With so many titles being remastered for the new generation of consoles (this year alone has seen Resident Evil, God of War 3, DmC Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 4, Tearaway, Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel, Dark Souls 2, and Final Fantasy X and X-2, just to name a few) MCV UK sat down with Antoine Molant, Capcom Marketing Director for EMEA.
Asked to talk about the number of remasters on the market, Molant said:
Given the sheer power of the new hardware, developers and publishers now have opportunities to really create remastered titles that actually make a big difference versus last-gen.
While there is a fine balance to strike between new games and remastered titles, we’ve seen increased demand and a very positive reception.
Resident Evil was the biggest of Capcom’s remasters this year, selling more than 1 million copies in its first three months on the market. Looking ahead, they have a remaster of Resident Evil 0 in early 2016, with Resident Evil 2 to follow.
While some remasters have been disappointments, Molant says Capcom makes sure of two things when picking their titles: “real technological improvements, improved visuals, sound, frame rate and so on, plus added extras and/or all the previously available DLC packed in the offer. Add to this a very reasonable price point and you have a good formula for everyone.”
Additionally, Capcom’s main criteria for remastering an older title are: “how the original was received and whether the fans want to play it again.” In the case of Resident Evil, that re-release helped get people interested in Resident Evil: Revelations 2, which launched shortly after.
Looking at remasters as a whole, Molant says, “Exhaustion will come if games which consumers haven’t asked for keep coming on a regular basis. But I don’t think we have reached that point and I’m not sure we will.”
Believing that the remaster market is stable or decreasing slightly, he adds, “As long as publishers choose their remastered projects carefully and produce them with excellent quality in mind, it will keep on being a great offer for players. Given the amount of amazing old games out there, the pool is unlikely to go dry for a while.”
With Xbox One backwards compatibility coming in November, and PlayStation Now adding more games every month, do you think we’ll continue to see remasters at such a rapid pace?
[Source: MCV UK]
