The industry-wide discourse surrounding videogame remasters has recently been re-ignited, with PlayStation announcing a spate of high-profile and somewhat controversial remasters within the past few months. While these new remasters of course have their own pros and cons, many cannot help but compare the recent influx of remastered content on the PlayStation platform to the essential non-existence of remasters on the Xbox platform.
The most high-profile PlayStation related remasters that have recently drawn attention from fans are that of The Last of Us: Remastered and a rumored upcoming remaster for Horizon: Zero Dawn. Given the lack of remaster movement by Xbox, both console giants appear to be polar opposite in their ethos towards the concept of videogame remasters.
PlayStation's Stance on Remasters
Remasters in gaming can be a fantastic thing, being a way to reintroduce a classic title to old and new audiences while providing a more contemporary and high-quality overall experience. While remasters can be controversial when handled incorrectly, as seen with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, most remasters are welcomed by fans with open arms.
That being said, PlayStation have recently exposed another factor of remasters that is being regarded as problematic by many fans. A remake of the original The Last of Us title was recently released on PlayStation 5, and while many have lauded the game for its sharpened visual fidelity, it has opened a wider dialogue of the necessity of such remakes, given how the original title was only released less than a decade ago in 2013.
This seed of criticism has only flourished with the recent strong rumors surrounding a potential remaster for the well-received Horizon Zero Dawn. The remaster will reportedly bring the title up to speed with the PS5's impressive hardware, with many praising the more recent Horizon Forbidden West for its high level of graphical quality. Regardless of the potential improvement, the fact that Zero Dawn only originally released in 2017 has led many to believe that a remaster for the title is a ludicrous prospect. While this is not yet officially confirmed, it is clear that PlayStation is becoming heavily invested in the prospect of remastering games within its exclusive catalog, leading many to turn their attention to Xbox and its stance on remasters.
Xbox's Stance on Remasters
Adversely to PlayStation's high level of remasters, it can be said that Xbox is placing too little attention on the concept. While the catalog of Xbox-exclusive titles have waned in acclaim in more recent years, it undeniably remains that the more classic titles for the platform are some of the most well-respected in the gaming industry, and are more than deserving of remasters.
Other than titles such as Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Xbox has been historically absent in regard to remasters, with fans pointing to Microsoft IPs that are deserving of the treatment in wake of the aforementioned PlayStation activity. For example, many have recently pointed to the iconic Fable franchise as being worthy of remasters, especially considering that Fable 4 is set to release some time in the near future.
The Fable titles are all of an older age than The Last of Us or Horizon Zero Dawn, and are arguably of the same level of acclaim. Given how this older time of release makes the Fable titles even more graphically and mechanically outdated, a remaster should make perfect sense from an Xbox perspective. It is an interesting sentiment that both Xbox and PlayStation are so contrasting in their recent stances on remasters, with it being clear that a middle-ground between the two outlooks of the companies would be a perfect compromise for many fans.