using football players' likenesses and in time, would save them money. This would also give EA an excuse to make some of the bigger updates contain features that must be paid for, and give people more of a reason to buy the game instead of worrying about wasting their money when the latest game is only 12 months away.
Written by Tom Conmy (@ConmyTom)
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