Probably the lack of Michael Ironside. Hopefully MGSV doesn't suffer the same fate.

Everybody knew it would underperform, well everyone but Ubisoft.

lol no. You need to play Chaos Theory. It makes the first 2 look and feel like a PS1 game. By far the high point in the series and it still holds up.

But after that, you're correct

That one has to pull a Red Dead Redemption or it will definitely be a financial flop.
Same could be said about Destiny.

On the other hand, I do have faith in them.

The midcore AAA HD market is truly competitive like publishers and devs have been trying to explain for years.

EA's mid-market AAA games are dying. Dante's Inferno, Army of 2, Medal of Honor, Dead Space and Crysis have a similar story. 5 million target but 2-3 million copies sold.

Same with Squire Enix West, all failures saleswise (Tomb Raider, Deus Ex Revolution, Hitman Absolution, Kain and Lynch, Thief).

Same with THQ (Darksiders, Saints Row, Kingdoms of Amalur, Metro 2033 and so on).

Activision already left the midcore HD market (Prototype, Wolfenstein, Singularity were the last).

Take 2 is in huge trouble (Bioshock, Mafia and games like LA Noire, Max Pain and XCOM constantly underperform no matter the reviews). GTA is saving them.

Ubisoft has realized this and that's why they are on the forefront to innovate their big games and make them focus more on online and social, sometimes persistent online (Watch Dogs, The Division, The Crew). The Splinter Cell situation is the reason why the next Rainbow6 and Prince of Persia and Brothers in Arms Fast & Furious and Beyond Good & Evil 2 were all put on hold. They realize in its current state it has no chance at selling 5 million.

Strange they would put them on hold. I would think that making a cheaper, more focussed but smaller title would the logical step. By not making the games, you're getting nothing at all.

It's like 5 million or nothing to some :(.

Good pint. That's something I never understood, why publishers cancel or put on hold fairly solid looking titles that are at least halfway through development.  Like Bethesda and Prey 2 or Lucasarts and Star Wars Battelfront and Star Wars 1313. It's like throwing away money.

Because they don't want to fall into the sunk costs trap:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy

The implication is that even if the publisher gave the game a spit polish and kicked it out the door to die, it wouldn't expect to make enough money back to pay for the spit. Brand damage, retailer returns, etc.

Overshadowed by more relevant games it seems. I personally am holding out just in case they pull an SE and release a Definitive (PC) version for the PS4.

I think this series is a victim of sequelities.

If you ask me, it also says that if youre going to do that, use numbered titles. I got no idea how many games in the series there are. Its not a series you can easily jump into.