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Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered hasn’t been announced for PS5 and PC just yet, but it’s already gone down about as well as a Tallneck with an arrow to its ankle. Less than 18% of Push Square readers said they were interested in buying the re-release, which is already perfectly playable on Sony’s new-gen system through backwards compatibility – and running at a slick 60 frames-per-second to boot. [Update: A Days Gone remaster has been rumoured since we wrote this article earlier today.]
Social media has not been kind to PlayStation lately: the company is being criticised for extorting enthusiast users with its admittedly optional $700 PS5 Pro – and many feel it doesn’t have the software to justify its pricey new hardware. Arguably unnecessary remasters like Horizon Zero Dawn aren’t helping the perception that Sony has nothing new to offer – even if it did launch the acclaimed Astro Bot less than two weeks ago.
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It should be noted that Sony isn’t the only manufacturer adopting a remaster strategy. Nintendo has infamously repurposed a large portion of the Wii U’s library for the Switch, and still has more ports on the way; Donkey Kong Country Returns, the Retro Studios platformer from 2010, is getting a second barebones re-release as late as next year (it’s already been ported once to the 3DS).
Those defending the House of Mario would perhaps argue there’s no backwards compatibility available on the Switch so the circumstances are different, but the philosophy of re-selling old software at a significant mark-up is clearly not a new one. So why does this keep happening, and why is the Japanese giant “wasting” resources on remasters that fans haven’t been asking for?
Well, it’s important to remember that, while you may want a Bloodborne or Dark Cloud re-release, this wouldn’t necessarily be tackled by the team behind the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster. Resources are finite, yes, but they can’t be applied carte blanche to whichever project you want; Bloodborne, for example, will likely require involvement from creator FromSoftware, who, in case you didn’t notice, has been fairly busy of late.
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Naughty Dog noted, when it made The Last of Us: Part 1, this was a great opportunity for it to blood new talent and get it comfortable with PS5 development. At the time, it was plotting its next major project, and so needed to find work for its sizeable pool of staff. The alternative would perhaps be to layoff artists and programmers not involved in the pre-production stage of its next project, but none of us want that. These remasters can be good learning exercises, then, and bridge the gap between long development cycles.
In the case of some projects, like Until Dawn, they can also offer an updated product for release on PC. It’s true that Sony could have simply ported the original PS4 version to Steam, but seeing as it’s putting in the work to update the core code, it may as well modernise the whole experience while it has the opportunity.
Then there’s the small matter of many of these products having non-gaming projects in the works. Filming started on an Until Dawn movie adaptation recently, while Netflix was plotting a Horizon television series – until accusations pointed at showrunner Steve Blackman derailed the whole thing. HBO’s version of The Last of Us had a profound impact on game sales, and having a modernised version of the original game available on store shelves helped with that.
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Perhaps the biggest disconnect for many enthusiasts online is they can’t understand why Sony would put effort into revamping franchises like Horizon or The Last of Us, when Resistance and Killzone have remained dormant; the very cruel reality is that PlayStation sees no growth opportunities in these properties – they’re as good as dead, and it’s better to invest in franchises that are active as opposed to those left behind.
Of course, all of this leads to a perception problem, which isn’t exactly helped by Sony’s overall silence. We know that first-party outfits like Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, and Santa Monica Studio are working on new games, but we don’t know what they are. There’s a real sense that, because these titles are taking a long time to make, all PS5 has to offer right now are remasters and live service releases. That’s not entirely fair, but the bad smell will stick until PlayStation washes it away.
Ultimately, even without seeing the game in motion, we’re not excited by a Horizon Zero Dawn remaster in the slightest – but we do understand why it exists. But that context will amount to little in an industry always looking for the hottest takes. If all next week’s State of Play has to offer is a couple of remasters and an update on Fairgame$, then we wish Sony all the luck in the world. The public perception of PlayStation isn’t right – but the format holder is the one facilitating it at the end of the day.
Are you frustrated by the number of PS5 remasters getting announced? Do you understand why these games are getting made, or do you care little for context? Let us know in the comments section below.
Is the PS5 getting too many remasters? (3,377 votes)
- Yes, it's time for something new
- I don't mind remasters but I want them for different games
- No, I just don't buy remasters I don't care for
Comments 200
Honestly, I believe that we're still a couple of years behind because of Covid and these studios are under pressure to make money. But I would still rather have smaller or episodic games instead of backwards compatible PS4 games being remastered.
I can see remasters for old PS2 games, maybe for old PS3 games.
PS4 games don't need remasters nor remakes. This is just silly.
I'd take Remasters over straight up HD ports any day, but only aslong as they aren't over priced and atleast two generations old. So for Horizon and Days Gone I'm not interested as they are unnecessary but give me some PS3 Remasters of Infamous 1/2, Motorstorm, Resistance 3, Puppeteer or Folklore and il buy them day one.
I also understand making remasters for a new generation of gamers who missed out on these games originally, but Days Gone and Horizon are too recent for that many playstation gamers to have missed out on them.
I’m fine with companies bringing games to the modern consoles but not if it’s absorbing all their talents’ time AND if it’s already available via backwards compatibility. There’s only so many times people can replay games. Of course there are some exceptions but yeah, I’d much prefer companies spend their talents and time on new IPs or sequels with updated & more advanced gameplay/features. But a remaster here and there if appropriate is fine IMO
Easy answer to tie in with the playstation productions movies and series.
Because people are stu- have too much money and buys them.
Concord answered this question for you.
Guaranteed sale with existing IP or take a risk creating something new that loses you 200 million. It is a simple cost benefit analysis of the current state of gaming. Everyone wants something new, and yet when something new is made, no one buys it.
Horizon/last of us/ until dawn I understand because of Sony saying they want to boost IP outside of games.
So having a brand new shiny horizon to run on a pro/ps5 when the new series (should have) released makes commercial sense. To bring in new players.
If Days gone is true, that is one I can’t understand. Because there is no tie in or second game.
Article also doesn’t touch on the fact that Sony have just let another company use one of there IPs in freedom wars, maybe this will become part of the strategy for things like killzone/wipeout etc.
So yeah I understand the logic behind some (whether I’m interested or not) and my general opinion is that I’d rather new games over remasters/makes.
I can't believe you'd rip hope for Dark Cloud away from me like this .
Excellent article. The opportunity cost in seeing a team work on a remaster for a game that runs perfectly well on modern platforms, versus a new, smaller project in the same universe even I think is what gets me the most. Give us a more fleshed-out Machine Strike as a $20 standalone game that takes 6 months to make. Make a top-down hack n slash platformer in the Horizon universe. Many ways to let young talent shine and get up to speed than spend time on something that already works.
While I understand the price point comparison to Nintendo on remasters that's it wii u sold abysmally while ps4 outsold it by 10 times as well as the software so Nintendo is remastering good games because most of there fanbase has no access to it all these sony games are available on ps4 and are 10 million + sellers doing this is literally wasted resources
It's just getting silly at this point, I understand Nintendo as those games don't run on Switch, though the pricing is utterly ridiculous. For Sony though I think it's just a huge waste of time as every single one already runs at 60fps and usually 4K on the PS5.
If they're going to remaster games then why not the likes of Infamous, Resistance, that Uncharted game on Vita, Jak & Daxter? Something like that, not games that already look and play great as they are
i read the last of us remastered sold 18 million copies.people will buy these remastered games..i often buy remastered games i have never played before.. there is a good market for these games..
There's a difference between remastering old unavailable games, or games that are classic but feel too dated and would benefit from QoL or visual updates, vs games that are literally new games already, that feel no different than any current game releasing today, that already run on the platform, while the company asks you to Pony up to buy the "current" version of an already pretty new game that already runs fine. it's literally selling the same product in new packaging for triple the price and asking the consumer to politely not notice.
These companies need to start looking at the CONSUMER rather than their internal goals as they get forever more out of touch with their own market. If they want to use a 5 year old game and have trainees rebuild it, that's fine. Don't sell it like a new product. Don't ask customers to pay more to crowdfund your employee training, don't have marketing pretend you're selling something new when you're not, and maybe, just maybe, don't fire the people that already knew WTF they were doing so you don't have to onboard hundreds of wet behind the ears just out of school "cheap" trainees every other year and figure out how to pay for it? Just a thought.
I wouldn't mind the remasters if the games weren't so recent. The fact that ps4 games are being remastered and being sold as major improvements is embarrassing. Capcom has found the sweet spot on how to properly do remakes. I hope silent hill 2 succeeds too. The sony ps4 remakes I couldn't care less about
When we got the news, that the PS5 would be backwards compatible with the PS4, I thought it would be the end of these remasters of recent games.
Instead, it got even worse...
Besides which, a lot of old games that still play well look TERRIBLE today. Almost unplayable in some cases.
I would include pretty much everything from the PS1 on this list. I grew up with these games and yet if all of those jagged, blurry polygons look horrible to my eyes, they must be causing physical pain to someone from Gen Alpha.
A lot of great games from the past are going unplayed because in 2024 they suck. Simple as that. The recentTimesplitters re-releases are excellent proof of that actually.
