They say that when you throw everything at the proverbial wall, something is bound to stick eventually. It seems like this is the sort of approach that Sony has had lately, sometimes leading to mixed results. Then again, when you’re responsible for making the best-selling game console of this generation with a massive lead over your next competition, your leeway for making mistakes is larger compared to others.
For example, Sony seems intent on trying whatever lately. Last year, Sony released the PlayStation Portal, which has been a surprising success so far. Then, it priced the PlayStation 5 Pro so high only for critics who said that it might not perform as well as expected to backtrack and say that it holds more value than most would have you believing. There’s also Astro Bot, the brand’s most significant release arguably this generation and a leading Game of the Year candidate, but nobody would’ve expected this game to do as well as it’s doing.
Of course, this approach has resulted in a couple of duds. Case in point, Concord, a monumental failure that put Sony’s already thinning live service plans on thinner ice with Fairgame$ and Marathon already expected to fair just as badly. The verdict is still out on whatever else Sony has planned for the rest of the year as PlayStation’s year-long 30th-anniversary celebration continues, but we’re pretty sure an upcoming pair of remasters that run completely fine on modern hardware, including the PlayStation 5, is something that not even the biggest Sony fans asked for.
Ahead of a rumored State of Play showcase next week, just days before the start of the Tokyo Game Show on September 26, rumors are floating that Sony will use this time to announce the remasters of Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn, which came out in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone run completely fine on modern hardware. In fact, both support 60 frames per second at 4K resolution on the PS5, which begs the question, who’s asking for the remasters?
The way that we see it, Sony saw these two games as the only low-risk option for a pair of completely unnecesary remasters of games that look perfect as they are right now. If they flop, then there’s really no harm done. The Horizon franchise suffered a worse situation before—remember that time that Horizon Forbidden West came to PlayStation Plus because Sony wanted to see if it would affect sales and it did? On the other hand, what’s the worst that can happen with Days Gone? If anything, fans would love to see a Days Gone remastered if only so they’d find out how its former creative director would react after he called fans out for not supporting the game enough to get a sequel.
Make no mistake, as there will be backlash when Sony announces these remaster if only to beef up its lineup of PS5 Pro Enhanced titles. But that’s happens when your competition is too busy not competing with you.
This scenario is also emblematic of an going problem with the video game industry. As video game budgets balloon and development times grow absurdly long, it’s a lot harder for console manufacturers like Sony to make profit every year. The trend of smaller games with shorter cycles is great and all, but they still cost money. You can’t blame Sony for wanting to see just how much more they could squeeze out of their existing titles with minimal effort.
Between these remasters and PC ports, which Sony’s co-CEO doesn’t see as a threat, the Japanese gaming giant might see enough financial incentive to risk flirting with controversy.
Besides, it seems like Sony already got ahead of the expected hate by announcing a 30th-anniversary collection of bundles, guaranteeing its numbers this holiday season.
While 2024 is a significant year for Sony in terms of milestone, 2025 is set to be even bigger for the brand. Grand Theft Auto 6 is set for a late 2025 release and it will be part of the reason why PS5 Pro will sell well. Sony also has a slate of upcoming titles that will be confirmed and/or released sometime next year.
With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle coming to the PS5 next year ahead of a bunch of other first-party Xbox exclusives, which should look best on the PS5 Pro, and other expected or surprise announcements, it doesn’t feel like Sony’s dominance will end anytime soon.
