Is the Gaming Industry Too Obsessed with Remakes? 5ch Weighs In: ‘Good Stuff Never Goes Out of Style’

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The story

A thread asking “Is it really okay for the gaming industry to shower remakes with hype while completely new titles get ignored?” went up on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry board (“Geha”), splitting opinion down the middle. Citing the FF7 Remake and the remakes of Trials of Mana and Romancing SaGa 2, some argued that “good games simply get recognized no matter the era,” while others—pointing to Dragon Quest as a cautionary tale—worried that “constantly catering to people who played the originals fails to bring in new fans and leads to a slow decline.” The debate widened further with claims that lengthening development cycles for mainline numbered entries are what’s really driving the reliance on remakes, plus comparisons to the music industry’s City Pop revival.

What people said

1AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:17
With anime, the remake announcement itself is the peak of the hype—once it actually airs, there's zero buzz left.
2AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:18
I feel like totally new, original titles deserve more of the spotlight than this.
64AnonymousNov 14, 2026 18:00
Re: #2
Guess it's just harder to pull off with a brand-new IP.
Off the top of my head, the only completely new title that really blew up and sold is basically just "Mecha Chameleon" (an online nickname fans use for one particular new release).
5AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:22
Same thing happens in music—City Pop is getting reappraised and all.
6AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:24
Re: #5
Getting some attention is fine, but
this is like a cover of an old song becoming the biggest hit of the year.
10AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:27
Re: #6
If the cover beats the original, what's the problem?
13AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:30
Re: #6
Domestically the #1 seller is the brand-new Tomodachi Collection anyway, and overseas GTA6 will probably win too.
9AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:27
Bought the FF7 Remake on sale and it was straight-up garbage.
Whoever's hyping this thing up can't actually like games.
11AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:27
Just shows how much the user base has aged.
It's full of middle-aged guys who've lost all motivation to try new games and just want to chew on stuff they already know 😅
Basically the same as those Dragon Quest uncles who get thrilled over and over by remakes of games they've already played.
14AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:30
Before the Switch 2 came out, it was all "FF7R is a god-tier remake lol"
"The Switch's specs are too weak to run the remake lol"
"Just make do with the old game lol"—nonstop trolling.
Already forgot about that?
17AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:32
Re: #14
And once it actually came out on Switch and sold well, they turned around with some shameless line like "guess you really wanted to play it after all that trash-talking."
16AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:31
Re: #10
Having a hit like that is totally fine, but
if it becomes the biggest hit of the year, you've got to wonder what the newest songs are even doing.
It'd be better if a new song influenced by older music topped the charts instead.
18AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:33
Re: #16
There can be years like that, no big deal.
A weak year for original songs happens all the time—it was practically normal 10 years ago.
21AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:36
Re: #18
That's exactly why Japanese pop music from around 10 years ago gets treated as a "dark age" by some people.
I'm pushing back against the attitude that treats that as just fine.
22AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:47
Re: #21
You're saying it's bad that remakes get showered with hype, but isn't the real problem that new titles are the ones having their spotlight stolen by remakes?
24AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:51
In anime, new shows massively outnumber remakes—remakes are more like a bonus extra—so they don't really grab my interest.
26AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:53
Re: #24
Same goes for games, really.
The difference is that in games, remakes get way more coverage.
Doing it once—"oh, that classic is back"—isn't bad, but remaking something two or three times makes me think, "just make something new instead."
28AnonymousNov 14, 2026 16:55
On the flip side, why shouldn't something get praised just because it's a remake?
Good stuff gets recognized no matter the era.
32AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:00
Re: #28
It's not bad for the thing itself to get praised.
But the people buying it skew toward older players who already experienced the original.
And Dragon Quest is a cautionary example: keep catering to those players forever while leaving new ones behind, and the franchise slowly withers.
Is wanting a fun new game over that really such a strange take? 🤔
34AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:03
Re: #32
Exactly this.
I don't mind remakes themselves, but separately—hurry up and put out a new game already.
35AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:04
Re: #32
So doesn't that mean remakes are only getting hyped because there's nothing like that out there?
Or maybe the whole premise that they're "getting hyped" is wrong to begin with.
36AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:10
If anything, I'd rather see a return to basics.
Same goes for FF Resonance—just focus on making the game actually fun to play.
38AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:13
Re: #36
Isn't that just leftovers from a mobile gacha game thrown together into something light?
I get that they're not treating the brand with much care, but…
99AnonymousNov 14, 2026 19:57
Re: #36
It's a careless mobile-gacha knockoff recycling Super Famicom-era graphics,
but the diehard fans defending it are way too much.
47AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:30
Re: #1
A lot of people act like this is just normal for the game industry, but
if the same thing happened in the anime or manga industry,
wouldn't you find it pretty pathetic?
49AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:32
Re: #47
I wonder why it ended up in such a pathetic state in the first place.
50AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:33
Push the numbered entries forward too fast and you end up with something like "64" or "2000," so remakes are the only way to stall for time.
54AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:40
Re: #50
Well, I get that development cycles have stretched out and remakes are the only way to paper over the gap, but
if that's the case, there are still plenty of titles that haven't been remade yet, you'd think.
Why go back to Ocarina of Time, which already got a remake on 3DS? Same with Star Fox—doesn't feel like Nintendo to keep recycling.
How many times are they gonna put it out?
51AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:37
Flip side—by the time we hit the "Genesis" era, Fire Emblem and Zelda will probably finally be at peace.
53AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:39
Re: #51
Geha folks really are like nomads, huh.
59AnonymousNov 14, 2026 17:48
Not just any remake gets a pass, you know.
Right, Square Enix?
74AnonymousNov 14, 2026 18:46
Re: #59
Square Enix's remakes are god-tier.
Trials of Mana and Romancing SaGa 2.
76AnonymousNov 14, 2026 18:56
Re: #74
I've only ever heard that opinion from diehard fans.
78AnonymousNov 14, 2026 19:02
Re: #74
Honestly, I've started looking down on anyone who brings up Romancing SaGa as having no taste.
88AnonymousNov 14, 2026 19:43
We're in an era where tons of new titles, including indies, are pouring out nonstop—the people going on about "remakes this, remakes that" are the ones actually obsessed with remakes.
98AnonymousNov 14, 2026 19:57
Re: #88
Exactly this.
If you're such a jaded old-timer that you don't need remakes at all, go find the niche, cutting-edge stuff yourself.
There's no way a big publisher selling to the mass market is going to fine-tune its lineup for picky eaters.
103AnonymousNov 14, 2026 20:02
Even if they release something new, if it doesn't pass muster with the same people trashing remakes, it just gets dismissed anyway—what a joke.

Background and Key Points of the Debate

The rise in game remakes ties into an industry-side reality: development cycles for major numbered entries have stretched longer, making remakes a convenient “stopgap” to fill the wait. As one thread comment put it, “push the numbering forward too fast and development drags on, so remakes are the only way to buy time”—a reminder that this isn’t purely nostalgia-driven demand but also reflects production costs and risk-avoidance logic that’s easy to overlook. At the same time, some pushed back on the very premise that “remakes are being showered with hype,” noting that the #1 domestic seller is the brand-new Tomodachi Collection title, with GTA6 the likely frontrunner overseas—suggesting buzz and actual sales don’t necessarily line up. The comparison to the music industry’s City Pop revival further reinforced the question of whether it’s fair to simply equate praise for nostalgic content with a slump in new releases.

*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware & Industry, “Geha”) thread “Is It Really Okay for the Gaming World to Shower Remakes With This Much Hype?.”

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