@NEStalgia well put
At this point a Sony remaster (not being Bloodborne) has essentially become a meme. I hope they lean into it. If Concord relaunches they should call it Concord Remastered!
I don’t mind remasters from either Sony or Nintendo as long as I good supply of new AAA games as well from their studios.
And Sony studios have not really been producing at all the last two years, well nothing like the PS4 days, that’s my issue not really the remakes.
2023 Spider man 2 and HFW DLC
2024 Astro Bot
The games are great though, but if 2025 produces the same as 2024 then that’s a very bad show from Sony over the whole three years.
A false equivalency with Nintendo's Wii U ports is one hell of a straw man, however you look at it. The defence there, as it happens, has little to do with lack of back compat and much more with the fact that the Wii U was a catastrophic commercial failure - and in turn left most of its titles to a rather small, super-loyal audience. Note the difference in how their fans react; there's often a significant outcry of relief that they can finally get to play it, or that it can finally get the audience and exposure that it deserved, as opposed to the "seriously, again?" that follows Sony's affairs.
Sony, by contrast, is rereleasing games that originally sold well on a console that sold well. That is the difference, and that is the problem.
There's a huge pile of Japan Studio games that could use remasters or remakes to more modern engines, some of them with BIG potential for becoming solid hits like Soul Sacrifice or Siren. There's other games languishing in the Vita graveyard that could be saved.
Heck, the Ratchet & Clank Future cycle could also get revived from the PS3 graveyard if Sony only wants to focus on currently living franchises.
What's bizarre to me about the Until Dawn remaster is that I think it looks WORSE than the original. In the trailer from a few months ago, there's a shot of Emily that makes her look like a tired middle-aged woman. And the remaster as a whole looks so much more colorful. I thought the muted colors in the original worked really well.
I’d take a Resistence remake, but a remaster of something new like Horizon or Days Gone is just silly, what’s the point when the existing games still look and play great??
I'm completely fine with remasters. Can we just get, like, PSone, PS2, and PS3 remasters instead of barely-better PS4 ones? Hell, they don't even have to be remasters, just port them or something.
Remasters for games that are 10-15 y old are okay.. but not for full pledge price and not for games that are 5 years old...
Nope. If it's a title that interests me, I'm invested. If it doesn't, it's forgotten about shortly after it's announcement.
Where is the Bloodborne tv show when you need it?
I feel like we get more remasters and remakes compared to new games these days, not helped by the fact that they are often of PS4 games.
You don't see people complaining about Freedom Wars being remastered, because that game was stuck to a console that sold poorly just like the Wii U. I doubt most people have even played that game.
But people are buying these, given The Last Of Us Part I sold super well so I guess its free money.
Yeah I have no problem with remasters I just don't think they are remastering the right games.
Still though I'm actually okay with the ones they are doing if they offer a £10 upgrade path and hopefully some additional content like No Return.
I don't mind remasters, but they should be for older games, not for late PS4 games. There are a plethora or PS3 and PS Vita games that could desperately use remasters: Infamous, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, God of War Ascension, GTA 4, MGS4, LBP, Max Payne 3, FFXIII trilogy, GT 5/6, SW The Force Unleashed, The Witcher 2 (which never came to PS3) just to name a few.
With Donkey Kong, it's the first time being playable on Switch so I like those kinds of ports. But PS4 games are already playable on PS5, makes zero sense to remaster or port those. I do welcome PS3 and PS2 remakes and remasters.
The further we get into this console generation, the more pointless it is. You can play 90% of the games on a PS4 and in this case the game looks and runs great on that console. I'm sure there will be some small updates to the game, but overall it's a pointless remake. 4 years into this generation and not really a ton to show for it imo.
@UltimateOtaku91
What did ever happen to those great PS5 Studio FPS.
Resistance and Killzone.
"If all next week’s State of Play has to offer is a couple of remasters and an update on Fairgame$..."
Oh God, that's all it's going to be, isn't it...?
Because Sony has faffed about all generation trying to get on the live service bandwagon. They got studios that were single player specialists to look at live service and it’s meant that there has hardly been any first party titles this generation. Now to bolster releases, Sony are rereleasing games that are from large franchises to artificially build up their line up. It’s all a bit crap really. Days gone was ok, but I don’t for the life of me know why Sony aren’t looking at games that really could do with a remastered overhaul. A Bloodborne remaster would surely make a huge amount of sense an opposed to a new Horizon Zero Dawn for instance. That game was a 4K title that looked awesome on the PS4 pro and has had a PS5 update and Bloodborne, although brilliant, still looks exactly as it did at launch. Nah, if this is how Sony sees their generations moving forward, I’ll buy a PS6 Pro as my next console from them and play all the PS5 and PS6 remasters of games that I’ll probably miss out for now..
The way things are going it feels like the State of Play will be something like:
@Dman10
Its more the fact in 8 years nearly I have had my switch we have not had new DK 2d platform game.
In someways Nintendo have been great with the Switch in others very lazy.
Only one new 3d and 2d Mario platform game in nearly 8 years.
No new MK but ok we got some new tracks.
The Nintendo situation is quite different. The Wii U was a commercial failure and a ton of amazing games were locked into that system. The big N gets a total pass there from me, especially if they finally port Xenoblade Chronicles X to the Switch!
Sony however…when the PS4 version exists AND CAN BE PLAYED on the PS5 with or without a 60fps patch, AND is readily available, it becomes far harder to swallow.
If they were porting PS3 games that hadn’t been updated for PS4, then it’d be one thing since Sony skipped out on BC due to intentionally making the PS3 hard to develop for. (Great job, Sony. That worked out well.) Or if they released a PS5 native Bloodborne that actually ran at 60fps (since Sony apparently can’t be bothered to patch the PS4 version as folks have BEGGED FOR for years) that would again be a different thing.
Remastering Horizon Zero Dawn for PS5 and actually charging money for it? Nope. Same with Days Gone and other perfectly excellently performing PS4 games and expecting gamers to cough up money because OMG PS5!!!
I’m really feeling my inner crotchety old man coming out right now.
@Grumblevolcano
End with just one more game.
Main Sony Studio AAA game.
@OldGamer999 poor sales unfortunately, it's either make a Killzone or Resistance that sold less than 3 million each or make Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn which both sold close to 20 million.
A lot of users on here want these older games to be revisited but the actual majority of gamers don't, Unfortunately Sony don't just cater to us users on this site, as we are the minority. But man if they did gaming would be at its best.
@UltimateOtaku91
I thought they might have tried again later in the PS4 life cycle but a shame it was not to be.
Don’t think we will get new ones at all.
Are you PS5 Pro next Thursday?
I want to give my honest opinion here but I'm not going to so as to avoid starting arguments with people. I'm mentally exhausted from some people on here tbh and I think from now on I'm going to minimise my commenting activities on here as well as Nintendo Life.
People complain about remasters but then also don't support new ip without a sale or it being free. Hypocrites 🤷🏿♂️
@OldGamer999 Well I think it could happen if they give the IP's to a third party to work on.
And no, it's too much money to spend right before Christmas, I have a big family with my partners included as well so I will be spending £600+ on presents, maybe next year just in time for GTA 6.
We need remasters for PS3 games that are rotting away in that console! every PS5 owner can already play all these PS4 remasters which still look and run perfectly fine.
Im definitely not buying a horizon zero dawn remaster or whathever the f👎ck it is.sony should make a sly cooper.a resistance.killzone.infamous remastered.etc.word up son
I have zero issues with remasters/remakes and hell i've got Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster on pause as i type this however i do take issue with remakes and remasters of games that don't need them especially with a full price tag. Darksiders 2 is getting a PS5 version next month with RT and 60fps included and its free for all owners of the PS4 version, Sony don't do that its either full price or if you're lucky a $10 upgrade for existing owners.
Sony should focus on games like Bloodborne, God of War 1/2 and Infamous 1/2 in my opinion. Demons Souls was great and much needed but Horizon and The Last of Us Part 1? Hell no.
@Tecinthebrain PS3 Remasters definitely make more sense, we have PS1 and PS2 ports coming via Playstation Plus and we can play any PS4 game, but the PS5 can't do PS3 emulation so we aren't getting them ported over any time soon. So Remasters are the only way.
They’re easy to make, and people keep buying them. Until one of those two things changes, Sony will keep pumping them out.
Sony is just lazy and now greedy. The greed should have them making remakes of games people really want like Bloodborne, but for some reason they are just refusing to listen. So many games that would easily sell and need remakes but instead we are getting games that are just them changing a few settings in the graphics options. More reason that PC will always be best.
Gamers have spent the last decade demanding remasters while throwing hatred and opposition at most new games and studios are capitalizing on it.
Because money and low effort
@UltimateOtaku91
Yeah I normally get through about £700 at Christmas as well.
I’m thinking about it still, but knowing me I might, but then we have Switch 2 early next year as well, which I might get depending on the release day games from Nintendo studios.
