Bungie’s Halo: Reach seems engineered from concept to completion to be a bittersweet swan song to an entire legion of fans. The tragic and epic fall of the planet Reach is a fitting narrative for the last “Halo” title to be undertaken by developer Bungie. Undoubtedly, fans must be worried about the direction of the franchise once it’s out of Bungie’s hands. After all, when Treyarch produced several console iterations of the “Call of Duty” franchise instead of Infinity Ward, a sour taste was left in many a gamer’s mouth. With Call of Duty: Black Ops rolling around the corner to record pre-sales, it will remain to be seen whether Treyarch finally delivers an A-list title or leaves a lot of people feeling seriously duped.

This brings into question the matter of quality when it comes to how game developers brand themselves. During a recent visit to a nearby Gamestop, I noticed something striking on a stand-alone display shelf: every game was another iteration of a franchise. While franchises developed a loyal fan base for early consoles by giving players a mascot (Nintendo’s Mario, Sony’s Solid Snake,) developers have taken a more Hollywood inspired approach to franchises once cross-platform titles came along in the current generation and distilled the loyal fan bases.

And while Kratos may now be an ass kicking poster god for Sony, and Marcus Fenix a jacked up star for Microsoft, the trajectory of franchises has gone beyond simply selling more titles. It’s about Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo keeping gamers playing their respective consoles after they’re done with its big A-list debut. And rather than tech being the measure of a consoles competitiveness, it’s increasingly becoming more and more about the software.

The trilogy phenomenon is now the standard for franchising. Think: God of War, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Fable, Killzone, Halo, and even the Starcraft 2 trilogy-within-a-sequel. Many new IPs are conceived as trilogies, with stories following a familiar narrative arc over three titles, complete with mini-narratives within those titles. Each new title is, of course, expected to push the envelope further and add new features to the game. This is often an opportunity to improve upon the original title with new game modes, online play, and other techno-centric selling points that weren’t possible with the series’ first iteration.

Returning to the Halo series, we saw an epic arc over three titles that contain the three phases of traditional narratives: introduction, conflict, resolution (remember how the “Finish the fight” marketing for Halo 3 was built in with Halo 2‘s cliff hanger ending.)

Now imagine if the series was continued by a different developer. While the inevitable backlash erupts against franchises becoming nothing more than cash cows for developers, much of that backlash comes from devoted fans who are concerned that their investment in a series comes to a satisfying close. Key to this investment, and something Bioware has done brilliantly with Mass Effect, is making a franchise about continuing and finishing “your” story. On this level, the heat is on the developer to deliver, and when they do, they’re branding themselves with an image of success and quality.

This is a burden on new titles that is absent, from, say Madden and FIFA franchises. A compelling narrative hooks and keeps gamers playing until the sweet end and possibly beyond into spin offs and new iterations of the world a developer has created. This was the killing point of the Unreal Tournament series, which followed the logic that new features, maps, and graphic updates was enough to keep gamers shelling out 60 dollars every year.

I enjoy what franchises have been able to accomplish, narrative-wise. It has revived the shooter genre by creating the illusion of a sprawling, epic narrative, even though most of the time is spent shooting things. It has given the RPG genre more urgent involvement than the bottom line of leveling up in order to reach the end.

Franchises have also made developers like Bungie and Infinity Ward what they are, for better or worse. We buy into the brand as much as we buy physical copies of games. Their brands have developed a twisted trust relationship which includes emotionally charged expectations in their consumer base. After Halo, the expectations for Bungie’s next title becomes something like “from the developer who brought you the Halo series…” The fan’s response: “Better not screw up the series.” It’s undeniable that the mark of a wildly successful franchise on a developer leaves it with plenty of cash, but also it’s own signature brand that is bound to be (pardon the pun) legendary.

Games: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo Reach, Starcraft 2, Platforms: Xbox 360, Genres: Action, Publishers: Microsoft Game Studios, Developers: Bioware, Blizzard, Bungie, Infinity Ward, Treyarch