Major AAA publishers are leaning too heavily on remasters, remakes, and safe nostalgia projects while new original intellectual properties are pushed aside.
That choice may make short-term financial sense, but it is hurting the industry’s creative future. Players are being asked to pay premium next-gen prices for games they have already experienced in another form, while some of the most talented developers are spending years polishing old material instead of building the next generation of iconic franchises.
This is especially frustrating for people who invest in modern hardware because that hardware should be used for experiences that feel genuinely new. When the biggest publishers keep funneling money into recycled content, we lose the chance to see fresh mechanics, original worlds, and ambitious storytelling that can only come from new IP.
The executives, board members, and lead directors at Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and other major AAA publishers should change course now, while multi-year budgets and roadmaps are still being set. They should commit a meaningful share of development funding to original IP, not just safe revivals of older hits.
The solution is not to eliminate remasters entirely. It is to restore balance. Remasters can have a place, but they should no longer crowd out the studios’ most important creative work or dominate the release pipeline at the expense of new ideas.
We are asking these decision-makers to publicly prioritize original AAA development in their upcoming budget and roadmap decisions, and to direct more of their largest teams toward new franchises instead of endless remasters and sequels based only on nostalgia. If the industry keeps choosing the safest path, players will keep getting the same experiences repackaged at a higher price, and gaming will continue to fall short of its own potential.