Generally I don't mind remasters - apart from the fact naughtydog did a remaster of a remaster and called it a remake . Tbh in my view developers are way too focused on graphics , with a lot of lazy remasters just updating the graohics but the same old stale gameplay -like mafia 1, it looked gorgeous but the ganeplay wouldn't have been out of style 10 years years ago. The same can be said of the flop that was saints row. There's no real effort or innovation in thr game industry. Noone takes risks. Arguably because of the economy. Also the typical consumer does have a clue about technology. The fact the ps4 is coming up for ten years and expecting to pay the same price for the ps5 pro as the ps4 cost; considering the ps4 had HDD and the ps5 uses a special NVME SSD, not including the fact the graphics card is worth between 300-400 alone . Personally I'm selling my og ps5 to cut costs , it's a good deal considering my ps5 is coming up for 4 years
These remasters are the bare minimum effort. That's what execs love minimum effort for maximum profit. It's just not good enough I could not care less about remasters of ps4 games there's barely a difference between ps4 and ps5 as it is! And obviously the main problem being so little ps5 exclusives over half way into the consoles life cycle! No wonder there are so many people sticking with their ps4s, there's no point in upgrading.
@OldGamer999 I think we will see more games in 2025 and its more down to the games being worked on and Sony doesn't like announcing stuff to far out.
I know its not a popular stance but I do prefer it this way as I found the practise of announcing games 4 years before release was doing more harm than good.
And in fairness there are still plenty of great games out there, even if they are 3rd party.
Blood Borne
Killzone
Prototype (meme)
Resistance
Jak & daxter
The amount of franchises Sony have in the vault, that they could bring out and do something with them is crazy
I would pay no more than $20 for a HZD PS5 remaster (if it included the DLC). If this is like a $10 or $20 upgrade, then ok I'm in. If not, easy pass.
Like most people, my first Persona game was 5. I loved it, so I looked into the older games but for me OLD GAME IS OLD. So I left them. Fast Forward to Persona 3 Reload, all fancied up for my shiny PS5. So that could be one reason, people want to play a game they missed with the latest features and enhancements.
Another example would be Mafia (the first one) I never got around to playing it but I would have never played it on the old hardware but with its new graphical update and reworked cut scenes I played a great game for the first time. I would never have played it otherwise.
These unnecessary remasters should come pre-loaded with the pro, i think
I think there's enough room for remasters. There's still plenty of quality new releases coming out every week. I'm currently enjoying the Broken Sword remaster and I'm waiting on Capcom to release a remaster of the Mega Man Legends games.
If it's not a ps3 or ps2 remaster not interested In the slightest in any of these some odd ps4 games deserve an upgrade
A point you guys make in the article was pretty much the way I saw it:
I was so sure remasters were happening on PS4 games to have a PC release and were released on PS5 to take advantage of the new features on console. But Zero Dawn is trully baffling, specially because HZD has a PS4 Pro version the PS5 already takes advantage of.
The remasters are not necessary, but it would be a lot less of an issue if Sony were releasing more original 1st party titles this generation. Nintendo catches less flack because while Switch has loads of Wii U ports it also has even more new releases.
Most of that comes down to Nintendo producing plenty of games without AAA budgets. Sony needs to reinvest in medium-budget or small-budget projects to fill gaps in the schedule between their $100m+ budget and 5+ year development cycle games. They've done it in the past so it's not beyond their ability.
I think this is the first time I have been bored of my Playstation.
I remember my parents stumping up for the first one at launch... Gaming was so much fun back then.
Now a games barely even launched and had a first sale and it's getting a remaster
A hundred-word article wasn't necessary to explain why these remasters exist.
"Why do unnecessary remasters exist? Because they sell well enough to justify their existence."
That's it.
The answer to the headline question is two-fold:
1) Because Sony likes money
2) Because people will buy them
Not everyone buys PS4 games for their PS5 and an opportunity to sell to new customers is one worth exploring when you're in business
Apeescape,killzone,resistance,socom,Infamous Twisted Metal, folklore and heavenly sword I remember getting heavenly sword with ps3 and was mind blown by it probably be bad now but might be good with a ps5 upgrade
It wouldn't be so bad if the remasters were for games that aren't already available for Playstation 4 or 5 I'd like a remaster of the first two infamous games or go further back and remaster The Getaway games
Why isn't there an option that says:
"I love the remasters and can't wait for more titles!"?
I like replaying these games with the faster load times and (potentially) new content.
The teams have run out of ideas. Remasters are the easiest way to rinse us, low cost, low effort, full price.
Even when they do come up with either a sequel or a new game they seem to be very badly written (I'm looking at you Forbidden West), packed to the rafters with unnecessary filler that stretches the game way too thin (Ragnarok) or just an overall shambles of the most inane side content I have ever seen (Spiderman 2).
Sony need to stop chasing trends and go back to creating rock solid 10-15 hour experiences that kept you from ever putting it down.
Ps5 for me has to be the worst generation
@Hi569 I tried going back to it recently, just keep those happy memories of it, because it is awful now!
Because I keep buying them.
@Intr1n5ic waste of time since that backlog is gonna get remastered before you even finish them at this rate , haha
unless your playing ps3 games and back , that is
@Fishnpeas at the time it was great tho couldn't believe what I was playing.ninja theory didn't they sign a deal with Microsoft so probably hence no remaster even tho hellblade is not really a lot of combat it looks so good as good as heavenly sword at the time
Remakes and remasters of good old games are better than bad new games, and remakes of PSI and PS2 titles can feel like new games. Resi 2&3 and Mafia are good examples.
My only complaints are not enough new games that I want, and not enough remasters and remakes of some of my old favorites.
If you spend a few hundred million making a game why not spruce it up every few years. But then again, most people here seem to get upset at it the thought of a new horizon or the last of us Sony‘s two biggest IP’s getting made so who the ***** cares what alleged fans really want.
Personally, I couldn't be any less interested, nothing later than ps2 requires a remaster or remake in my opinion however for Sony and indeed Xbox and Nintendo to be repeatedly churning them out to the point where they're doing it for fairly recent games, there has to be a demand for it from somewhere. They wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't worthwhile for them financially.
@dskatter I 100% agree with this. Not only that, but Nintendo allocates it's extra manpower from its studios to NEW games! Grezzo, normally known for remasters, is co developing the new Zelda. Monolith Soft has an entire B team devoted to learning through helping out various 1st party projects such as Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, etc. These situations are not even remotely the same.
Money. Less resources used for more money gained.
@tabris95 Agreed.
As someone else said, Sony needs to start focusing on quality smaller experiences and make NEW ones. I’m playing through all the Halo games for the first time ever on my quite nicely backwards compatible Series X, and marveling at how well these games (mostly) hold up. The campaigns are very well done, don't overstay their welcome, and ALMOST make me wish I’d have picked up some model of XBox years ago.
Obviously MS/Bungie of today is different than MS/Bungie of years past glares at the upcoming Marathon game but dang. It’s like MS and Sony are competing to see which one can slough off more customer goodwill in a short time with these remasters for Sony and MS’s braindead decisions in recent years.
That said…bring on the hopefully backwards compatible Switch 2! And maybe someday Bloodborne at 60fps!
"Then there’s the small matter of many of these products having non-gaming projects in the works"
Can you explain why there's no Twisted Metal remaster when the TV show released? A remaster of PS3 reboot or TM Black would be nice. And now with the TV show start shooting for season 2 but what we'll get is Horizon Remaster.
"Naughty Dog noted, when it made The Last of Us: Part 1, this was a great opportunity for it to blood new talent and get it comfortable with PS5 development."
I don't mind 1 remake / remaster as long the studio released new games. But ND did 3 remaster with Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy, and TloU Part 2 but so far no new games.
Meanwhile Insomniac only did 1 remaster (Spiderman) for PS5 and already released 3 new games (Miles Morales, Spiderman 2, R&C Rift Apart) and working on Wolverine and Venom.
Heck. Sony Santa Monica, Polyphony, Team Asobi, and Housemarque doesn't even do remaster. They just straight making GOW Ragnarok, GT 7, Astro Playroom & Astro Bot, and Returnal for PS5. So this 'remaster is for new blood to adapt with PS5 development' excuse sounds like a load of bollocks.
I personally don't mind remaster but it should be for games from PS1-3, PSP, or Vita era and not from PS4 who still looks great and can be played on PS5.
Games like Puppeteer, Tokyo Jungle, Folklore, Heavenly Sword, Forbidden Siren, The Getaway, Rogue Galaxy, Wild Arms, Soul Sacrifice, or Dark Cloud could get a second chance if they get a remaster. Heck, make a live action TV show or maybe anime which is less expensive than live action if Sony thinks their games needs non-gaming projects to make them successful. I would love a Wild Arms anime or Forbidden Siren TV show.
This angle would be more believable if the industry hadn't experienced massive layoffs over the past few years. Too bad all that talent that was let go couldn't help facilitate and nurture the next gen of devs. Sony and Microsoft having a monopoly on gaming isn't doing gamers any favors. This just comes off as a spin story to try and pick up slack after some disastrous decision making in the board room
Games I'd genuinely like to be remastered and available on PS5 before Horizon Zero Dawn even thought about entering the chat:
I'm sure most people would agree, these games are worthy titles of being available within the modern PlayStation library. Two main things stand out here, they're all games locked within the PS3 ecosystem, and most of them are from third party studios / publishers... Hmm.
