>>719155002
First of all, some games got popular and made their "brand" known because they were good and unique in the first place. Once publishers and developers find a formula that people enjoy they will milk it as long as there's an audience for it.
>even if those games have lesser known competitors who build upon the formula or replicate it perfectly, their reception always has caveats like "it doesn't *feel* right" or "the devs just don't *get* it" as if the brand is the magic ingredient that makes the games good
Yes because they're copycats. The first mover gets the advantage and usually has more resources to develop better games. If you like the CoD formula why play the copycats? If you like the Dark Souls formula why play soulsclones? I mean, you can play them, but your allegiance will always be to the original. Why spend my money on the copy when I can play the original?