Support NeoGAF

[LordOfLore]

Link.

Have you noticed how many remastered video games have been released lately?

Remastering music and film for newer formats has been standard practice in those industries for some time, and the games industry now has enough history behind it to mine older titles and bring them to either nostalgic audiences or players who are experiencing a classic IP afresh.

Given a market in which so many publishers are highly risk averse and costs are typically astronomical, it's easy to see why the relatively low costs of remastering are so appealing. With consumers hungry for classic content, especially during this nostalgia wave we're witnessing, it makes perfect sense for publishers to capitalize.

Looking at the UK charts, remasters of Mario Kart, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot and Final Fantasy XII have all topped the charts in the last two months. And in the US, NPD told us that remastered/ported games have accounted for 11% of total dollar spending life-to-date for physical game sales on PS4 and Xbox One. Nearly 80 remastered/ported games have been released for PS4 or Xbox One (or both) since November 2013, representing about 15% of all titles released at retail for those consoles.

Recently, during Activision Blizzard's earnings call, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg gushed over the success of Crash Bandicoot.

"We knew that there was a passionate audience out there for Crash.... but we had no idea - it's hard to tell whether that's a vocal minority or whether that's a real mass audience until you put something out there. And Crash has surpassed all of our expectations by a pretty wide margin," he said.

"And a couple of stats that underscore that point where it was the number one selling console game in June based on units, even though it was only available for two days during that month. And Sony reported this morning... that Crash is the most downloaded game on the PlayStation Store in July."

Activision has enjoyed the fruits of remastering before with Modern Warfare Remastered, but you can bet it will look at more easy wins in this category moving forward. In fact, Activision's counterpart, Blizzard, is planning on releasing a remastered StarCraft in the third fiscal quarter.

"This is a strategy that clearly has our attention... I think you can be confident that there will be more activity like this in the future with more great IP," Hirshberg added.

As NPD analyst Mat Piscatella noted, publishers are able to offset some of the inherent risk in AAA development by pursuing the remastering trend.

"On average, remasters/ports sell less than games that are new to the platform, unsurprisingly," he said. "However, given the dramatically lower development costs when compared to new game development, the ability to outsource porting to speciality houses which frees up internal development resources to create new games, and the ability to mitigate risk since a clear demand pattern exists to determine which games should be remastered, the benefits of the practice are readily apparent to publishers."

Publishers we queried wouldn't state exact costs, but it's clearly something that can vary on a case-by-case basis. A much older title would likely need new artwork, whereas something closer to the current generation may only need a touch up with textures or polygons.

More at the link.

 

[AmyS]

I love remasters, but I hope that next gen systems have less of them and more original new games.

 

[Vashetti]

Crash is a remake, not a remaster.

 

[Vinc]

I love remasters, but I hope that next gen systems have less of them and more original new games.

While I understand the sentiment, people have to understand that remasters don't keep original games from being made. 99% of the time, these remasters are made by teams that are specifically built to remaster titles or port them to other hardware. They're essentially tech teams devoid of staff that would normally need to be employed to create a brand new game.

 

[Tizoc]

I love remasters, but I hope that next gen systems have less of them and more original new games.

I was unaware that there were dozens more remasters this gen and so few original games or sequels :v

 

[Yjynx]

I love remasters, but I hope that next gen systems have less of them and more original new games.

Most of remaster are outsourced though...

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

While I understand the sentiment, people have to understand that remasters don't keep original games from being made. 99% of the time, these remasters are made by teams that are specifically built to remaster titles or port them to other hardware. They're essentially tech teams devoid of staff that would normally need to be employed to create a brand new game.

I was unaware that there were dozens more remasters this gen and so few original games or sequels :v

10-15% is not a trivial number.

It's still money and time that could have been otherwise invested into more new games. I don't think its impact on the slow decrease in new game releases should be understated

Personally, I hope high end BC becomes the norm, I've little interest in paying $40+ to replay games I already own.

 

[lupinko]

Mario Kart 8 DX is a port with DLC.
Wipeout PS4 is a remaster.
Crash PS4 is a remake.
FFXII is a remaster.

You'd think the people writing these columns would be actual gamers but no.