Sony doesn’t need to see growth in old franchises; it needs to keep its audience happy. There is nothing wrong with only having 3-4 tent pole first party releases per year if you have cheaper, smaller titles to fill the void.
Would it really cost that much to remaster Uncharted? Motorstorm? Wipeout 2097? How about porting some dead PS3 games whilst we’re there? I could go for a rerelease of Calling All Cars or Rub A Dub.
I get the point about Nintendo dropping alot of remasters on switch. However, there are a couple of key differences that help them get away with it in my opinion:
1) Some of the remasters released this year are extremely difficult to get hold of and play, e.g Mario The Thousand Year Door
2) the games are accessible in a new format that brings something new to the table (specifically the handheld factor) - appreciate its not Nintendo, but I picked up red dead redemption happily on switch because it meant I could play it on the go whereas I would be unlikely to play through it again on my PS5 given I'd already beaten it years ago when it first released.
3) Nintendo has realised the value of releasing remasters alongside new software. In the next month, they are releasing a new Zelda game, a new Mario Party, and a new Mario and Luigi title. This helps to shield them from the accusation that they have no new ideas.
I've said previously that Sony should be looking to develop a few smaller titles to flesh out their first party output. It will help them to move away from some of the accusations that the release schedule is barren. Astrobot is a great example of how a game doesn't need to last 40-60 hours or pursue gritty photorealism to be a joy to play.
More of that please Sony. It was was a real shame in my opinion that they closed down the likes of pixelopus. Concrete Genie was the perfect type of experimental game Sony needs - and should be releasing - between bigger titles and any remasters they are developing to flesh out the library.
@LifeGirl @LifeGirl concord failed because they made a game no one wanted, for a audience that doesn’t want live service games, a audience that has been shafted due to PlayStations focus on live service games. The PS5 generation has been the worst generation for Sonys own output of games and concord received that backlash.
Because it's less of a financial risk than a new IP is the short answer.
@Phelaidar the only problem about going that far back like the PlayStation 2 specifically, graphically they're low quality compared to everything they have now especially with high definition TV exposes a lot of the graphical elements. Now, if you mean, a remake completely similar to what Capcom did with resident evil then yeah that makes sense. I'd be completely fine with that. I thought it was trashy of naughty dog to label it uncharted collection, when it's missing one to three.
"Those defending the House of Mario would perhaps argue there’s no backwards compatibility available on the Switch so the circumstances are different".
The Wii U was also Nintendo's colossal failure. While the Switch is successful. So introducing Wii U games to Switch would be exposing it to a more bigger audience and as mentioned, the Switch has no backwards compatibility
The PS5 on the other hand is backwards compatible with PS4.
Don't think those Wii U games were 'remastered' for Switch, just ported.
Not sure how this was "infamous".
Bit desperate, pointing a finger at Nintendo.
As others have pointed out, it was a completely different situation.
I wouldn't mind a remastered / remake if they just hand it off to somebody else while they concentrate on something new. I feel developers are falling back remake and remasters. ND prime example.
I've always said that the idea of a remaster/remake is fine but for games that are not easily available on modern hardware. Case and point, the PS3 catalog. The argument that these games no longer hold any value just rings hollow to me personally.
A simple Remastered collection of Killzone 2&3 is all I'm asking for from Guerilla. I'm not even asking for a new one necessarily. (Though I wouldn't mind one) If it fails, you don't lose much as most of the work was already done. If it succeeds, hey! There might be some interest left in the series. Either way the new blood gets valuable experience and we at least get something we didn't play only 7 years ago.
The weirdest is that PS5 is backwards compatible! We don’t need any remaster of a game that works flawlessly already, just put the money in sequels and new IPs.
Plus I agree with the general public perception, PS5 feels like PS4 Pro++. Still waiting for PS5 Breath of the Wild moment that feels like my PS5 purchase has been justified.
P.S: Where is Uncharted, Sony? Games are not movies, keep your IPs alive please.
I do not mind remasters, but they need to be from games at least two generations behind. I mean, they got Infamous, Resistance and Killzone which are IPs that could use some love.
Anyways, we all know those remasters are not only for a new crowd to enjoy those """old""" games, they also serve to gauge public reactions.
Both Horizon Forbidden West and TLOU Part 2 sold pretty damn well and are awesome games on the technical level, but they also had a moderate resistance from the general public due to some plot and character developments, resistance that wasn't there on their predecessors, and so releasing a remaster is a way to see where they f'ed up and where they can correct the course.
I'd say Ragnarok and Spidey 2 also suffer from the same problems as FW and TLOU2, but they can be fixed by pacing the plot better, and on Spidey case, please no more switching between characters, it detracts from the game.
@LifeGirl People don't just want something new though, they want something new, that's also good. Concord is a terrible example really as it came to the hero shooter party way too late amongst other issues.
Concords audience was non existent, or rather it could be counted on about 5 pairs of hands.
I'm blaming COVID or Obama...just because
If your getting remasters get them from systems form ps1,ps2, and ps3. I would like to have a updated collection of Killzone 1,2,3 on modern hardware along with a Resistance collection. Could probably bring over the infamous games too.
Too many recent games getting remasters I think but I guess these remasters are great for people who haven't played or want to play them again.
Personally, playing a game once is usually enough for me. Which is why I generally don't really care for remasters of games that I've already played before.
Why ?.....
Greed
Creative Bankruptcy
and a complete lack of any respect for the player base
XBOX has made a **** load of older games compatible, faster, higher resolution and at better frame rates.
Nintendo has made games that weren't available on current hardware playable again on Switch.
PlayStation are remaking games we can already play.
Has PlayStation forgotten its a Japanese company? Yes.
Has PlayStation forgotten its a software company? Yes.
Buy more PlayStation hardware! Dual this. Dual that. Pro this. Stand that. Extra disc. Extra that.
This generation, Sony have been getting away with the biggest grift since time began! Absolute snake oil.
I'm fed up to the back teeth of remasters. Complete remakes like demons souls are acceptable because they have been ripped apart and rebuilt from the ground up to use the ps5 to it's potential. I can also accept remakes having a higher price tag too..but remasters? If they are going to persist with remasters then they need to seriously rethink the pricing structure as well. If you've already purchased a game that's been released and then it's remastered a few years later then you should be offered a reduced upgrade price as standard. I've only purchased a handful of remasters (NFS hot pursuit,dark souls,spiderman etc) and those are games that I'll play again and dark souls was the only one I bought at almost full price. I guess if people stopped buying these remasters they would hopefully realise we don't need them and don't really want the games they are pushing out. Now where is that killzone remake?
Thought it was also due to their push for live service backfiring. Regardless, I'm not too bothered. Just play the ones I want to. Still, new things would be nice.
@NEStalgia I have no interest in this Zero Dawn remaster but, in fairness, by the time it comes out, if it comes out in 2025, HZD will be 8 years old. That's a bigger time difference than you have between the very first Sonic game and Sonic Adventure. Or a bigger time difference than between FFVI and FFX. It does feel pointless to me but at the same time the age of the game isn't really the issue, yet people commonly focus on that as an issue. As you get older each year seems quicker and 8 years doesn't seem like much now.
I mean, it's crazy to me that the difference between when the first Sonic game came out and when the PS1 came out is just 3 years. When Super Mario All-Stars came out, no one complained that it was just remasters of games aged between 5 to 8 years old because back then that seemed like an immense amount of time to us (and admittedly Lost Levels sweetened the deal).
@Matroska The time between sequels isn't the same thing as the time between reselling the exact same game with adjustments. I mean hzd remastered is a longer period of time vs hfw, but the difference is they didn't actually look that different, especially if you compare the PC version enhancements most of which would work on PS5 and, like the PC version shouldn't need a different license to do so.
It feels like gaming has learned the Disney Vault trick. Why make new games when you can rerelease the old one with cleaned up video and audio? Now I'm STEREO!
The real issue is a PS4 game and a PS5 game are the same thing. There's no great leap making a game feel dated. PS2 games look and handle terribly compared to modern. but a PS4 game and PS5 game are the same thing. Heck the better looking sequel was built for PS4 too.
And super Mario all stars was a collection of ALL the games remastered, plus the new lost levels all for one price.
When we get hzd, hfw, Lego horizon, horizon 3, and horizon online, all remastered all for $70, then we can compare it to all stars.
Or they can add Funky Aloy and we can compare it to something else 😂
I would like remasters for games that you can only play on a PS3 and remakes for games that you can only play on a PS2.
@Playstationdemodisc they are remastering recent games because (1) they are likely to still have the code in a decent state (and they're unlikely to be using old or deprecated engines); (2) they are already sure due to the 60FPS patches that they can achieve a base level of performance on PS5; (3) they know how many people bought these games recently, so they know how popular the IP is (whilst a lot of people here keep talking about the older IPs, there's no guarantee that the wider gamer base will come out to buy 15-20 year old games; (4) those older games can't just be remastered by adding in extra fidelity textures... they would need serious work under the hood to bring them up to spec... so more like a remake than a remaster (and hence a crap-tonne more investment in dollars). At least, that's my guess.
@__jamiie XBox is doing their updates as natural updates for Series X/S... not as separate purchases (or AFAIK they don't even charge for them). They are part of a specific "consumer-facing" technical program.
