At the moment we’re seeing a lot of HD remakes. We saw numerous HD remakes released on the PS3 and the Xbox 360 and now a number of titles are being given the remastered treatment on the PS4 and Xbox One. It’s not a new approach and has been done many times before for various media platforms, whether it’s a classic album or film everything seems to get remastered sooner or later.
But are a few games getting this treatment a little bit too prematurely? A few games that were released during the later life of the PS3 and Xbox 360 are undergoing the HD treatment for the latest console generation. Are these releases just quick cash cows or are they justifiable?
A few HD remakes became available during the last few years of the PS3 and Xbox 360. Most of these titles were classic titles that were made available for gamers that may have missed some older PS2 titles. Ico/Shadow of the Colossus was a great release both games were classic titles that didn’t receive a large amount of commercial success so a giving them the HD treatment meant that gamers could experience these two brilliant titles.
However titles that are being re-released for the PS4 and Xbox One are fairly recent titles that could likely be seen as quick cash cows. Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition was released for Next-Gen consoles in January 2014 which was less than a year from it’s original release on the previous generation. Tomb Raider was a fantastic game that didn’t do quite so well commercially on the initial release so it benefited greatly from a Next-Gen spruce up. It made people more aware of the title and also benefitting from the lack of readily available titles during the first few months of PS4 and Xbox One’s launch.
Now if you look at the line up of upcoming titles a few of those titles are in fact remakes. Last of Us Remastered is the next title to be re-released, a game that was originally released about a year ago. It’s a good tactic by Naughty Dog to release a remastered version of the game for PS4 as it’s a stand out title that players that have jumped ship from the Xbox 360 may have missed it completely. But because this HD remake is happening so soon after the initial release many gamers may feel cheated if they already splashed out on the original release of the game.
GTA V is another interesting title that is getting the HD treatment. On the initial release of GTA V many gamers wondered if it’d get re-released on next gen consoles as it was released so close to the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One. It seemed like it would be more appropriate as a title launch on both platforms. However because it was developed for so long on the current generation of consoles it wouldn’t have been feasible for Rockstar to release it on next gen so soon. I’ve had many people ask me if it was going to be released for the PS4 or Xbox One (I work in video game retail) and I’d always answer that it doesn’t look likely and that I would personally rather see Rockstar working on a new title. However at E3 this year a re-release of GTA V was announced. It’s an interesting title for the HD treatment as player have been asking for it and it’s a sure-fire seller. But considering most gamers have likely already played through it already. However it does look as though, much like The Last of Us Remastered it is more than just a simple port and will take advantage of the new hardware.
It’s clear that most of these remastered games aren’t just simple re-hashes of the original releases. A lot of work goes into work to upscale them and take advantage of the new hardware so it’s no easy job. But the titles all being released are simply being done so because they are all easy sellers. Of course part of releasing these games is to make as much money as possible so it makes sense to re-release them and I’m not complaining as I will more than likely purchase most of these re-releases as I’ve done before with the PS3. It just makes you wonder if it’s going to stifle creativity.
What do you think?
