Eart to Sony, what are you doing? Why are you jacking up prices, doing remasters of games nobody asked of you to do, and now just attacking Microsoft over their Activision Blizzard acquisition isn't enough, you won't bother to remaster the Bloodborne games, but instead make a TV show out of it?
I mean, good for you, branching out to get TV adaptations of Horizon Zero Dawn after The Last of Us out there, but how does that fix the more pertinent issues, and that is having to do with the PS5 still not having enough games to justify its price of admission, after price increase? Rather fill it up with remakes and remasters than newer games. Sure, God of War Ragnarök is well on its way next month.
It just feels like the more Sony knows you hate them now, the more they'll start doing this. There's something wrong with this company, does it have something to do with Jim Ryan being in charge? After Tsuyoshi 'John' Kodera, and Andrew House? Well, maybe, but it feels like a much deeper problem, something in Sony's previous history with the PS3 also seems to speak for it. The ethos is no longer just about making good games, it's now a competing company doing what any other game developing company does, and will be setting the standard of from now on.
Remastering What Is Already Up-To-Date
Was this game not released in 2017? Then got a next-gen update for the PS5? Why am I now hearing about the game getting a remaster? What could this remaster of a 5-year-old game achieve now? So many questions, yet the only answer that rings in my head is that Sony no longer cares about having any integrity and is willing to compete in desperation against the market, but also Xbox? That's half the battle.
And it isn't that Sony isn't doing well, they bought Bungie recently with the promise of them developing more games alongside Destiny 2. They have the studio roster, and talented workforce enough to create sequels for beloved IPs or new ones. Yet this is how they're wasting some of the resources they have by re-releasing a game that came out just a few years ago. And this also leaves the other issues that is the new game pricing. The 70 USD pricing standard for next-gen games.
But I don't get why they're going to something this redundant. The game already sold well, just release a high-texture patch. Do the right thing, or I don't know, let people who already own the PS4 version of the game get it without having to buy another copy? You can bet that there are more PS4 games that might get this remasters treatment and to experience them, you'll need to repurchase them again. Least here's hoping Sony doesn't keep it that way. The Last of Us remake isn't even perfect, because there are still dated textures found in the game, and it's also just the same game with visual changes and small differences made to gameplay.
Is Creative Integrity At Risk?
So the whole Television thing, ok, sure, do that, CD PROJEKT RED has done it with the Witcher franchise and helping Cyberpunk get an anime. Turning your game IPs into franchises for other mediums to cross over, yeah as long as it's done well, it all should work out. Cause for concern? What if they got in the way of the creative process and the control the game developers had in making their games? Realizing that their games need to have things that are accommodated for the sake of their other medias.
Sony no longer gives me any assurance that they won't do just that. For now, most of their studios seems to be doing well, despite the controversy around's PlayStation workplace. All that is quick to change, and with the growing dissent upon the head of management, and lack of faith for their talent, who we'd expect to change the scope of video games during last-gen. How long till the bubble pops?
You know what would be crazy now? If they'd brought back Japanese developers, and then have their games have anime shows. Wouldn't that be swell? Netflix would easily take the deal. It's a shame Japan Studio got liquidized before Sony's recent realization here.
A Big Company After A Bigger Fish
There were a total of 5 games released for the PS5 by PlayStation studios in 2022. One is MLB The Showdown, which is no longer an exclusive. So that puts it down to 4 games. 3 out of 4 of those games have some form of controversy around them. Gran Turismo 7 was poorly received due to terrible in-game monetization, microtransaction schemes, having to grind ridiculously to earn, before they've decided to patch all that to save the sinking ship. The Last of Us Part 1, remake of the first game, nobody wanted to talk about it much, because it was the same game just under a different looking skin.
And then another Uncharted collection release, remasters of both Uncharted 4, and Lost Legacy. Released just for 50 USD, of 2 old games just being remastered for the PS5 and a PC version coming in October. Now, isn't Uncharted 4 like a 2017 game? Games like that sell for really low price, even the spin-off release. Just what makes the remaster worth the extra 20-25 USD?
Sony is a big company, that sells all kinds of electronics, their gaming business is a big chunk of that, and yet, compared to companies like Microsoft, they feel like their history of being superior to them in the console market, has made them quite cocky and comfortable. That was, until Microsoft announced that they're purchasing Activision Blizzard, and that their game pass service is booming as the forefront of gaming subscription service. So Sony, in retaliation, creates a weird tier system for their PS Plus subscriptions, started investing in live-service games(ala Babylon's Fall), re-releasing games, and then just generally pissing on people's good faith by other means.
If no one can see that all this makes even Nintendo and Microsoft look more favorable, then I guess all hope is lost in the industry. Because if a big company like Sony can get away with stuff like this, then that means they all can too. I hope they don't repeat their mistake again like they did with the PS3. And hopefully, not something far worse than foreseen.