I do think a $10 update fee is perfectly fine for a significantly more than 60FPS boost.... and if there's actually new games coming as well. We just aren't getting the new games.
@Ilyn yes - it's most probably better not to announce a game 4 years in advance... with the exceptions of their major tentpoles (GoW / Spider-Man / TLOU etc... because everyone knows its coming anyway). The problem is, they are not announcing at all the last minute, and there's no time for Sony to react to or gauge interest. Clearly (as Concord showed) their market testing is NOT working. Also, I think the real reason they don't reveal early is that Sony is likely binning a lot of games in development - like they did with Factions - and that can cause more anger than a lack of games. But that in itself is indicative of a wider problem... the lack of risk tolerance (or bad management). To be fair, outside the now deleted Concord, I'm guessing GoT was their last original (1st party) game in 2020.... so it's been 4 years anyway. The only things that have been announced were Concord, Fairgame$ and Marathon (and the also cancelled Factions).... which were all LiveService.
I do believe however, they need to provide their consumers with at least a short term road map to maintain enthusiasm, rather than trying to build this cynical marketing strategy that's a twist on the FOMO strategy; where it's the fear of not getting something, that drives desire for anything.
Comparing PS5 remasters from last gen to Nintendo remasters from Wii U is disingenuous imo. The Wii U was a huge commercial failure but the games released on the system were great. Hence the rereleases to target the much larger audience on the switch.
PlayStations remasters are mostly linked to secondary media releases of TV shows and PC ports. Sony are basically ignoring the needs and wants of their biggest customer base.
@NEStalgia Well All-Stars was £50 which is £100 now. And the time to complete all four of the games is probably less than 10 hours. Whereas this like 60 to 100 hours for probably £50 to £60. And with the sequel thing, I can see why you thought what you did but I didn't mean to compare sequels to remasters but just give a sense of the passage of time. Like going from FFVI to X feels like a huge chunk of my life, but HZD feels like it came out so recently. It really is weird how time speeds up as you get older. 🤯
Don't get me wrong, this is a pointless remaster. I just think the reasons we're critical of stuff now often aren't applied equally to older things. All that aside, this is bad for Sony's image. It's just a bad look to do this even if you accept what I said above. With this generation feeling like it still hasn't started, the lack of big exciting PS5 exclusives, and the embarrassing Concord flop, this is not what Sony need to be doing.
"even if it did launch the acclaimed Astro Bot less than two weeks ago."
90€ that I gladly paided for a great game. But after 15 hours and Platinum'd it, I reflected on the price per hour!! Even D4 was just slighty more expensive and I played that for 1900 hours and counting.... AstroBot might be 1000% better than D4, Assassin's Creed games, GT7 and so on, but I'll never buy a 15 hour game ever again for nearly 100€.
Hell, I downloaded the new PS5native- Path Of Exile client 2 days ago and has nearly 20 hours in it, for free!!!
AstroBot should have been priced as Helldivers 2, but this is GreedySony2024™ we are talking about...
Every move Sony makes lately always feels the same for me as a hardcore PSgamer; they just suck me dry on money with very little return. Bring on 1st party games like in the PS4 era: Driveclub, BLOODBORNE, Uncharted 4, God Of War 2018, Horizon, Killzone, Littlebig Planet (ok that's Astrobot this gen), The Order 1886, Until Dawn and so on and on and on.
Remasters, bah, we bought the PS5 mainly for NEW games, Hermen Hulst, get with the program!!
Switch ports made way more sense.
None of these are applicable to Sony's largely pointless PS4 game remakes. Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, Until Dawn, The Last of Us, etc. all looked and played great on PS5.
Because they're relatively cheap to produce and people buy them.
When you ask a question regarding a company, the answer is almost always money.
@Matroska well I still didn't trust the "it was more expensive" fallacy because it included hardware including its own storage so it's like getting an SSD etc the game. BUT even today that way Mario 1, 2, 3, lost levels all together, so for 4 games of era relevant games for $100 checks out still.
Lool the amount of time I spent on the nes versions of those games was more than I spent getting the hzd platinum! Replays of course but that was the era. Especially 3, still one of the greatest games of all time.
Yeah, I see that you mean. I definitely feel the speeding of time horribly but I think In this case it's just that tech so rapidly changed back then so 3 years was a new world and today we get more reflection on water in 10. We're not used to graphics tech being mature.
I think the gaming industry especially consoles didn't have a plan for tech plateauing and were seeing them panic in real time now that it hit them. Yokoi at Nintendo knew. But the rest of the industry just planned on astronomical enhancement forever.
Ironically they could still have that golden goose. VR is still right there. But nobody's been able to get public buy in.
I’m just going to echo what others have said but remastering games that can already played on the PS5 is just lazy, especially when there are so many Sony franchises from PS3 and earlier lying dormant.
The comparisons with Nintendo don’t really work. Hardly anybody played Wii U games and they don’t physically work on Switch so porting them made sense. But they’ve always been part of the wider schedule. Even this year which has been very remake heavy for them still has 4 or 5 new games.
Doubling back to neglected franchises, Sony could learn from Nintendo here too. Some say Resistance, Killzone, Sly Raccoon etc are being ignored because they didn’t sell enough. Look how Nintendo plugged away at Fire Emblem. Pikmin was never a big seller but got a sequel after 10+ years. Metroid Prime is back and even stuff like Another Code, Advance Wars and F-Zero got some acknowledgment this gen.
If Sony want to fill out their schedule there are better ways to do it than live service disasters and slightly shinier versions of games we can already play.
Remastering games stuck on previous platforms like Demon Souls that are looking their age are one thing, but stuff like Horizon, TLOU and Spider-Man from the PS4 really doesn’t make sense. If we wanted to we would have played them, and we can still play them on the PS5. I doubt there’s 10% visual difference between the PS4 and PS5 versions.
Remastering ps4 games when half your install base still plays on PS4, and the other half can already play it via back compat is morally bankrupt and just trying to milk your loyal customers for every penny. They have become such a lazy shadow of their former self, and it's been obvious for years this is the route they decided to take. They have destroyed their reputation and any goodwill they had during the ps4 days. People are sick of Playstation
Besides the obvious that remasters are relatively cheap to make, and an easy way to earn some money, they also move the game code to a new software base, which may increase its lifetime. Many people cry for backwards compatibility. I could imagine that ps5 games will have a very long lifetime, beyond the ps6.
Presumably I am not creative enough, but I do not see significant changes on the hardware side in the "near" future like fully programmable gpu's (ps3->ps4), "instant" I/O (ps4->ps5). I suppose pretty much all games are now designed for a more variable screen resolution. There were still significant improvements in terms of upscaling (ps4pro -> ps5 / ps5pro). But I could imagine that many of these areas now provide a very solid base and do not have to be changed much in the near future. Maybe even more significant were the changes to the network infrastructure which started with ps3(?).
Not sure what changes could come in the future which require significant changes to the software stack. I personally would like to see better handling of inputs to support games which work well both in VR and on the flat screen ? Maybe also better support for stereoscopic rendering? Fully ray-traced games ? Better support for game streaming (more relevant for the platform holder ... ) ?
I think many would be happier If they did more things like "Burning Shore" in between big releases. Lets say its 6-7 years between every Spiderman, God of War, Last of Us, Uncharted, Horizon, whatever. Then each of those should be getting a meaty DLC/Addon every generation, so we atleast get 1.5 game out of every big franchise every generation.
Remasters is FINE, and I understand they are made to keep people busy. Its certainly better than layoffs. I dont think anyone would complain if we had a roadmap of games at this point and they sprinkled a few remasters here and there. The problem is the lack of information of brand new projects. I really dont understand why we cant get atleast CGI-trailers for some upcoming games. I dont care if they still are 2 years away, we just need stuff to look forward too.
It's a very famous business practice, it's called 'Money for old rope'.
What's even more frustrating, is to see they would actually choose to make a Horizon, hell even a Days Gone remaster (new rumor floating around), but they won't touch Bloodborne with a tentpole - now THAT Remaster would actually sell like effing crazy, especially if they release it on PC !
There are so many games 'trapped' on the PS3 - LBP 1 & 2 (turn the servers back on Sony, ffs!) Motorstorm inc. Pacific Rift and Apocalypse, Modnation Racers to name but a few.
Remasters of PS3 games to PS4 was fine because of the hardware differences but porting PS4 games to the overpriced PS4.5 Pro(ish) is just pathetic.
Been a long time since I said it, but I am seriously considering supporting Nintendo with my pounds sterling if the Switch 2 is good enough.
Superb poll here, so even handed. "Do you think this remaster is a bad idea?" Pick A, B or C and the answer is yes.
I'm looking forward to this. No the graphics don't need much. No the quality of life amends are small. But I'm so excited to play through HZD again. And at the end of the day, who cares what Sony remakes, if no one buys it? For me, and I imagine millions of unfashionable people who are supposed to hate Horizon - I'm excited. You couldn't demake Last of Us enough to ever make me want to expose myself to that misery quest.
um, because Sony pursued a live service product strategy that consumers didnt actually want under previous leadership at the cost of investing in new IP and are left scrambling to fill in an empty release schedule. Also, they've seen Nintendo get away with and people (like myself) happily pay full price to replay games we bought 15 years ago. I predict HZD will tank.
