As of last year, we entered another generation of gaming with the PS5 and Xbox Series S consoles hitting the market. And with every new generation comes the great possibility and hope of new cherished gaming experiences. In the last year alone, these consoles have released great new games that raise the bar for next-gen gaming with even more exciting titles to come in the coming years. However, it’s not always an amazing experience.
Ever since the PS4/Xbox One era, the gaming world has been plagued with the issue of re-releasing games in order to give players an “enhanced experience” of fan favorite titles. These re-releases come in many different names: Remasters, definitive editions, director’s cut, anniversary collections, and many more. These “enhanced” editions all sound fancy and cool, but a lot of the time these “new” versions of classic games are just a cheap graphics overhaul with maybe some small quality of life updates. In other words, it’s basically the same game being pawned off as the “best version” of that title.
You’ll notice that I’m using a lot of quotations here and that’s because for the most part this is all full of crap. We all know when a definitive edition or HD collection comes out, it’s really just a port onto a current-gen system that sells for the price of a completely new AAA game. And this is where the industry starts to suffer with the issue of over recycling games.
Let’s take a game like Skyrim, for example. Skyrim is a beloved game for the most veteran of Elder Scrolls fans and for people just getting into the franchise. From the expansive world full of quests and landmarks to the intensive character building and DLC additions, this is a game that people can easily pour hundreds of hours into and always gives a reason to keep fans coming back to it nearly 10 years later.
And while Skyrim is a great game, it has been very frustrating to see this title go under the recycled treatment again and again over the past decade.
It’s honestly ridiculous how many times this game has been pawned off to people over the years. Bethesda knows that Skyrim is one of their biggest hits, so they exploit that fact and try to find reasons to resell their game promoting it as a different way to experience the game. When, in actuality, not much has been changed or added throughout each addition.
Take the Anniversary edition, for example. To celebrate the game’s 10 year anniversary this November, Skyrim is being re-released again on next-gen consoles. In this edition, players get access to the base game, all DLC, 500 pieces of content form the Creation Club and...wait for it...a new fishing mechanic. Yep, that’s right. After 10 long years fishing has finally been added to the game.
Now this might seem like the ultimate Skyrim package, but if you think about it 90% of what’s in this Anniversary edition can be found in Skyrim’s Special edition, which came out 5 years ago and is much cheaper to get. So, the only real big changes are the Creation Club add ons and fishing. Everything else about the game is still the same and yet Bethesda will sell it as if it’s a completely new experience simply just to make some more cash.
Adding a few small changes here and there doesn’t warrant a new release and only makes what was once a beloved game seem cheap and run down with each successive edition. If Bethesda really cared about enriching the Skyrim experience, they would make those new changes free through online patches and updates to the existing Special Edition or at the very least charge a small price for the add ons and give the players a choice whether they want to opt into these changes or not.
However, that's rarely the case these days. For many studios it’s easier and more profitable for them to just put out a new edition every time they want to update small changes to the game instead of making it the most accessible to the fans who have already poured hours of their time and money into the franchise.
GTA V is another example of this ongoing issue. This game came out near the end of the PS3/Xbox 360 era and has been re-released on the PS4/Xbox One and is set to be released again on new-gen consoles in November. GTA V is one of the most popular titles in the franchise and has released a lot of additional content over the years.
And now the game is set to launch again promising new enhanced features that take advantage of the capabilities of new-gen consoles. Some of these enhanced features include 4k and 60fps support and other enhancements that the company has yet to announce.
GTA V is a beautiful game and there’s no debate that the extra firepower can make the game shine even more with enhanced graphics and a nice, smooth framerate.
While these things are nice, they don’t enhance the game by a significant amount. The game is pretty much going to play the same at the aspect ratio and fps that it currently has, so why then is Rockstar selling GTA again for new consoles? Well it goes back to my point before with Skyrim, it’s a very popular game and the company wants to cash in on an IP they know people will buy again and again.
Now, I understand why studios like Rockstar and Bethesda would want to resell older games and it might not be as cut and dry as them wanting more money. Whenever a new console comes out, typically that means a whole new generation of gamers enter the playing field. And these newcomers to these consoles, or gaming in general, may have never played these games before on previous-gen consoles and these studios want to offer them the chance to play these great games in the best way possible.
And that’s fine and all, but for the people who have played these games for years on end, it just comes across as milking an IP until it runs dry. Besides, there are now newer and more efficient ways to get people to play these classic games on next-gen consoles.
For the first time, in a long time, both PlayStation and Xbox consoles are backwards compatible with last-gen games. That means veteran and new players alike can experience all the greatest hits from the last-generation at the fraction of the cost of buying full-priced, new-gen specific versions of those games.
GTA V is $20 right now on last-gen consoles and that includes a lot of the DLC and GTA online perks that Rocksteady has released over the years. And while the price hasn’t been announced for the new releases of GTA V in the fall yet, it’s expected to fit the $60-$70 range because that’s typically what “new” games retail for nowadays.
But, with backwards compatibility and the enhanced features next-gen consoles have to offer, if people want to take their gaming experience up to the next level, they can purchase these enhanced versions on the online store without burning a hole in their wallets at the same time.
For example, if you have the PS4 version of Ghost of Tsushima, you can go on the PSN store and purchase an enhanced upgrade to play on the PS5 which will give you features like 4K resolution, 60fps, adaptive trigger support, and other features that will let you experience the game in the best way possible.
Some games, like Spiderman: Miles Morales, even skip the upgrade cost route entirely. All you have to do is load the game up on your PS5, download an update, and boom you get access to all these cool new features at no cost to you whatsoever.
So, with upgrade routes such as these, it makes no real sense to exclusively sell next-gen versions of games at full price in troves, especially when these so-called “upgrades” don’t really make a huge difference in the end.
It doesn’t stop with games like Skyrim or GTA V. Over the past couple weeks there have been announcements for other fan-favorite games that are slated to hit next-gen consoles. And people are asking the big question as to whether they’ll have to pay for the game again to experience it on the consoles they’ve paid hundreds of dollars for already.
So, what’s the best solution here? How do studios keep their great titles alive without reselling them to death? Well, I think as we’re still in the infancy of this new generation of gaming, studios have the opportunity to streamline their titles to make it the most accessible to all players.
Backwards compatibility already solves the big problem of players having to leave their old games behind in the past. Now, all studios need to do is just create an easy and efficient path for players to continue to experience these games in the best way possible on their new-gen consoles.
If studios want to take their games to the next level, they shouldn’t slap a new cover on a PS5/Xbox Series X game, call it new, and sell something that people can already play just fine for a crap ton of money.
If the changes are clearly significant, provide an upgrade path for veteran players who have been dedicated to the series for years. If they’re just quality of life updates, have players download a free patch. These things aren’t entirely new and despite whatever option studios decide to go with, players will appreciate being able to experience their favorite games without having to see these games dragged through the mud every couple of years, so that studios can make an extra buck.
What do you guys think about this issue of recycled games? What’s one game you’ve seen sold again and again over the years? Leave your comments below and I’ll see you soon!
~Dean Willms
Gamer. Designer. Friend.
