The games industry is still in its infancy compared to older, traditional forms of entertainment like movies and TV, so witnessing new and innovative marketing and release strategies is commonplace. Microsoft is currently making waves with its Xbox Game Pass, while others are dipping their toes into the microtransactions model of free-to-play experiences.
A new trend that has started to gain traction is the Director's Cut. Much like how it works for movies and TV, the Director's Cut symbolizes the original vision for the game that the director has. As witnessed by previous releases, the Director's Cut usually adds some new content on top of the original release, with a few graphical bells and whistles for good measure.
Sony and The Director's Cut Trend
Sony seems to be going all-in on making Director's Cuts for some of its biggest last-gen titles. Hideo Kojima announced Death Stranding: Director's Cut during Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest 2021 kickoff livestream. This version of Death Stranding seems to be exclusive to PS5, unlike the base version which received a PC port sometime after its initial release. More recently, Sony unveiled Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut, which includes the Iki Island expansion.
Both of these games add some new content, as Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut includes a whole new campaign while Death Stranding speculatively includes cut content from the original release. The announcement trailer for the latter teases something Metal Gear-related, but details remain sparse in classic Kojima fashion. In addition to the added content, there are some improvements to visuals, framerates, and haptics, as both are optimized for next-gen devices. It's not just Sony that seems to be starting this trend, as many games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mafia 2 have received similar releases before now, just to name a few.
That being said, the relatively short gap between releases and the stature that Sony enjoys within the industry would seem to indicate that if such a trend continues, the Japanese giant will be one of its driving forces. It still remains to be seen how different these versions are from their original releases, particularly with Death Stranding, but the trend does provide an interesting insight into what it could mean for the industry moving forward.
The Pros and Cons of Director's Cuts
The Director's Cut of a game could be the best version, doubling down on some of the mechanics and content that might have been cut due to time or budget restraints. There's also the fact these developers get a lot of feedback from the community post-release, which can be incorporated into a Director's Cut to curate the experience in a manner that fans would enjoy it the most. This could be particularly monumental for games that had a mixed reception like Death Stranding. While many previous re-releases don't instill much confidence, a case could be made for how these cuts are probably a better form of re-release than GOTY editions or full-priced remasters.
That being said, there's also a bunch of potential downsides that crop up with the Director's Cut idea. Many fans are already upset at Sucker Punch for Ghost of Tsushima's Director's Cut being priced at $70 on PS4 as well. On the other hand, there seems to be no way to upgrade to Death Stranding: Director's Cut from the PS4, or access the added content on the old-gen machine or its PC release. Given both of these titles are last-gen, gating out consumers on other platforms for what is essentially the same game, or charging extraneous prices for re-releases doesn't seem fair, and has come under scrutiny by many fans.
While the practice can seem predatory now for good reasons, as this is a win-win situation for Sony (the publisher) and developing studios. Both the games in question are valuable IPs with big fanbases, many of whom would buy into these possibly over-priced re-releases without much thought. Even if some fans do scrutinize the developers for such practices, it doesn't matter much as they would have most likely recouped development costs with the original release itself.
As mentioned before, it remains to be seen how these editions of the games will turn out to be, but there's definitely room for improvement in the form of inclusion of more consumer-friendly practices. Given how important the role of a creative director has become, especially in the AAA space, the Director's Cut could evolve into a bigger trend moving forward. Hopefully, it adds a lot more value to the games fans love without coming off as predatory.