When the games have yearly releases with little to no changes in gameplay/story. Sonic, mario and Modern Warfare come to mind. Also Halo.

Vault101:
is this a seaqual?

what the hell does Kratos have left to kill?

Well, he could always go to a parallel universe and kill the Roman versions of all the other gods.

Seriously, how the fuck is a new God Of War whoring out?
We haven't had a new entry in the series since what, 2010? That's 2 years ago. Kratos has a lot of stories that we haven't yet seen.

I think people are confusing whoring out with milking.

Tons of sequels and merchandise is milking an IP.
It's whoring out when a company starts ignoring the old fanbase of a series, who made the previous entries possible with their money and instead caters to a new(bigger) audience with unwanted changes made to the series.

i did what i always do when these threads come along and consulted google!

according to the urban dictionary whoring out is
To ruin what was once good for the purposes of making money. For example, an MMORPG that was once free to play starts charging $20 a month, or a store everyone likes starts charging excessive amounts for its products

/thread google is all powerful, maybe people should use it more often

To be honest I am happy with companies doing it - on the condition that the games are good.
Other then that it generally happens around the point where the story conclusivly ends; e.g protagonist sacrifices self/ wins/ lives happily ever after.

At the point where you begin to mind it personally. This, like everything else, is entirely subjective.

Angry Birds? Candy? T-shirts at the Target? In my eyes, whored out to hell and back, quit it, I'm so sick of it.

Persona 4? With its anime, rerelease, stage play, fighting game, light novel and manga spinoff? Awesome, you deserve it Atlus. Do it more.

Why? No reason other than I liked Persona 4 more than I did Angry Birds and do not mind seeing it everywhere. I think everyone has one of these franchises that they cannot get enough of, so there's really not an objective standard of measurement for what constitutes "whoring out" or "milking" or whatever.

Once the company makes DJ Hero, it's time to stop.

When I think "Oh, not ANOTHER one of these!" you're pretty much at that point in my eyes.

veloper:
I think people are confusing whoring out with milking.

Tons of sequels and merchandise is milking an IP.
It's whoring out when a company starts ignoring the old fanbase of a series, who made the previous entries possible with their money and instead caters to a new(bigger) audience with unwanted changes made to the series.

wow

Dragonage milked by the second game? i actually sort of agree there

havass:
When the games have yearly releases with little to no changes in gameplay/story. Sonic, mario and Modern Warfare come to mind. Also Halo.

Halo doesn't have yearly releases - never has, though I suppose it may do under 343. Also the story progresses across each one. Gameplay doesn't change much (arguable whether that's even a bad thing), but still more than CoD.

pierre666lol:
To be honest I am happy with companies doing it - on the condition that the games are good.

If the product is a good evolution or just repeats the same formula after a few years without appearing, then at most it's considered "milking".

"Whoring out" is when you sacrifice the quality. Call of Duty 4 had an exclusive open beta for Charlie Oscar Delta members. Guess how many other CoD titles had a beta too? Guess how many CoD titles had to suffer patch after patches of fixes because of fans crying?

CoD could be a simple "milking" but you just have to look around the internet to find that CoD is plagued with problems that need fixing because of rushed development. Developers are sacrificing quality, which means "whoring out".

spartandude:

veloper:
I think people are confusing whoring out with milking.

Tons of sequels and merchandise is milking an IP.
It's whoring out when a company starts ignoring the old fanbase of a series, who made the previous entries possible with their money and instead caters to a new(bigger) audience with unwanted changes made to the series.

wow

Dragonage milked by the second game? i actually sort of agree there

DA2 is actually more of a whoring out thing, or selling out, before that became to mean just financial success.
Maybe Bioware was also also whoring it up with DA2, as in doing too much of a thing, like those same few dungeons repeated over and over.

Milking? Are there DA2 action figures too now?

When the franchise has over 10 games (regardless of whether or not they're prequels, sequels, spin-offsm,etc) it gets a bit much. Final Fantasy is a bit of an exception since they only have similar elements and completely different characters, storylines and universes.

That and when random side-characters get their own game, it can be a little painful!

When your planned trilogy has turned into 5 main games before the 'third' has even been released.

Whoring out to me, is when the prime object is to make a a game to make money rather then to make money to make more games. Some franchises are pretty much entirely about being the biggest whores on the block from their very inception.

Terminate421:
When a game has nothing to add to it or sequels have become record defying.

Or you make this:

Why the fuck wasn't that named Madagascarts?

Vault101:
is this a seaqual?

what the hell does Kratos have left to kill?

I've heard stories from old time AD&D (late 70s/ early 80s) players about how they did something similar to Kratos. They took a supplement called Deities and Demigods, opened up to a page and said, "well that's the Greek pantheon taken down. It looks like the Oceania gods are next."

When is God of War whoring itself out?

The day we go into the perfume rack at a major anchor store and start seeing Vengeance, the official GoW cologne sold right next to whatever Paris Hilton has her name on this week.