 

[Mr-Joker]

I love remasters, but I hope that next gen systems have less of them and more original new games.

Food for thought;

-Remaster are outsourced to a different studio leaving the developers free to work on different project.

-Remaster introduce newer players into the series thus getting them up to speed and encouraging a healthy growth of the series.

-Remaster are sometime a useful tools for developers for future titles.

 

[Vinc]

It's still money and time that could have been otherwise invested into more new games. I don't think its impact on the slow decrease in new game releases should be understated

Personally, I hope high end BC becomes the norm, I've little interest in paying $40+ to replay games I already own.

Well... not time, since those teams don't make new games, as I said. Money? That's also questionable. If those remasters are profitable, they create even more revenue to then reinvest on new games.

I also really like remasters because they allow me to play games I missed out on without having to go bargain bin hunting or having to endure old resolutions no longer designed for my current setup.

Overall, it's really hard to argue that remasters are bad, except for the idea that they keep BC from existing... but that's kind of been disproven.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Mario Kart 8 DX is a port with DLC.
Wipeout PS4 is a remaster.
Crash PS4 is a remake.
FFXII is a remaster.

You'd think the people writing these columns would be actual gamers but no.

Activision is calling it a remaster since day one.

 

[Plum]

Mario Kart 8 DX is a port with DLC.
Wipeout PS4 is a remaster.
Crash PS4 is a remake.
FFXII is a remaster.

You'd think the people writing these columns would be actual gamers but no.

MK8D has the resolution bumped to 1080p from 720p on Wii U. It's a remaster.

You'd think a person would do their research before calling other people fake gamers but no.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Part of me is sad that the industry makes such a profit off our nostalgia.

Then I think of the Spyro remaster with the same level of love put into it as N-Sane and... I don't remember the first part.

 

[Alexander DeLarge]

MK8D has the resolution bumped to 1080p from 720p on Wii U. It's a remaster.

You'd think a person would do their research before calling other people fake gamers but no.

Outside of the new features like battle mode, it's a compilation with a rendering resolution boost. I guess that might be enough for some people and I'm glad it exists for anyone that didn't have a Wii-U but it's certainly not enough for me.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

10-15% is not a trivial number.

It's still money and time that could have been otherwise invested into more new games. I don't think its impact on the slow decrease in new game releases should be understated

Personally, I hope high end BC becomes the norm, I've little interest in paying $40+ to replay games I already own.

10-15% may not be a trivial number, but if the resources dedicated to remasters were instead moved to developing new games would it be a 1:1 replacement?

 

[CypherSignal]

Well... not time, since those teams don't make new games, as I said. Money? That's also questionable. If those remasters are profitable, they create even more revenue to then reinvest on new games.

It is not just a case of "will it make money", it's "is this the investment that will make the most money". That is, if you could spend 5-10M on a remaster of a game that has a net revenue of ~20M, yes you made 10M dollars, but it may be the case that putting that 5-10M investment into some other project would yield a net rev of 30M, instead.

 

[deriks]

Mario Kart is not a remaster. It's more like a definitive edition

 

[jonno394]

While I understand the sentiment, people have to understand that remasters don't keep original games from being made. 99% of the time, these remasters are made by teams that are specifically built to remaster titles or port them to other hardware. They're essentially tech teams devoid of staff that would normally need to be employed to create a brand new game.

People seem to forget that the profit from these remasters are likely being pumped back in to the development of the new games.

 

[george_us]

I love remasters, but I hope that next gen systems have less of them and more original new games.

I want both personally. It's not like remasters are taking resources away from making original games.

 

[redcrayon]

For me part of the appeal of remasters is that computer game formats are far more variable and become obsolete far more quickly than music and film. While I might buy a blu-ray, the shops are full of new DVDs and CDs for sale as many people still have the devices hooked up- the upgrade paths are only a storage format, not intrinsically linked to the power required to experience them, and so they become obsolete much slower. I doubt many people outside of specialist forums keep half a dozen computer game consoles that are fifteen years and at least two generations old hooked up to the TV when nobody is making games that run on them any more, and only a portion of the games made within a relatively small timeframe were ever made for them.

