“It was GTA-like with a GOOD fighting system”: Square Enix Dropped One Franchise Over Marvel’s Avengers and Lived to Regret It
Square Enix abandoning a popular franchise to bring Marvel's Avengers cost it the success it should have received.
- The Sleeping Dogs franchise was one of the finest ever released by Square Enix but still was abandoned by the team.
- After leaving this GTA-like game, Square Enix moved to Marvel's Avengers but didn't get the expected success that it would have gotten with Sleeping Dogs' sequel.
- Sleeping Dogs fans are still hoping for a remake or sequel to the game, as the exact reason why it got an untimely pause has not been announced yet.
GTA games are some massively successful titles, and often, action-adventure games with similar themes take inspiration from this Rockstar series. Even one Square Enix game featured a “GTA-like” fighting system. However, Square Enix abandoned this franchise despite significant success for unknown reasons.
Sleeping Dogs is one of Square Enix’s most classic action-adventure games. It was released on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2012. Later, the game received a Definitive Edition in 2014. However, the base game received a considerably good user score of 8 on Metacritic. Despite that, a sequel never came.
Fans Consider Sleeping Dogs to Be the Chance to Taste Success That Square Enix Missed for Marvel’s Avengers
Since Sleeping Dogs was released, one thing was sure: this game was like one of the iconic action-adventure series by Rockstar Games: Grand Theft Auto. The similarities with the GTA series became more prevalent as players kept using the fighting mechanism of Sleeping Dogs. Though the kung-fu style fights were original, the hand-to-hand combat resembled GTA.
Once a game gains substantial success, players hope for the developer to bring a sequel. Though the speculation about Sleeping Dogs getting another part was in the air for years, no official announcement has appeared yet. Square Enix, for some reason, stranded this highly popular franchise.
Proving the hopes of fans wrong, Square Enix chose Marvel’s Avengers as its next step toward success and released the game in 2020. However, the game pathetically failed and got a 4.9 user score on Metacritic.
Years later, one Sleeping Dogs fan has brought this topic up on X (formerly Twitter) and expressed that Square Enix missed the fact that it was only “one sequel away from success.”
Fans seem more upset because “it was a GTA-like with a GOOD fighting system” but never got a sequel or a remake.
Fans Have Been Agreeing on the Same Point About Square Enix Abandoning Sleeping Dogs
GTA 6 is currently under development and players have been speculating loads of different things in the meantime. Therefore, them being sad about a GTA-like game that got dumped for no reason is pretty understandable.
As the point that the Sleeping Dogs franchise was the key to the success that the developers have missed has been highlighted, players have joined the discussion with similar opinions. One player mentioned that it was a “masterpiece underdog of a game.” Therefore, it deserves a sequel.
Another one expressed a similar opinion, calling it a “godlike” game.
Even some players called it the best game they have ever played.
Among all, someone pointed out that the sales weren’t probably satisfactory, and that’s the reason behind this franchise not getting further installments.
But no official announcement ever came about Square Enix not moving forward with the franchise because of low sales.
