Summary
- Remasters are necessary to fund new triple-A games.
- Usually these projects have dedicated teams and don’t sap resources from a primary studio.
- Sony benefits from remasters financially and through brand recognition.
Shuhei Yoshida was one of the pioneers of the PlayStation, having been with Sony since before the brand’s inception. He served as president of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, playing a key role in the growth and expansion of PlayStation.
It can often feel like an excessive number of remasters and remakes are constantly being released. Until Dawn and The Last of Us are two games that come to mind when I think, “Did this really need a remaster?” However, we’ve also seen countless successful remasters in the recent past.
It’s a topic that’s widely discussed in wider gaming circles, with some people espousing the opinion that they’d rather see new and original games rather than remasters of beloved classics. However, these two categories of games actually have a symbiotic relationship. According to Yoshida in an interview with Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller, remakes and remasters are increasingly necessary moneymakers that allow studios to create new experiences for fans (nice spot, Push Square).
Remasters Galore
“I joked about Herman [current CEO of SIE], sometimes making too many remasters,” Yoshida says. “I think the people who complain about that are maybe thinking Herman is doing that instead of something new. But I’m sure these remakes are made by a dedicated, different team, or some porting teams, especially PC versions. So I don’t think he’s sacrificing anything by doing it.”
There are occasions when studios directly work on remakes, but usually, it’s in collaboration with various support studios. Yoshida proceeds to speak about the economics of new games and remakes.
“Singleplayer games now cost so much, they need additional income by doing remasters and porting to PC,” Yoshida explains. “[Remasters and ports] are much cheaper to produce, create additional revenue, and create new users for the IP, especially when you port the game to PC.”
There is almost no downside to releasing remasters for Sony, except on the rare occasion that the remasters aren’t polished. We saw a recent example of this with the Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition Trilogy and the conflict between Rockstar and Grove Street Games.
Sony
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate known heavily for its movies, music, and tech brands, including the production of the PlayStation home consoles.