How do Franchises establish and develop continuing sales figures?

The computer game industry make a lot of money from franchises of games - a series or sequels of games related to each other. They can sustain sales from a number of techniques, for example, with the game Assassin's Creed 3 (made by Ubisoft on AnvilNext), the 6th game in the Assassin's Creed franchise. With the game in development since January 2010, by its release date, Ubisoft will have worked on the title for almost three years.
 This game is a follow-on from Assassin's Creed 2, but with a new character, a new setting, and new time period. It is based in 1775, The American Revolution, and the protagonist is Connor, an assassin who has sworn to secure liberty for his people and his nation. The aim is to hunt the enemy across the realistically created world, in quite a violent, chaotic manner, with a range of new weapons. The game also includes some well-known characters from the time it is set. Now, the character is stronger and more advanced than previous characters, and is able to move precisely through the aquatic world with enhanced animation. He is able to fight enemies on the high seas aboard his stalwart vessel, The Aquila, enabling the player to command your own Naval warship [This information about the storyline is from the official website].
 All of these new additional features of the game that are different from The 1st and 2nd games of the franchise are prompts to encourage people to buy the game. This is because the audience who already own the rest of the franchise won't bother to buy this game if it is very similar to the rest, so there needs to be a lot of differences. However the concept and overall story need to follow through from the last game so the the audience have a sense of security with the familiarity, but also it acts like a cinematic series of films, to keep the audience immersed into the game, which also encourages them to buy each game. For new audiences, the game is also made to appeal to them because of all the new features to create its own new storyline that is easy to follow, within the overall story, (Ubisoft UK MD Rob Cooper says the game is a good entry for newcomers to the series) which is another cinematic quality of series of films in the film industry, which relates to the rivalry between both industries for sales currently.
 The fact it is a franchise, gives the current audience (which Assassin's Creed has from the success of the previous games), a curiosity factor of what will happen to the storyline in the next part of the series, which also contributes to the sales of the newest release.
The genre is action/adventure/stealth, so already tries to give appeal for being a very active, involvement game, which shows that genre is a main factor in achieving sales. The target audience is male, which is reflected through the genre because violence and action is most associated with males. With the genre correctly appealing to their target audience, it increases the number of people in their target audience buying it. To widen their target audience range, the game has been designed for the PSP with a female protagonist, who female's can relate themselves to in the imaginary setting, so the game can appeal to both genders, and therefore make more sales.
 The age limit for the game is rated 18, higher than he previous ratings of 15, which could intrigue a player because of the reason the age limit has been increased. This would make them want to buy the game and find out, because it implies more violent or sexual content - something the male target audience would be interested in, which shows that age limits are important for franchises. A lot of the players are below the age limit anyway, and this rebellion that can be created from getting the game 'under-age' could be satisfying for the people buying the game, especially when the protagonist Connor is also rebelling in the game against society.

New gameplay additions include muskets and rifles, which can be fired at a considerable reload time, or used as a melee weapon. Hiding places can now be mobile, such as haystacks in wagons or moving carts, which can be used to sneak up closer to targets. Disguises can also be worn, fooling normal troops and only risking investigation by officers.

Free running has been modified to allow for more fluid, parkour-like movement over certain obstacles. Exploration has also been modified, allowing for map areas to be revealed without requiring a viewpoint synchronization.

Assassin's Creed III features new weather simulations such as snow, fog, and rain. Depending on the seasons, weather determines how the Templars and soldiers will move around with heavy winter snows making it more difficult to move swiftly.

Connor is able to hunt animals for skins in the wilderness while at the same time Connor himself might find that he is being hunted by other animals (bear, elk, cougars, etc.). The value of an animal's hide is determined by how, where, and with what weapon you kill the animal. Muskets, flintlock pistols, and multiple attacks will make the pelt less valuable while a single stab or shot with a bow will increase the value.

