Hey Everyone! I was doing some thinking and realized that nearly all popular video game franchises have in common. The thing they have in common is that almost all of them start out with a trilogy of games. A few of them continue sequels after the third one, such as Mega Man. But Generally they all have at least three installments following a single format, story line, etc.
For Example:
Super Mario Bros. 1-3
Metroid 1-3 (Super Metroid)
Mega Man 1-3
Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3
Halo 1-3
Dead Space 1-3
Mother 1-3
Final Fantasy 1-3
Castlevania 1-3
Contra 1-3
Double Dragon 1-3
Donkey Kong Country 1-3.
So on and so forth

See what I mean? It's like a franchise will only prosper if it starts off with a trilogy of games. Think about the games that are really good, but have been kind of forgotten, or lowered on the list. Games such as Ristar (It only got one game), Vectorman (Only 2 games), and I'm sure you guys can think of some more.
But do you see the trend? It's very likely a giant coincidence, but it's still an interesting phenomenon. What do you guys think about this? Can you think of any other great franchises that began or consist of a trilogy of games?

Not really, most companies do it to have people in suspense till the new one comes out so they can cash out another $60. Having a trilogy doesn't matter, many games did well without them *cough* Undertale *cough*, its leaving people on a cliffhanger that makes them but the new games and thus they are successful. Sonic would have to be a exception as well as other games, but that is the main reason nowadays.

I think you're missing something here. For something to be a franchise, it has to have a number of games. A franchise isn't one single video game and that's it. A franchise is Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Call of Duty, Madden, and all of those (of course) have three games at least.

It's like saying, "You ever notice rainbows happen after rain?" It's necessary for it to happen. Multiple games are necessary to have a franchise.

I like the thought process and what you're doing but it's more causation, not correlation, if you get what I mean.

If you really think about it, the best games only have 1 or 2, but then they still go on to make more. if a game has 3 installments, it's usually the first or the first two that are great.

And like Ghostbear said, that's literally the definition of a franchise, having multiple games. If a game doesn't have a sequel, then it's just a game, and not a franchise at all So of course all franshices will have that in common because if they didn't, they wouldn't exist.

Guys. I know what a franchise is. But franchises often have mini franchises within the franchise. The games kind of get divided into phases. Like the Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Galaxy, Paper Mario, etc. Of course it's all Mario, but it would be odd to call Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Bros 4 because it's not similar to those games at all.
What I am trying to say is in the original "phase" of games that belong to various franchises, the makers had a habit of making a set of three games, a lot of them being a numerical "1,2, & 3", and then the franchise sprouted to other eras, spin offs, etc. It's like how there's the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and then it grew into a world full of more stories.
I know it's not a breathtaking discovery, but it's interesting.