@Shinnok789 I'ms surprised angry guy is not posting "Where's the DAYS GONE REMASTER SONY!?"
The comparison to Nintendo is a bit tenuous. I've no issue with remastering WiiU games for Switch as a) the WiiU sold so poorly - some people don't have the hardware to play them, b) WiiU games don't play on Switch. PS4 games can 100% be played on PS5 so any remaster is purely for a slight graphical polish-up and loading time issues.
@Arkham24601 Shove a decent SSD in a PS4 Pro and even the loading times aren't that much of an issue either.
You can have a 7€ second handed game for ps5 only for 79'99€!!!
I mean... Come on. This is stupid. Sony is being lately greedy. The last time they became greedy, xbox 360 nearly took their spot. With the new Switch over the horizon, this is a stupid idea. Sony seems to simply rely on the fact that Ps5 will sell whatever happens just because is a Playstation. Like with PS3. But this time, Microsoft is also sleep, so... There's a videogame crash incoming.
Where the bloody hell is WipeOut Sony? Come on, get it done!
Unless it's older than a minimum of 2 decades no more remasters please. In fact they should be remakes instead. The "If we sell it they will buy it" mentality that has fueled this nonsense is entirely gamers fault. Vote with your wallets.
It's so simple: MONEY!!! (in Mr. Krabs voice).
Doing "remaster" of a game from late PS4 era for PS5 is simple, cheap and fast.
Remastering of a game from PS3, PS2 or PS1 era is hard due to absolutely incompatible architecture, it takes a lot of time and basically means building the game from the ground up.
In case of games like Horizon, Spider Man, Days Gone etc. remastering basically means "pulling the slider to the right".
Making a new game is even harder. And even longer. Sony needs cheap and fast money. Right now. Yesterday.
All main studios are busy with their new games. Some of them probably won't see the light of day in this generation. Meanwhile they have to release at least something for cash to flow.
So general public perception is absolutely fair.
The poll results almost makes you wonder if PushSquare readers aren’t an accurate representation of most Playstation gamers. 🤔
One reason I think Nintendo is getting away with remasters in the Switch generation is due to the failure of it's previous platform. The Wii U (that is, the console itself) has sold 13.5 million units. Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (the Switch remaster of the Wii U game Mariot Kart 8) has sold over 60 million units.
There are remasters of WII U games that sold more than the Wii U did. When you have a platform full of games no one played, it's easier to get away with releasing remasters.
@OldGamer999 last kill zone did not sell well so we never see a other one and resistance story is done
I like remasters, but from the ps5 generation sony is ONLY remastering their most mainstream and boring games. Good for their profits, bad for their core audience.
@NEStalgia "These companies need to start looking at the CONSUMER rather than their internal goals as they get forever more out of touch with their own market."
Yet the TLOU remaster, much despised by you and many others who spend their days here trying to figure out how to pillory sony next, sold 18 million copies. Real consumers loved it. You are not their market - indeed you wear you team green credentials with pride and defend almost anything they do.
Sony don't just make games for the shouty online entitled brigade, they make these games for those that will buy them - which is clearly not you.
In the case of this title, it might not do as well, as the TV series it was supposed to release with is now not appearing. But I bet it sells well regardless and the company needs to make money to fund its future projects.
In a world where new IP's are often culled before they are even launched, your successful IP's must be leveraged to make as much as possible or there will be nothing.
I wish that wasn't the case, but thats business and I rather they were doing well from this sort of exercise so they can continue to speculate with some newer ideas for the future.
I'm so tired of Horizon games, for me that's ine of the weakest Sony games. Story is so boring, gameplay is so generic. And they keep pushing it over and over again.
The problem is that Sony are forgetting the lessons of both Ubisoft and Microsoft. You need to diversify your portfolio or risk stagnation. Ubisoft shareprice had dropped considerably because they have largely become stuck at releasing the same games over and over. In the Xbox One era, MS were also accused of just releasing Forza or Gears games and offering nothing new.
At the same time, Sony took risks and introduced a LOT of new IP during the PS4 era which was a big gamble but paid off.
If Sony are doubling down on franchises that are popular right now, and have sold well, then they are going down the same path.
This is the problem that most fans have - why remaster games that are perfectly playable or have even had updates for PS5 already when there is a huge backlog of titles that could expand players? Well as the article states, because today they seem them as the money makers. That is always going to be fleeting without new experiences to take them further. Also, they are making the Disney mistake - IP's age like fine wine. If you trot out a new Star Wars IP every other week people get bored. Starve people of it, then resurrect and you have big hits.
If the alternate to this is doing remakes of Resistance and Killzone, that's just as bad in my eyes
Resources should be used on new games.
Why don't they remake / remaster the entire God of War Greek Saga in one game collection while they're at it (including God of War 1-3, Ascension, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta)?
Besides God of War 3, there is actually no way you can purchase them. The only way to play the first games on a PS5 is via the horrible cloud system that's on the most expensive subscription tier.
Jersey Devil needs a remake/remaster. Everything else can burn.
Horse manure, tbh. All of the statements by the developers sound like marketing speech front to back. Not buying it, not one bit. Since Wall Street took the cake of the video game industry, all they care for is checks and balances. Look at Ubisoft and compare them to PS1 & PS2 era Sony First Party development. Game concepts like these back then are rare nowadays and mostly in the indy segment. F capitalism for, at least, being the ruin of innovation. Thanks for your time.
@z0d15g0d exactly this, thank you!!!
This entire generation has been a lacklustre joke.
This is how the studios are avoiding layoffs between games and training up newbies.
Also, having the sequels on PS5 but not the first game(s) is weird. Only Horizon and GoW have this problem now, at least.
The options for your poll are quite limited, for me this particular remaster is welcome as long as it's an upgrade path not pay again.
The reason I say about this game is because it's one of my favourite games and I will be replaying it in it's new shiny detail , I may be in the minority but hey ho !
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Xbox Series S can play Gears of War at 120fps.
The only acceptable PS5 version of PS4 games are ones that were either free upgrades like Cyberpunk or $10 like Ghost of Tsushima. They made sense because you could enjoy a much better/stable frame rate. Xbox's fps boost tech however is something Sony should have done instead of shoving paid upgrades or full price remakes/remasters from only a few years ago in our laps. I agree that the pandemic likely played a big part in this generations woeful number of new ips and exclusives but I hope this trend ends soon and we can look forward to more creativity and fresh ideas at AAA level (AA and indie games are still generally flourishing in my opinion).
I understand and appreciate the onboarding for new devs process — but I think charging full price for a game that's less than a decade old, and runs on the same hardware, is a bit silly. Logic would dictate that people would vote with their wallets, so I guess it's really on them at the end of the day; I'm sure people aren't "hate buying" a £60 game
@TomasVrboda i've been saying this all along. there have been many delays behind the scenes since the games haven't even been announced you can't really announce delays for games that aren't even official yet. sucker punch took about 6 years between infamous and ghosts , and ghosts turned out pretty well. would people rather have quicker releases with less quality?
@LordAinsley heres the problem Resistance and Killzone as much as i love them never sold, in fact one games in the horizon series the first one , outsold both series overall. i really doubt too many resources are being dragged into these remasters , they have plenty of resources and teams working on new games. in fact sony bend said they've been given their highest budget ever for their new game. so it sounds like they are actually putting more resources into their games. as for the remasters they are more then likely using people that aren't currently working on anything. so its either they get laid off or they are given games to work on. i'd rather not see more lay offs and i don't mind seeing improved versions of games i already enjoy.
I just think it's dumb that PS4 games are getting "Remasters" on PS5.
I get that the original still exists and the remaster is optional, but at what point does "principle" set in? I feel like there is a much better way to train your junior developers than to remaster a game that doesn't need it.
Look at Nintendo. Splatoon was born from junior developers cutting their teeth in game development. I believe ARMS was as well. While ARMS never took off like Nintendo wanted it to, it still had its day and I am sure still made some profit.
Heck, Astro Bot is the perfect "training ground" for new developers. Do more like that!
This is absurdly simple - they're profitable.
First, remasters of recent games are relatively cheap to make. Assets for recent games are likely easy to locate, and the ownership isn't usually a mess making licensing easy. It may be harder to track down the source code and graphics for older games, and studio ownership may have changed making it difficult to figure out who really owns what.
Second, they're selling. It's like microtransactions - you can complain about them all you want, but SOMEONE is still spending money on them, so we see more. So long as sales justify the cost, they'll keep coming.
@twitchtvpat all sounds good to me!
@LifeGirl That's disingenuous. Concord failed because it was a hero-shooter costing £40 when there are similar games available for free.
@TomasVrboda I agree 100%
Nintendo pulled forward a catalog that most Switch owners didn’t have access to, while adding to the games (Mario Kart 8 which still sells well had changes made that make it different from the original version and dlc that you can’t get on WiiU). They were never just pure remasters. Even still that was done while adding to their new game catalog. For several years Nintendo had a new game coming out monthly…as in from them. And that ratio has only slowed down slightly. So not quite the same situation.