In addition to the point that remasters don't take up much dev resources and are often outsourced, I'd add that development is expensive and time consuming. As backwards compatibility isn't something a dev can control, putting out remasters sets up a revenue stream that helps keep the lights on for the few years their new project is going to take to make. Hard to object to that if you like a particular dev team.

 

[Plum]

Outside of the new features like battle mode, it's a compilation with a rendering resolution boost. I guess that might be enough for some people and I'm glad it exists for anyone that didn't have a Wii-U but it's certainly not enough for me.

Mario Kart is not a remaster. It's more like a definitive edition

It does literally the same things most every single remaster from last gen and the majority of remasters in this gen do yet it's somehow not a remaster. I could get a bunch of Digital Foundry links if you'd like, but I'll just post God of War 3 Remastered's article and ask whether you think it's a remaster or not.

 

[TSM]

MK8D has the resolution bumped to 1080p from 720p on Wii U. It's a remaster.

This is just ridiculous logic. By that logic every port to PC where the resolution can be arbitrarily set is a remaster. Do emulators remaster 3D games on the fly when you can adjust the internal resolution?

 

[The Giant]

Why can't people these days can't tell the difference between a remake and a remaster?

 

[digoutyoursoul]

The one Remaster I want isn't happening, Mass Effect 1/2/3

 

[Snoopycat]

All I want are Silent Hill and Splinter Cell remasters for PS4. Probably never happen.

 

[Donos]

Looking forward to GTA V remaster on PS5 / XBXOX² beeing on Nr. 1 for half the year.

 

[Cpt Lmao]

I'm fine with ports and remasters, the industry is a lot more flexible than it used to be.

 

[Cmerrill]

I would be fine with remasters IF we got Dark Souls 1 and Demon Souls. That's not happening, so....screw you remasters :'(

 

[Haunted]

Remasters and remakes have basically supplanted B-tier titles in the marketplace.

Lower budget, lower risk with a decent (not great) marketing initiative behind them.

Devs who would in the past try to strike out on their own with a mid-tier title under one of the smaller publishers are now doing outsourced remastering for the bigger companies.

 

[Garlador]

Mass Effect Trilogy remaster when, EA?

 

[D.Lo]

For all this argument over Mario Kart 8 (it's a port but whatever), the point is mostly Crash.

It is a complete remake, doesn't matter what the publisher says. Does it have a single asset in common with the original?

 

[bitbydeath]

You hear that you Warhawk hostage holding motherfuckers

 

[Sesha]

No shit. Just look at Capcom. Resident Evil Remake HD has outsold both previous releases at 1.9m. Same with RE0 HD at 1.4m, and DuckTales Remastered at 1.1m. Besides that, there's DMC HD Collection at 1.1m, Resident Evil 6 for PS4/X1 at 1.1m, Dragon's Dogma on PC 750k.

I wish companies like EA (SSX) and Universal Entertainment Corp. (Shadow Hearts) got the memo.

 

[ChoppedandScrewed]

In that case, they should remaster Dark Souls 1/Demon's Souls for modern consoles.

 

[Clear]

I think it should be stressed that the quality of the 3 named PS4 remasters is way above average, not only are they revivals for strong brands, all are very polished packages with a lot of content.

I mean, Crash,WipeOut, and FF are all basically synonymous with the rise of Playstation. For that particular platform audience you couldn't really find better.

 

[zelas]

10-15% is not a trivial number.

It's still money and time that could have been otherwise invested into more new games. I don't think its impact on the slow decrease in new game releases should be understated

Personally, I hope high end BC becomes the norm, I've little interest in paying $40+ to replay games I already own.

The safe money made from remasters encourages and allows publishers to take risks on projects they wouldn't otherwise. Why are you ignoring that fact to offer up a narrative where remasters are equally responsible for games sales slowing down when compared to the unceasing rise in AAA development costs period?

Remasters are a net positive by far and are innocuous compared to the actually exploitative practices publishers would turn to more and more without them. In fact your personal hopes coming true would be a hindrance on the industry. A hindrance for consumers too who won't be able to find physical copies of games or never owned certain consoles period.

In that case, they should remaster Dark Souls 1/Demon's Souls for modern consoles.

