Mortal Konbat

Mortal Kombat demonstrating a unique aftermarket approach. Want to follow their example? Here's how in four easy steps! First, build a franchise with a unique selling point. Mortal Kombat chose colour-coded ninjas and spine removal. Your mileage may vary. Second, run said franchise into the ground. You want to really destroy it. Produce so much shrieking, broken junk that your brand seems positively radioactive. Bad tie-in movies are a good start, but to really turn the knife you'll need at least a couple of lifeless spin-off titles and perhaps even an animated TV series. The more alienated fans there are at this point, the better.

Third, wait a couple of years until everyone's forgotten just how awful your dimwitted franchise milking got, then announce a back-to-basics relaunch. Extra points for dressing it all up in a High Definition drag that recalls your earlier, more successful, installments! Fourth, when compiling this relaunch be sure to excise the most famous examples of your unique selling point. Mortal Kombat achieved this by ditching the only fatality moves anyone ever liked, and by carefully redesigning all their most popular characters so they looked completely unlike how everyone remembered them. The upshot of all this legacy tinkering? NetherRealm Studios, the current stewards of the Mortal Kombat franchise, get to put together a retro pack featuring all this junked content and sell it as DLC a month after release for a cool cool profit. Ka-ching!