Unlike the PlayStation 3 generation, which benefited from a certain subset of consoles being totally backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 1 games, plus a plethora of “HD Collections,” bringing the likes of Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell and Ratchet & Clank forward, the PlayStation 5 is not only not backwards compatible with any of those consoles, but it’s also pretty weak in the classics department.
Sure you can play the entire Jak and Daxter trilogy, along with Sly Cooper escapades, as well as a few odds and ends like the original Lego Star Wars or classic Tekken games, but so many of the best titles from throughout PlayStation’s storied history are simply non-existent.
How Have We Gone 13 Years Without A Ratchet & Clank Collection?
The last compilation launched back in the PS3 era.
The addition of the PlayStation Classics catalog via PlayStation Plus had given fans some hope to see those games brought forward, and while there’s been some standouts, it’s still severely lacking. It turns out that money might be the reason separating players from these beloved titles.
Cash Rules Everything, Including, Seemingly, What Titles You Have Access To
As first spotted by Push Square, Implicit Conversions CEO Bill Litshauer, in an interview with YouTuber Mystic, shared that so much of what becomes available, beyond the technical limitations, comes down to “financial viability.” Because publishers are essentially risk-adverse as it is, adding slight risk, even if it’s from a “beloved” title, sometimes crosses the boundary into no-go territory.
In one such example from Litshauer, he shared that a publisher passed on a title that would sell maybe 100,000 units at $6 a piece when the company is making so much more money. “Why would we bother?” Litshauer recalled the person saying. In other words, the amount of money that can be generated, as little as it is, isn’t worth the trouble.
The upfront cost to consumers is also another factor, as Litshauer noted that so many classic titles rarely retail for more than $9.99, and are often on sale for a fraction of that, eating up into profits that still have to be recouped to account for making the game playable on modern hardware.
I know I’m not alone in waiting for whatever PlayStation Plus Classic that I’m interested in to go on sale. $9.99 is a fine price, but with some games lacking basic things like Trophy support, I’d just rather wait.
It’s all created a rather unfortunate situation, where, besides having to contend with licensing issues, revenue splits and how to even get a game running on modern hardware, these groups also are considering whether they’re actually going to get a significant enough return to make everything worth it.
While it’s understandable why we haven’t seen something like Viewtiful Joe hasn’t been on modern hardware, I still find it hard to believe that there is no money in porting Ratchet & Clank, a beloved PlayStation IP that likely won’t see a new release for several more years, or even SOCOM as a means of testing out whether the franchise has legs for a future revival.
- Brand
-
Sony
- Original Release Date
-
November 12, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
-
$499, €499, £449, ¥49,980 (Base) // $399, €399, £359, ¥39,980 (Digital),
- Operating System
-
Orbis OS
- Processor
-
Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2
- Resolution
-
720p – 8K
Kirby Air Riders Has ‘Cult Classic’ Written All Over Its Adorable Pink Body
Masahiro Sakurai’s passion project is nothing like Mario Kart World, and that’s a very good thing.
