According to research by IDG Consulting and Strategic Game Consulting, the best time to remake a game is when the original game is between 11 and 20 years old. This data comes from Virtuous White Paper which analyzed the opportunities and challenges related to remasters and remakes, covering more than 200 remakes and remasters published since 2012 and their sales. When it comes to remakes, games originally released 11 to 15 years ago performed best, while games released 16 to 20 years ago followed closely behind.
Research shows that of the remakes released between 11 and 15 years after the initial release, 70% of them sold more than two million copies. This percentage increases to 80% for games based on titles older than 16 to 20 years. In contrast, only 32% of 21 to 25-year-old game remakes reached two million copies.
The report points out that remakes succeed when key hardware and software developments are used to significantly upgrade and address the original games' shortcomings. Historically, developers were more likely to choose remakes of games older than a decade, while only 4% of remakes in the dataset have a time gap of 0-5 years between the original and the remake.
As for remakes released less than ten years after release, only two have surpassed two million copies, namely 2022's The Last of Us Part 1 and 2016's Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir.
The recommendations are as follows: “When choosing to remake a game that is less than a decade old, developers should carefully consider whether their remake is sufficiently improved to justify the game's full purchase price and provide additional value to players. They should take into account factors such as the preservation of the original game in today's context, the relevance of the genre, the competition in the market and the technological innovations available."
The data analysis also looked at remasters and found that most successful remasters hit the market within five years of their original release. This is often the result of remasters that coincide with the arrival of a new generation of consoles, allowing developers to improve the visual experience of relatively new games. This trend is particularly visible with the move to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, where remasters of games such as Grand Theft Auto 5 and The Last of Us have achieved significant sales.
The report points out that most of these remasters were released in 2014, coinciding with the arrival of a new generation of consoles, which increased their availability and coverage, while the original titles remained relevant in the market. In addition, the analysis showed that during this hardware refresh cycle, remasters of newer games were on average more successful than remasters of older games, as the gameplay ported to older remasters was often surpassed by more modern titles.
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