I would be fine with remasters IF we got Dark Souls 1 and Demon Souls. That's not happening, so....screw you remasters :'(

Yeah Sony should have definitely looked into getting a HD remaster of Demon's Souls out to fill the gap between Bloodborne and whatever From is doing next. It's a great example of a game where a significant portion of a series' audience hasn't played. Those who have can also have another shot at the Tendency stuff too.

 

[GlassBurrito]

Why can't people these days can't tell the difference between a remake and a remaster?

A remaster is using the original work, known as a "master" to update upon using their previous work as the foundation.

A remake is a work built from the ground up using the original as a reference and not its foundation.

Right?

 

[Sesha]

I don't get the animosity towards remasters. Besides making old titles more readily accessible, and to new audiences, remasters can even fix a game with major flaws or issues. DmC Definitive Edition is an improvement on the original in every possible way, and a far better game overall.

Then you have something like DMC4 Special Edition, where the new additions are essentially testing grounds for new mechanics. I'd rather they try things out first than potentially botching those same features in a future game which then have to be fixed through patches, DLC or another sequel.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

A remaster is using the original work, known as a "master" to update upon using their previous work as the foundation.

A remake is a work built from the ground up using the original as a reference and not its foundation.

Right?

Yes, this is the generally accepted definition of both for the gaming industry

 

[LordRaptor]

Does it have a single asset in common with the original?

It depends on if you consider things like level design, movement variables, game logic, enemy AI code etc assets or not.
I know a large number of people even here on GAF treat graphics as the only thing worth any money in a videogame with all of the rest of the things that constitute a videogame as 'invisible' and of no inherent value, but I think that is very arguable.

 

[Sesha]

Another thing. A lot of EU PS2 titles run at 50hz, like DMC1, so remasters can give certain markets a chance to play a more faithful version of the game.

 

[Syf]

Well Blizzard can go ahead and remaster all their classics if they give 'em similar treatment to what StarCraft is getting. I'll be happy to open up the ol' wallet. Still love those games, but some modern features would go a long way.

 

[D.Lo]

It depends on if you consider things like level design, movement variables, game logic, enemy AI code etc assets or not.
I know a large number of people even here on GAF treat graphics as the only thing worth any money in a videogame with all of the rest of the things that constitute a videogame as 'invisible' and of no inherent value, but I think that is very arguable.

Does Crash use any of those? ANY original code or assets or anything that excecutes at all? It may use AI or game logic that closely emulates the originals, but I'd suggest if it does have literally anything in common the data on the disc would have 0.1% in common with the original release.

Mario Kart 8DX on the other hand probably has 85%+ of the same data as MK8.

 

[jiggle]

They are great
Xeoigears remake is gonna be amszing

 

[RionaaM]

Food for thought;

-Remaster are outsourced to a different studio leaving the developers free to work on different project.

-Remaster introduce newer players into the series thus getting them up to speed and encouraging a healthy growth of the series.

-Remaster are sometime a useful tools for developers for future titles.

I'll add "Remasters bring a considerable amount of cash to the developers/publishers for a relatively low investment, which can help fund a new game" to your list.

I don't think remasters are inherently good or bad, just like music remasters aren't either. Every game is a particular case, and I'll analyze each one on their own.

 

[LordRaptor]

Does Crash use any of those? ANY original code at all? It may use AI or game logic that closely emulates the originals, but I'd suggest if it does have literally anything in common the data on the disc would have 0.1% in common with the original release.

I have no idea how much code is reused, that's literally my point.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

It's a win-win for fans too

 

[Dirtyshubb]

Mass Effect Trilogy remaster when, EA?

EA did come out and admit they were wrong on remasters and that they now know its something people want.

Problem is do they take the poor performance of Andromeda and think either:
A) Franchise is done, lets not bother spending any more money on it for now
B) Andromeda didn't sell well enough, lets bang out some remasters to make up for it.

Either answer wouldn't surprise me so our only hope is that they have already started work and think there's no point in stopping work now.

 

[Irminsul]

Mario Kart 8DX on the other hand probably has 85%+ of the same data as MK8.

MK8 DX has eight new Battle Arenas. That alone is more than 15% of all maps.

 

[Kinyou]

Mass Effect Trilogy remaster when, EA?

Wouldn't say no to Dead Space 1-3 either