Sony on the other hand I feel isn’t churning out games as fast internally, instead relying on third parties to float it (something Nintendo can’t afford to do although 3rd party support for them is at an all time high.)
@Phelaidar except Bloodborne. That ***** needs it badly.
I understand the business reasons for why Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone get remasters, but, for Christ's sake Sony, apply that same love to older IP if you must go back into the well. I'd love remakes/remasters for Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Ico, MediEvil, Ape Escape, PaRappa the Rapper, Killzone, SOCOM, etc. Believe me, we could go on.
Remasters are good for people like me who're new to the platform. My first PS was PS4 Slim when I got it at 2017 and I didn't play a lot of PS games yet so when there's an opportunity to play a better version I'll be in for it like TLOU Part 1. However, I understand why a lot of people want Sony to create the next big thing and tbh I'm as well really looking forward to experience one of these AAA games from Sony. I hope we can see Wolverine soon or Ghost of Tsushima 2.
@LordAinsley trust me though , if any one wants a resistance or killzone game its me lol. i literally bought a PlayStation 3d tv so i could play killzone 3 in 3d.
@PeakUnagi seeing astro bot , i think asobi would be perfect to do an ape escape game i hope it happens.
@Titntin "indeed you wear you team green credentials with pride and defend almost anything they do."
Uh, no, clearly you haven't been reading PX enough and have missed my pillorying them continuously as well. I'm fed up with both of them. At one point I was ready to go back to being 100% pure pony, until I realized what Sony is going to become, as they always do, without competition, and decided to rinse my hands of both of them and go back to PC. The Xbox is now sitting in a pile in the corner with other obsolete consoles. But I do still use some of their PC services as I do already have an investment in software with them and would still recommend XBs for some players. Keeping the PS hooked up for now, but whether I continue with their hardware ecosystem depends on how their PC support fleshes out. Nintendo's Nintendo. It's like buying heroin. It costs too much and you hate what it does to you, but once you're in you don't have a choice.
But you're also right that I'm clearly not Sony's market if this is what their market eats up. I still find the TLOU2 remake disgraceful but I do question its sales. I.E. If they had never made a "remakester" and simply ADVERTISED the existing remake that was already on the market in conjunction with the TV show, would it have sold just as well? I.E. did the "remakester" cause it to sell, or did putting a spotlight on the game, whichever version along with the show generate those sales and it just so happened the "newest version" is the one they put the spotlight on?
I.E. if I put New Coke on the shelves and run a big marketing campaign around New Coke, and New Coke happens to sell well during that time, do I celebrate how much more popular New Coke is?
If the masses that make up PS's market want to be sold old things in new packages at higher prices, then yes, I'm clearly not PS's market. There's a certain point where celebrating these game companies clever profit angles should be taken over to finance and investment forums instead of gaming forums.
"In a world where new IP's are often culled before they are even launched, your successful IP's must be leveraged to make as much as possible or there will be nothing."
I do agree with that being the way it is, but it doesn't mean we should ever be celebrating that. That's what became of Hollywood and it's endless regurgitation of the same thing. Maybe gaming is doomed to the same path, but I surely won't celebrate it.
What I find most depressing about it all is the masses seem to shovel money into endlessly recycled media products. The media consumer is clearly not an educated consumer (as if reality TV didn't tell us that) but video game consumers used to be a more thoughtful lot. It seems that era is now over, and game consumers are the same mindless drones as the rest of media consumers these days.
I don’t mind somehing like resistance 1-3 remaster or remake but horizon zd remake? While the original already has good graphics and 60 fps? Yeah, no thanks.
@Rudy_Manchego some great points made. I think with new IP, it's also okay if the first installment doesn't make a gazillion dollars (looking at you Days Gone). Some IP has promise and potential, and as long as it breaks even, it can be worth rolling the dice again on a sequel and seeing if it grows it's audience organically (people getting excited for it through word of mouth, finding the original game and loving it after initial release, etc). Too much corporate emphasis is put on insane returns right out the gate, and that's just not how some IP grows.
@NEStalgia "but it doesn't mean we should ever be celebrating that."
Im not sure anyone suggested we should celebrate it? I think the suggestion was that Sony cashing in on an ip it has created is not exploititive in anyway, just sound buisness practice given the market we are undoubtably in.
I do sympathise with your view that the market has changed as the hobby has become mainstream. But I'd offer the counter thought that the range and diversity offered these days means you can find your fix in the diverse offerings from devs of all sizes if the mass market titles dont suit.
I've seen all gens and genuinely believe we've never had it so good... my backlog is huge, but i play as much as I ever have.
I'm genuinely baffled why people feel like they've been exploited when anyone releases a game they dont care for? In such circs cant help but assume ulterior motivation for a response I cant comprehend.
Im probably not explaining myself well, but I'd rather everyone felt the passion and joy I still feel for this hobby.
@Orange_Juice 100% agree. Typically it takes until entry 2 or 3 for a franchise to hit its stride. So many examples - Uncharted - successful game but 2 was a massive seller . Assassin’s Creed, again innovative and successful game but with 2 it became a franchise. I think Sony have forgotten that - they had too many first franchise successes like TLOU, Horizon etc that all games have to hit that big. Days Gone was not a failure but was begging for a sequel as player base of the first game had gone big.
@Titntin I think cashing in on the IP means the million sequels, spinoffs, lunch boxes, and personal care products. Just reselling the same game with more reflections for more money and advertising it as all new is every bit as exploitative as when Disney used to advertise "buy it for the last time ever on home video" to sell a bunch of VHS tapes just before DVD happened, where consumers thought they could never buy the movie again.
I do see it as exploitation. No ulterior motive, it's just offensive when companies rely on consumers being inadequately informed as their primary motivator for purchases. Didn't matter if it's video games, toothpaste, or engine oil. I think people build a mutual respect with companies that demonstrate respect for the customer, offer innovative products for reasonable prices, and don't misrepresent things. When companies get into this game of repackaging products and selling with a smirk to people that didn't know enough to recognize that it's a repackaged product for more money, they come across as getting one over on people and it doesn't sit well with those that recognize it. I don't mind them exploiting an IP by making too much of it though that's one way to kill said IP, but not just reselling it as new.
I'm not even sure the issue is console gaming going mainstream. The casuals are all but gone into phones. I'm not quite sure how we define the current market. I'm not sure the console makers really know either which is part of the problem.
The answer is really simple.. Sony is chasing easy money especially since their live service plans aren't exactly working out and they spent an awful lot of money on Bungie because they thought it was an instant easy road to success in that space.. except gamers knew before the buyout that live service nonsense as we know it today can't survive because we simply can't play 2 different new games like that a year because we can't commit to 4 rotating LS games a year and the lack of content makes that an easier choice, then on the flip side the lack of people spending means no content for the games.
Where's my Astro Bot remaster? 😡
Well, remasters are great when they are for games of the past that everyone wants or fills a niche group willing to buy it. Like how Nintendo is handling it, and Nintendo once got like this too when it thought it couldnt be dethroned. But now it engages with its customers. Playstation and Xbox think its too much trouble, and they treat you in reverse like your the company and them the customer. Playstation was great under the Japanese but under US or Euro leadership thats way too liberal it thinks it can do no wrong or they want it to tank.
They are only hurting themselves in the long run even if this is a very costly training when they could be remastering something older that we cant get on modern consoles or cost a fortune on a resell site. But like their PS plus sub, especially the classic,they have only released about 5 games everyone wanted and the rest have been ones we got with PS3 store, and on the old plus. And that lets you know the people in charge are out of touch and not gamers. I know a ton of game artists and devs that hate games and gamers working at these companies bc of the money, and not the passion of the players, but just a high paid art gig with all the perks they demand. Its a wonder that anything gets made today. But Xbox while not dead, its a shell of what all these game companies were. Playstation is dead, and its slowly carrying on with what brought them down. Astrobot and this throwback look to the OG is the highlight of its swansong.
I could understand remasters as a concept last gen with the different architecture and lack of BC so I was hoping that this gen will kill them off for goo, especially the PS4 to PS5 ones, but here we are. Remakes of games from PS3 and before I can still stomach since they often look and feel very different but who really is asking for remasters of PS4 games?
WiiU just sold 15 mln units so Switch remasters are understandable , but ramaking PS4 games that look beautiful are not .
A coherent answer, but one that is wrong
Sony is creating remasters because they are cheap, quick, easy and safe. These are established franchises that Sony knows WILL sell.
What's wrong is that they are current franchises.
These games run on PS5.
These games look good on PS5.
These games play well on PS4.
Many have already received their $10 PS5 upgrade
What point is there in ReMastering them when the biggest noticeable difference is likely to be having the word "ReMastered" on the box?
Other companies have an onboarding process that lets them work on new games and manage to train staff without redoing the wheel. The Coalition trained itself on UE5 by working on new IP before it got tapped for The Matrix.
But Sony knows enough of its fanbase will buy a $70 game that has minimal work done to it to make the effort worth its time. Its knows they will buy a game they already own so long as it comes in a shiny new wrap
Which is why they do it. Sony needs money and it doesn't have enough.
A typical new game...
