I'd say a franchise is dormant if it's either
A) Gone 10 years without a new entry in development AND/OR
B) Is no longer available on currently supported hardware
Of course, there's lots of room for argument left to be had. For example, Mega Man isn't dormant because Mega Man 11 came out 5ish years ago on platforms that are still supported. But is Mega Man X dormant? It's only a portion of the franchise after all. Does the new content in the X Legacy Collection count as a new game?
Love and tolerate.