What's old is new again.
It's interesting. With the difference in power shrinking with each new generation of console gaming, and with the current generation being incompatible with the last I think a trend which isn't uncommon to begin with may become a major part of this generation of console gaming. And that is porting old games to the new platforms.
In some cases it made a lot of sense simply because a game launched so close to the launch of the new platforms that they felt that they needed to do it to remain relevant. But, today I read that the Mass Effect trilogy may come to PS4 and Xbox One, and that got me thinking.
Why not other last era titles? Even ones markedly older? Sure, not many people are going to fork out new game prices for a game they already played. But, not everyone has played the old games, and some people who bought it on the old console WILL rebuy it on the new. And, there is no reason that the title needs to go for a premium rate. It is a chance to strangle more cash out of something already fully baked.
Like Tomb Raider, simply updating the graphics is probably enough. But, with a reboot to the revenue stream as well, successful games may even be able to justify furthering the franchise. New DLC and expansions for example.
I'm not saying games done this way are guaranteed any measure of success. But, compared to bringing a whole new game to the market, there is a lot less cost involved to the game studio. That is a plus for the developers. Where a typical new release needs to sell a ton of copies to get to the point of profit, a port requires much less effort and needs to sell far fewer copies to be considered a success.
The cost savings will obviously vary from title to title. But, advertising costs if any will be greatly reduced vs. a new title. Design phase is entirely cut unless you want to improve the models. But even then, you aren't wasting the same amount of resources since you already know what the final models look like. You just need to generate higher quality versions. Storyline is complete. Features are complete. Heck, even the code is technically complete, even if a port means rewriting, it doesn't mean rewriting from scratch. Many of the bugs are already resolved lessening QA and support resources needed. Packaging art can be recycled. And the list goes on. Honestly, I think most game titles could be ported with insanely low time and resources.
There is an advantage to the consumer as well. As I said, not everyone will have played this game in its past incarnation. Either because they didn't own the console or missed the initial wave. And these second time buyers have a wealth of reviews and gameplay trailers to better inform them on the decision to buy such a game. A big problem for me has always been that it can take a long time for reliable reviews and useful gameplay trailers to pop-up making it very hard to part with my hard earned money. Its no surprise that many of my first Xbox One purchases were from established franchises like Assassin's Creed which I had played either on PC or a past gen console. Whereas I'm very leery about buying a brand new game.
A successful reboot can also have other beneficial consequences. Take MMO games. Usually as the title ages, the online community deteriorates. This is what I meant by missing the initial wave. If successful, such a re-launch could create a second wave which helps even out the mass imbalance in such worlds that develops over time.
And, if a reboot results in new content exclusive to the new platforms, it could even trigger a 3rd wave of people who played the original and now want in on the new content.
Sure, these tactics could have been employed in the past. But, as the chasm in overall power between generations shrinks the expectations of what a next gen game needs to do go down as well. Not to mention, true next gen games take more time to make with each successive console iteration leaving fewer titles for legacy titles to compete with over the same historic periods. Which is why simply revamping the visual assets or increasing resolution and frame rate might be enough to reboot a franchise. And lastly, if nothing else, memberships like Xbox Live and PS+ need titles to gift to their loyal fans. Reboots, mediocre or otherwise are a great way to reward gamers investing in your eco-system.
In some cases it made a lot of sense simply because a game launched so close to the launch of the new platforms that they felt that they needed to do it to remain relevant. But, today I read that the Mass Effect trilogy may come to PS4 and Xbox One, and that got me thinking.
Why not other last era titles? Even ones markedly older? Sure, not many people are going to fork out new game prices for a game they already played. But, not everyone has played the old games, and some people who bought it on the old console WILL rebuy it on the new. And, there is no reason that the title needs to go for a premium rate. It is a chance to strangle more cash out of something already fully baked.
Like Tomb Raider, simply updating the graphics is probably enough. But, with a reboot to the revenue stream as well, successful games may even be able to justify furthering the franchise. New DLC and expansions for example.
I'm not saying games done this way are guaranteed any measure of success. But, compared to bringing a whole new game to the market, there is a lot less cost involved to the game studio. That is a plus for the developers. Where a typical new release needs to sell a ton of copies to get to the point of profit, a port requires much less effort and needs to sell far fewer copies to be considered a success.
The cost savings will obviously vary from title to title. But, advertising costs if any will be greatly reduced vs. a new title. Design phase is entirely cut unless you want to improve the models. But even then, you aren't wasting the same amount of resources since you already know what the final models look like. You just need to generate higher quality versions. Storyline is complete. Features are complete. Heck, even the code is technically complete, even if a port means rewriting, it doesn't mean rewriting from scratch. Many of the bugs are already resolved lessening QA and support resources needed. Packaging art can be recycled. And the list goes on. Honestly, I think most game titles could be ported with insanely low time and resources.
There is an advantage to the consumer as well. As I said, not everyone will have played this game in its past incarnation. Either because they didn't own the console or missed the initial wave. And these second time buyers have a wealth of reviews and gameplay trailers to better inform them on the decision to buy such a game. A big problem for me has always been that it can take a long time for reliable reviews and useful gameplay trailers to pop-up making it very hard to part with my hard earned money. Its no surprise that many of my first Xbox One purchases were from established franchises like Assassin's Creed which I had played either on PC or a past gen console. Whereas I'm very leery about buying a brand new game.
A successful reboot can also have other beneficial consequences. Take MMO games. Usually as the title ages, the online community deteriorates. This is what I meant by missing the initial wave. If successful, such a re-launch could create a second wave which helps even out the mass imbalance in such worlds that develops over time.
And, if a reboot results in new content exclusive to the new platforms, it could even trigger a 3rd wave of people who played the original and now want in on the new content.
Sure, these tactics could have been employed in the past. But, as the chasm in overall power between generations shrinks the expectations of what a next gen game needs to do go down as well. Not to mention, true next gen games take more time to make with each successive console iteration leaving fewer titles for legacy titles to compete with over the same historic periods. Which is why simply revamping the visual assets or increasing resolution and frame rate might be enough to reboot a franchise. And lastly, if nothing else, memberships like Xbox Live and PS+ need titles to gift to their loyal fans. Reboots, mediocre or otherwise are a great way to reward gamers investing in your eco-system.
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