Game re-releases today are rampant, and quickly growing. It seems every time I look, there’s some game re-release coming out, either digital or disc form, it doesn’t matter. Nintendo started the motion with downloadable classics on the Nintendo Wii, and Sony followed suit with digital copies of old games, and even the game collections we see of old series all bundled into one disc. Even Microsoft has gotten into the game.

Then not only do you have re-releases of pre-gen games, but it’s not uncommon to see a game come out, have a few DLC add-ons, and then a few months later the “Special Edition” comes out, with the original game, ALL the DLC, and even sometimes some extra content for a reduced price. With so many re-releases coming out, the general opinion on them is quite mixed. Some angry, and some pleased. Here’s my thoughts.

I’m also somewhat split on the matter. On one hand, if I never had the opportunity to play the game that is getting re-released, a game re-release makes me extremely happy. Most older games go out of print and their prices sky rocket, but oh, here I can buy a digital copy of the game for just $8. Games I never had a chance to play in my life, I am given a second opportunity to enjoy their greatness, sometimes even with a few cool additions or tweaks to make gameplay better. (better controls, new areas or story, upscaled graphics or improved audio quality)

Even the special editions of games make me giddy when I haven’t played them before. You mean I can get Fallout 3 with all 5 DLC for just $40?! That’s a $70 savings, holy shit! It feels good to pick up the special edition of a game so you can achieve everything possible in the game, all while saving a good dollar or two as well.

On the other hand though, what if I already own the game that is being re-released, or faithfully paid full price for all the DLC that has come out for a game? My reaction then turns into the exact opposite, and I AM PISSED.

Here I spent $50 EACH for three games ps2 games, and now I can buy them for $20 on ONE disc for my ps3? Here I spent $60+$50 on borderlands and all it’s 5 DLCs, but you re-release a game of the year edition a year later for $20 with all of that? Classic games that I either owned from the get-go or paid lavish amounts of money to acquire from eBay are now $5 or $10 on the digital game store? It’s frustrating!! In fact, I find myself often preferring to wait for a game re-release to come out, instead of getting the game out of the gates. I mean, if I knew I could save $60+ dollars on a game and all it’s DLC for waiting 9 months, I have enough of a backlog, I don’t really mind.

So here I am, split on the subject of the game re-release, but there is one thing I haven’t mentioned yet that turns the tides, and that is “How do game re-releases benefit the game developer?”

And with this question, it’s hard to be angry at game re-releases simply because in most cases, they are helping the game developers. Here is a product that cost very little to produce, but yet has potential to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, maybe even millions. It’s basically free money, and for a game industry that is not flowing freely with rivers of money, this is a great thing. Therefore, I can’t help but admit game re-releases are actually a very good thing for the game industry and it’s players.

But what about all my feelings of anger and sadness when I already faithfully bought all your games and DLC and now you slap me in the face by offering all of that with new additions and improved graphics for a quarter of the price, maybe even less!? You’re telling me you want another $20 or $40 of my money after I already invested so much into the very same games? Not exactly. I won’t end this blog without addressing that the game re-release needs to appease these long time and loyal fans that have paid full price for the game. I do think that re-releases are good for the industry as a whole, but they can hurt gamers who have been loyal throwing money at you.

So what can be done? A few things honestly. To start, let’s level out prices on the digital and retail stores. I recently bought the Fallout New Vegas ultimate edition for $20. I own the original Fallout New Vegas and one DLC, I paid $70 for that. However, here’s the ultimate edition with the three other DLC’s I need yet, but for $10 less then buying them digitally. It was a no brainer. But that’s not my point. Why is all the DLC in the digital store still full price, when it is being offered almost “complimentary” with the special edition? Reduce prices of add-ons in the stores so that players who already own your game can feel rewarded as well if they don’t want to re-buy a special edition and only pick up some extra add-ons.

Secondly, I think gamers should be rewarded somehow if they own the old versions of you games. Maybe free un-lockable goodies if you enter a code from your old games. I also think game developers should continue to add on to game re-releases, by adding new missions, story elements, and people and places. Fix more bugs, add more features, make the controls better. Incentives like these are often enough fluff to convince both your loyal customers and those that have never played the game to pick it up, and the ones that own the original already won’t feel bad since they are getting lot’s of new content. A good example of this was the persona 3 remake on PSP. I played the PS2 and PSP versions, and the PSP one was great. New story elements, a new character, improved controls and game mechanics, and less frustrating battle system, among several other additions and tweaks. This is how game re-releases ought to be.

So I encourage game developers to keep re-releasing old games, but do keep in your mind your loyal fans and customers. You got to cater to them too, making buying another copy of the same game a fresh and exciting experience, and just not offer something like “HD graphics!!!”. While I myself am upset at times about game re-releases that I paid full price for, I can’t help but say that game re-releases are a good thing, and it excites me that so many gamers get to have the opportunity to play older classics that they might have never had a chance to experience at all.

So that’s it for this blog. Let me know your thoughts and comments, thank you for reading!