Cash Cow Franchise/Quotes

"-It's a cash cow! we milk it to make money!
-Daggum, that's amazing! Whatcha gonna call her?

-I'm deciding between Tony Hawk, Madden and Mario."

"In ten years, there's been 25,000 products based on the franchise, including... pez dispensers, a... blender, a shopping cart and... buckets?"

—The Nostalgia Chick, talking about Disney Princesses.

Deadpool: If we can find him, we can end this.
Spider-Man: Wait, why do we want to end this again?

Deadpool: Yeah you're right! This franchise could pay off the national debt!

—Marvel/DC Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parody.

"Expend less energy, cut costs and somehow make more money anyway. Sadly, save for only a few epic hardcore titles like the The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy, this mantra of sorts has been the Nintendo way through Wii's lifecycle."

—IGN, Nintendo Is Lazy And You Don't Care

Well, part of the rub is that it isn't actually his cow to slaughter, even if he wanted to. It's WotC's cow (as is the Forgotten Realms), and it keeps their pockets filled... they just redistribute some of it Salvatore's way for performing regular "cow maintenance." And, nothing can go on in their farm without their written, in triplicate, consent.

In essence, it doesn't matter how far Greenwood, Salvatore, or Cunningham may want to take a character, because WotC's always going to hold the rope and decide which pasture the cow feeds from. An author can can say, "how about the 'character death' pasture," but they can easily be countermanded with, "no, the grass at 'looked bad but it was Only a Flesh Wound' looks a little greener today, go over there."

—A fan on Candlekeep forums, immediately followed by agreeing nod from a Forgotten Realms author.