A trend in gaming that I've noticed.....

   Developers seem to slack off after a successful first entry in a new gaming franchise, and let brandname and hype carry the sequels.

For example, look at the Prince of Persia series.  The Sands of Time comes out and is just an incredible game, then the Warrior Within is released, and while not terrible, is a mere shadow of what TSOT was.  The Two Thrones arrives which is better than the second, but is still not in the same class as the original.  I feel the same way about Halo and Halo 2.

Do you think it is intentional for companies to ride the success of the original and release a "just good enough" sequel which will sell anyhow despite it's questionable calibur as a quality product? 

I'm not saying this happens to all sequels, as God of War II is a fine example of a game that is as close to the original as can be hoped for, but I'm tending to become very skeptical about the promise of what's to come in franchise updates.

Thoughts?

Yeah, I'm sick of developers making sequel after sequel just so they can make more money.

 But I'm glad that the Prince of Persia has officially ended. Well, I WAS glad, but now they're just making ports of The Two Thrones just to get some quick cash.