Another major change is the Homestead. Starting with a single house and a few outbuildings, Connor can perform missions for people in order to convince them to settle near the Homestead, which provides raw materials and simple craftsmen (such as a barrelmaker). Raw goods and crafts can then be used as part of a local economy, selling them at market by caravan. Depending on the goods in the caravan and the level of threat nearby, these goods can be attacked and stolen or sold at a profit. More varied methods of movement have been added as well, including climbing trees, cliffs, and other natural elements, alongside leaping over wagons, or sliding under obstacles.

 These are all other additional features that were involved in the development of the new game. These features are also things that intrigue players and convince them to to buy it, because it offers a lot more opportunities for the player than the previous games.
 The graphics have also improved, to be more realistic by using the game engine AnvilNext. Using this has also made the setting much larger. With this sense of being more realistic, the players have a better sense of escapism and feel more immersed, and will also give them more of a reason to play it. The theory that everyone wants better than they already have is a theory applied to the graphics, that will make people want better graphics than the previous.
This shows that the game engine a game is produced on, is something to be considered as an important factor in the sales of a game, because the way it is developed is something key to the target audience.

Ubisoft's senior vice president of sales and marketing, Tony Guy, said that the game would enjoy the biggest marketing commitment in company history. According to Wikipedia, script writer Matt Turner said the Benedict Arnold missions in the game were some of the most historically accurate missions in the game as some scenes have actual words spoken by key players in the events at West Point, according to the court proceedings following what happened. With quotes like this from people involved with the game, it may give players an incentive to buy the game if they know the accuracy of the game from a reliable source, and the more realistic it is to true events could persuade people to buy it from their interest in being immersed into an imaginary world as a form of escapism from the less interesting real world.
 Special edition versions of the game that are on sale for a limited time include things like extra features in the gameplay, or come with free gifts like a steelbook case with cover art drawn by an award winning artist. This kind of thing can also be available to players if they pre-order the game - paying money for it before it is even released to get the extras on the game or to be one of the first people to receive it. If a player achieves these things, they can get a sense of satisfaction, which is what the marketing side of the game tries to achieve. By bribing the target audience with extras to the limited or before-hand sales of the game, there are more sales quicker within the limited time, and therefore more money from sales gets to the industry quicker, but also it gets a lot more people to buy it for the satisfaction of more opportunities.
 Another way of using marketing to get more sales is through the ways it is advertised, such as posters, magazine articles, official trailers on the internet and reviews. These are all forms of getting more people aware of the game and its release, therefore widening the opportunity for more people to buy it. On these ways of advertising there are usually positive things that promote the game, and give people reasons to buy it, or give people an insight into the storyline that sounds most interesting. This is the main way of boosting sales figures for people that are new to the franchise, or people familiar with it that are unsure whether to carry on with the next game.
 Youtube clips were released before the game release of how the game was made. Within these some details were revealed about the new game, but remained secretive about the rest. This technique creates anticipation for the release, but also makes people want to find out the rest of the details by buying the game.

 The game was released or is to be released on a range of consoles, such as Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP and Wii U. This means the game is more accessible to people who only own certain consoles, and therefore more of a target audience, and more opportunities for people to buy it. It was also sold in many places such as Game, Gamestation, Amazon and supermarkets like Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons. This also makes the game widely available to more people, which boosts sales, but also with all the shops all competing for their own sales against each other, they will lower their prices to be better value for the customer, and with prices getting lower, more people are inclined to buy it, which also makes more sales.
 The game was released near Christmas time, which is a big factor for the selling things in the computer game industry. This means the game can be bought as a Christmas present, especially for those who can't afford to buy it casually any other time. This means more sales in the computer game industry are made around this time compared to the rest of the year, so was the best opportunity to sell the game to make sales. Also, within the storyline, the mention of the world ending on 21.12.12 is included, and being close to Christmas, is also near the release date. This means it is something  a player can relate to, and if they are immersed into the game from the cinematic techniques, and effectively 'save the world from ending' in the game, they might have a bigger sense of achievement. When the game is advertised to show this, it can increased the sales.

 Overall, Assassin's Creed 1 sold 8 million copies. Overall, Assassin's Creed 2 sold 9 million copies. Within only the first week, Assassin's Creed 3 sold 3.5 million copies. This shows that franchises can be important, as a series of games that continually improve against the last, can increase more and more sales in the industry.