When it comes to video game companies coming out with remasters, the practice is being called out as an obvious cash grab now that The Last of Us Part II is getting the redux treatment despite being only three years old.
Though the information is not officially confirmed, the remaster was apparently leaked by The Last of Us Part II‘s composer. As ComicBook.com explained:
“In a recent Spanish interview, series composer Gustavo Santaolalla was told by an interviewer that they loved seeing him as a character in the game. Santaolalla can be found in Jackson at the start of The Last of Us Part II, playing a banjo outside of one of the buildings with a dog standing near him. That’s about as far as the interaction goes, but that may change. Santaolalla told the interviewer […] that in a new version of the game, players will be able to go up to his in-game character and request songs for him to play. However, he noted he can’t say anything beyond that.”
Over on Twitter, gaming commentators immediately jumped on the news to call it out as another example of developers’ lame excuse to rake in more cash with little effort to back it up. The YouTuber Spawn Wave even satirized Naughty Dog’s long-promised — but as of yet unfulfilled — revival of the online multiplayer Factions game which has notoriously been subjected to delays.
Meanwhile, Stop Skeletons From Fighting, a retro-gaming-focused YouTube channel, took this opportunity to point out how many classic games like Ape Escape or Jumping Flash!, the latter of which is cited as the first 3D platformer, have yet to receive the remaster treatment at all.
For fellow gaming YouTuber Matt McMuscles, a puzzled look from VeggieTales’ Bob the Tomato was all he could muster in reaction to the news.
At this point, we’re expecting the remakes to be announced before the games on which they’re based.
For some, the remaster was an obvious excuse to ratchet up the retail price.
How many superfluous designators will they need to add to justify releasing the same dang games over and over again?
At this pace, they might as well cut to the chase and release the remaster right alongside the original but with a higher price point.
Devs’ constant fixation on remastering games that are practically brand new in the grand scheme of the history of the medium feels especially egregious in an age where classic titles are becoming more and more rare to obtain legitimately. Though some important legacy titles, like the aforementioned Jumping Flash! are available on consoles as modern as the PlayStation 5, many others are not. For instance, the YouTuber The Completionist recently made a video outlying how an estimated 87 percent of classic games are “commercially unavailable,” as he noted in a Twitter post.