Lazy developers

Why take a risk with original ideas that may be a waste of money when you could simply churn out slightly updated sequels to existing franchises for bucketloads of money... at least until stagnation becomes rife and the 3rd great videogame crash takes place.

When was the 2nd crash?

 

When was the 2nd crash?

I suspect that your question needs to be revised to "What was the first one?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games#Video_game_crash_of_1977
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983