I don't use the word 'whore' until the franchise is on the side of a Happy Meal. So I'd say the game industry is doing pretty well by those standards.

I considering it milking it since it finished it's planned trilogy.

However I'm not quite sure how the ending God of War 3 was "conclusive".
But I suppose "nothing left to kill" is a kind of conclusive ending.

Terminate421:
When a game has nothing to add to it or sequels have become record defying.

Or you make this:

Damn. You know a game is ridiculous when, upon seeing it, you take a trip to google to check whether the guy who showed it is trolling you with an impressive photoshop.

Apart from that perfect example above, I'd use the definition: When multiple games in the series have come out without adding or changing anything of note, (story additions, extensions, etc. can be fine if it's a story worth telling). Release one or two near identical games, fine, move onto the third, and I'll call you a whore. (I will add, that if you one of those samey games is released on a different console e.g. those God of War psp games, I'll let you off, you're just bringing your game to a different audience/ letting people play it on the go. Fair enough.)

When it becomes yearly. So far, God of War isn't doing that.... and frankly, they've been excellent games for the most part (although 3 was pushing it with my nerves). If this has to do with becoming the Kratos of legend, I would be interested. I wanted to see him fight and lose and then be blessed by Ares.

When a new game is released every year with little changes and tons of overpriced dlc.

Palademon:
I considering it milking it since it finished it's planned trilogy.

However I'm not quite sure how the ending God of War 3 was "conclusive".
But I suppose "nothing left to kill" is a kind of conclusive ending.

GoW3 should've been conclusive, but then "he apparently stood up and walked away". *sigh*

Which is why I groan at the thought of a new God of War. I love the series, at least the 3 main games, but the character of Kratos has been totally played out. I know this new game will most likely be a prequel, but even then it'll just be Kratos doing his same old shtick... Again... Being pissed off.

btw. Do we even know if it's the original development team working on it?

Once the series goes downhill in quaility terms, or if there is an unesseccary sequal/spinoff.

Stilkon:
Once the company makes DJ Hero, it's time to stop.

It did.

Mr. Omega:
Now I'm going to assume you mean milking a franchise. When I think of a franchise whoring, I think of it shilling out for all sorts of DLC like Team Fortress 2 or anything made by Capcom.

Anyway, milking a franchise doesn't really have to do with quantity, or even span of time. It has to do with what is actually being done. Quality matter. There's a reason Mario is still considered a gaming icon and Sonic isn't.

Team Fortress 2's DLC is Free, dude. Unless, you're on the X-Box 360. In which case, it isn't Valve's fault. It's Microsoft and their foolish policies.

Auron225:
When the franchise has over 10 games (regardless of whether or not they're prequels, sequels, spin-offsm,etc) it gets a bit much. Final Fantasy is a bit of an exception since they only have similar elements and completely different characters, storylines and universes.

That and when random side-characters get their own game, it can be a little painful!

Maybe if it just started in the current generation of videogames. But, when it's been around for over 30 years, like Mario, then, no.

lacktheknack:

Marter:
As soon as it tacks "Revelation" onto its name.

I kid, I kid. Kinda...

But Myst IV: Revelation was really good! D:

At least... until the end...

OT: A game franchise is "Whoring Out" once it gets action figures outside of the Collector's Edition.

The heck are you talking about? Why should videogames be excluded from getting action figures any more than Batman, GI Joe or Albert Einstein?

Lugbzurg:

Stilkon:
Once the company makes DJ Hero, it's time to stop.

It did.

Mr. Omega:
Now I'm going to assume you mean milking a franchise. When I think of a franchise whoring, I think of it shilling out for all sorts of DLC like Team Fortress 2 or anything made by Capcom.

Anyway, milking a franchise doesn't really have to do with quantity, or even span of time. It has to do with what is actually being done. Quality matter. There's a reason Mario is still considered a gaming icon and Sonic isn't.

Team Fortress 2 has got free DLC. That's just how Valve rolls. And the reason why it's still getting this stuff is because people are still playing it, even after nearly five years. There's nothing wrong with selling lots and lots of DLC the way Valve has been doing. Would you rather they take Activision's route of selling out $60 map packs every year?

Auron225:
When the franchise has over 10 games (regardless of whether or not they're prequels, sequels, spin-offsm,etc) it gets a bit much. Final Fantasy is a bit of an exception since they only have similar elements and completely different characters, storylines and universes.

That and when random side-characters get their own game, it can be a little painful!

Maybe if it just started in the current generation of videogames.

But, when it's been around for over 30 years, like Mario, then, no.

lacktheknack:

Marter:
As soon as it tacks "Revelation" onto its name.

I kid, I kid. Kinda...

But Myst IV: Revelation was really good! D:

At least... until the end...

OT: A game franchise is "Whoring Out" once it gets action figures outside of the Collector's Edition.

The heck are you talking about?
Why should videogames be excluded from getting action figures any more than Batman, GI Joe or Albert Einstein?

Oops. Somehow, a post came out twice.