Profiting remastered again and again
Video game companies are the biggest abusers of re-releasing old titles. (image: memecreator)
Have you ever enjoyed something so much that you wanted to experience it all over again? Maybe a movie or a video game? A dish that you keep coming back to? A song you play on repeat? A person who can just never let go of? Admit it, you have one…or someone. ;)
The point is, originality might not be something that people look out for nowadays. It’s all about nostalgia. What came before and what you already know is good. Why take a risk with the unknown when you can always take the safer route, right?
Corporations probably think the same. They’d much rather repackage a product in a shiny new box and have it shipped out at full price claiming it’s now better rather than spend time and resources to think of a new one altogether.
And it works. Twenty-seven years after its original release, Jurassic Park came back to cinemas with roaring success. Given that it’s one of my favorite films of all time, I say: deserved.
On the flipside, the video game industry is one of the worst offenders of this trend. There are countless re-releases, remasters, remakes, and ports, or transfers, to other platforms that happen on a yearly basis. With every change of a console generation, there will always be a line of games from the last, ready for porting.
Play again?
One of the most prominent examples of porting would be The Last of Us Part 1. This is a recent game release for the Playstation 5 console in 2022. It’s a rebuilt experience based on The Last of Us Remastered released for the PS4 console back in 2014.
Why is it called “remastered,” you ask? Because it’s an enhanced product based on The Last of Us game for the PS3 that was released back in 2013.
To sum it all up, The Last of Us Part 1 is a remake of a remaster of a game that was released less than a decade ago. Oh, and they were all sold at $60, full price. The Last of Us Part 1 is now being sold for $70. Talk about inflation.
To be fair, it is a game that is critically acclaimed by both critics and fans. Personally, I even think it’s one of the greatest games ever made. But let’s be real here: Do we really need it to be re-released three different times? Yes, they do get improved visuals and performance, but that’s just about it.
Despite a loud crowd protesting about how each consecutive release doesn't justify the expensive price tag, people keep buying them—and I feel like it’s going to happen again.
What adds salt to the wound is that other games such as Horizon Forbidden West offer a similar upgrade, all for the great price of absolutely nothing. Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Edition does charge players for an upgraded version, but at least it’s at a significantly discounted price as long as you have the original game.
And I may be talking about video games here but the point is: How much repackaging and re-releasing can be done until it becomes nothing more than a cheap excuse for executives to milk us for the exact same thing?
Remember Avatar? No, I’m not talking about possibly the greatest show of all time. I’m talking about the blue aliens with long hair. The original 2009 film will be remastered in 4K resolution and is getting another release this September in preparation (I guess) for the sequel coming out later this year.
Spider-man: No Way Home will be released once again, less than a year after it originally came to theaters, with—and I wish was making this up—the “Spider-man: No Way Home The More Fun Stuff Version.” That’s another full-priced ticket for just about 11 minutes of new content. Most of it has probably been leaked online (for free) already.
I can sit here and give you more examples, or I can just keep giving the same ones over and over again. That’s what these large corporations are doing anyway.