New Mission... go to the shop to buy carrots
What a mission! call Tom Cruise!
That's why there are so many remasters.
@NEStalgia Thanks for the reply, but I catogoricaly reject your assesment that this is exploitation. You are willfully finding offense, and like so many these days, you seem ill at ease unless you have a perceived injustice to rile against. You seem far more involved in finding fault somewhere and writing a wall of text about it than playing or enjoying games and Ive never even seen you talk abiut a game youve played or enjoyed. It appears you dont play games at all and simply enjoy riding the next 'injustice wave'
We will never be alike and I will never share your viewpoint and Im extremely grateful for that. I will have a much happier life not subscribing to all the injustices you try to manufacture.
Have a great day anyway, even if for you that means finding another percieved injustice to rant about.
@carlos82 They treat Jak and Daxter like R* treats the old GTAs. "Oh, you guys want those? Really??? Eh, here's some versions that run worse than the originals, I guess.
...did no one tell you that we are, like, AUTEURS now???"
@Titntin Yeah man, I don't know about that. Reeeeeeeally looks like you are looking to make someone a symbol of your irl frustrations on this Playstation enthusiast page. You can recognize exploitation and also recognize that it's just how reality works. I like all sorts of "problematic" entertainment. I think everyone does. It's not possible to be an honest consumer anymore.
@LikelySatan You attempt to misrepresent. I cant express any clearer what my thoughts are on this subject and my history of exchanges and conversations with this individual have gone on for years over multiple sites, i genuinely despise those who look to find fault everywhere they look, that kind of negitivity breeds more negativity.
Rather than simply disagree and offer an opinion you attempt to classify me in one of your pigeon holes, and make some huge leap abiut irl frustrations? If that makes you feel good... but you dont know and have never interacted with me before, and are miles off the mark. I have an extremely long history of posts on this 'playstation enthusiasts site' if you somehow have a desire to phyco analyse.
I have no idea what your phrase 'honest consumer' means, so I can't agree or disagree with your point, but will happily discuss if you wish to clarify what you meant?
Removed - trolling/baiting
@LikelySatan Sorry, Im an old git and I simply dont understand your statement, though I expect its a mild insult. To me a fedora is a hat or something to do with linux?
However I will take your goodbye at face value and ignore the insult I do understand, and wish you a good day too. I hope at some future time we can converse in a more civil manner, as its very likely we have much more in common than our differences.
Till next time.
Money.
Why no option for "I'd buy them again"?
What makes these egregious specifically is that they are already available on PS5 and already look and run amazing on PS5. Just the most pointless and unnecessary crap imaginable. Do better Sony.
@Titntin "ve never even seen you talk abiut a game youve played or enjoyed. It appears you dont play games at all and simply enjoy riding the next 'injustice wave' "
Eh, again, no, I think we just have different taste in games and you're not seeing that (though I'm pretty sure we did both just squealed like school girls over Pirate Majima so we're not entirely different 😆). Plus I'm big on VR games as you know so I have a lot of positive comments in those platforms you're not into.
Plenty of good games it's just that most of them aren't the hyped ones, and the hyped ones are usually fifty shades of awful/offensive. And not from any of the platform holders these days.
Astrobot is great looking but holding off for PC port and inevitable vr mod for the way it should be
@NEStalgia Ah were just pretty different in our outlook NES, I guess weve dropped enough long posts at each other to know that by now, and I am somewhar harder posting on you as I know you can take a more robust discussion without becoming insulting. Of course you play games, your not here on a whim I just dont see as many posts from you about them prehaps..
Regardless, you have every right to your view of course, no matter how passionately I hold the alternate view, neither of us have a hotline to ultimate truth 😊
Its Saturday night here, Im playing Astrobot (only 209 bots so far), my misses is on our second machine just behind me playing Rangorak and life feels good.. I hope you are feeling contented and happy too where ever you are, and regarding 'exploitation' I'll agree to to disagree with you, but in peace. I shouldnt let my lack of understanding, question your motivations.
Have a great weekend.
@Titntin Hah, thanks for the kind epilogue and although we fight like a married couple, you're alright and I enjoy our exchanges regardless, it's a different perspective either way! You may want to change your Muppet of choice to Oscar though
As for my gaming right now I'm knee deep in Meta stuff on quest 3 while the weather allows more active gaming, and mixing it with an indecisive mishmash of other games on my Ally that I'll never complete because I keep starting all of them and jumping around lol (p3r, harvestella, rune factory 5, revisiting ff13 (into the trilogy I skipped ... Someday), armored core 5, little kitty, p5 strikers (restarting it),plus like 50 things not installed I keep getting tempted to install lol. On the big screen once the weather turns. Dunno, I'm probably going to go all in on trying vr mods for tons of stuff I played in the past but never in VR. And flight Sim. I've a mountain of stuff and I keep trying to play it all at once. Plus I'm only into the 1st expansion if FFXIV. Hiatus for now. Just bought dd2 hoping it runs half decent on PC. I never finish games but I play lots of them 😂
The Dark Cloud especially the first one, Jak and Daxter, ICO are remaster like the Demon Souls style or what they did with Shadow of the Colossus, Infamous 1/2, Legend of Dragoon and Legaia, Wild Arms just pay for the funding of the spiritual successor on Kickstarter, Motorstorm, Ape Escape, Twisted Metal World Tour just remaster it and put a online in the game, Sly Cooper, Jeanne d arc, Syphon Filter, Alundra. I know a lot of these are insane but there have to be several good games in there.
It would be a completely different story if they would be remastering ps3 games, especially games that have unobtainable online trophies from server closure like the Killzone and Resistance series
If the game is older and was a good game at his OG release date, I completely understand an Remake (prefer them over Remaster since non of the mechanics gets changes in the latter).
-For instance TLOU Part 1 would've been great with all the TLOU Part 2 mechanics (don't know if they were implementable or not). Especially after it already had a remaster.
And that's what people dislike, if the game had already a remaster and devs keep repeating that process on the newer machine, time after time. Worst example is GTA5.
It can be a two edged sword of course, people who never played it before or people that are eagerly waiting for the next iteration of that game.
Another point that could change my mind is the price. I had no problem buying the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for €10 since I owned both OG titles.
The Horizon Zero Dawn (edit) one, I don't understand at all and find it unnecessary myself. But, somehow there must be an easy possible profit or it's so easy to port that it takes not much effort. Or is there a free upgrade path for PS5 owners?
If a complete Motorstorm or Resistance collection would be remade, I would be in, no doubt about that!
That's why it would be very interesting to know what the budget of a Remake and/or Remaster is and at the end, what the profits are. So I could see the perspective on why they do it.
I do think it's about money, boosting the brand (getting people interested in spin-offs --> TV shows or movies or even older games of that series).
Even though, you get to choose buying it or not, it isn't a good look because at the end of the day, we all want the best edition of that game, but not in paying full price for the same game, time and time again. Do it in such a way, people don't have the feeling it's about greed or trying to fool you with PR speak why you should buy the new one.
It’ll keep happening - people buy them and it’s probably a pretty low risk endeavor for Sony.
I just hope they arnt pulling resources from development on new games for this. I can understand wanting to have everything updated and running well but not at the expense of new product.
First of all, stop buying them!!!
I suppose developers produce remasters of “classic” games because we are still willing to pay for them. I assume it is much cheaper to do this for them, than to design and build something new, completely from scratch.
Although the Last Of Us Remastered was supposedly redone completely, making it a brand new version of the game, and not actually just a remastered or updated version. Strange.
Are PS5 games technically handicapped by the need to still produce a PS4 version?
I assume that most players have GTA5 in their game library? Don’t forget that has already been remastered twice. The PS5 version was simply an update of the PS4 version. Which was a remake of the PS3 version.
But I am very much looking forward to getting Astrobot later today. It looks like one of the greatest PS5 games yet.
@LifeGirl Thats not really how this works at all. You cant point at Concord and say "Look, people dont like new things!". People like good things. Dont try to spin a colossal failure as the audiences fault in "If you dont buy anything new you dont deserve anything new". How about Sony make good games first,
Remasters are the contemporary bane of the video game industry. They have become way too common and they are not producing returns that justify the time/resources spent making them. Publishers are using them as a metric (a poorly chosen one) for interest in the next addition to the series or genre, but are failing to realize that nostalgia does not translate to a desire for a new installment and vice versa.
If developers can keep their games/IP from being owned by a publicly traded company, the better.
Their games cost to much, the marketing budgets are as high as the games. They don't understand how to not waste money, have awkward meetings and staff that make games more dull I mean.
To fill in gaps between releases it's understandable but I mean just have other teams make smaller games in-between then? They have the third parties fill in when they can too. Or audiences could buy more Indies if they are as AAA focused? But that's up to the customer at the end of the day.
In terms of using the money for all different types of departments or other media, just keep the same IPs, milk them, tweak things, charge for it and think people will emotionally be loyal to no end and just eat it up because they can't help it.
For 20+ old games, IPs to use, artstyles hold up so remastering sure. Tweak controls sure. If remaking because have the means to do so sure.
But those not that old for TV presentations or console showcases, eh. New games, better design of those games, less tweaking what they want every few years/next time they blink/change their minds.
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