Remastering a game can be a delicate line for a studio to walk, as changing too many things can make the game feel unfaithful to its source material. At the same time, changing too little can highlight a lot of the problems with a classic title that are forgotten about when looking at them with rose-colored glasses. The games industry is currently in full swing when it comes to remastering older titles, but one thing typically gets left out when bringing a classic game to modern consoles: multiplayer modes.
As the remastered version of Uncharted 4 gets closer to release, Naughty Dog has announced plenty of details about what differences it will have to the original, and a major omission is the PvP multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common trend in remastered titles and, while it does make some sense that studios wouldn't want to devote the resources necessary to maintaining servers for a multiplayer mode that might not ever see the heights of success that it once did, studios should still highly consider keeping multiplayer modes for remasters.
Remastered Multiplayer Modes Deserve a Chance
The very concept of remastering a game is based on allowing players to experience a title as they once did when the game was first released. Obviously, with story-driven games such as Uncharted 4 or Mass Effect 3, the multiplayer wasn't necessarily the main attraction, but it was still a major part of the experience for some people and should be kept in simply based on the fact that it was a part of the original release. Additionally, while those multiplayer modes might not have the highest concurrent player counts so many years after the games' releases, there are still likely communities based around them that are getting a major cold shoulder from the studios working on remasters.
This lack of attention for multiplayer modes isn't just relegated to narrative-driven experiences, unfortunately. Games that had significant multiplayer aspects to them are also having those options cut for the remasters like with the Crysis Remastered Trilogy, which doesn't feature competitive MP or campaign co-op. A move like this seems baffling to fans who spent countless hours playing the original games' multiplayer options and were looking forward to jumping back in with the remasters, especially since MP was so ingrained into the experience of an FPS like the Crysis trilogy.
As stated above, it does make sense why a studio would be hesitant to devote resources to supporting a multiplayer mode that might not get a lot of players, but removing that option completely guarantees that no one will be playing the MP. With how random the climate surrounding multiplayer popularity seems to be in the games industry, it's hard to know which games will have successful multiplayer options and which will flop. However, the chances of something seemingly completely random becoming a big hit is a lot more likely than it once was. This alone can serve as a potential motivation for studios to reconsider cutting their multiplayer aspects as they remaster their classic games.
While it's far easier said than done, one solution to this problem could be that a studio could support a remastered games' MP for a set amount of months following its release to see if there are enough active players to warrant keeping the servers up. The studio would need to be transparent about its plans so that players wouldn't be cut off completely out of the blue and also so that word could get out that, if someone wants to dip back into Mass Effect 3's multiplayer, they'll need to act fast or risk never getting the chance. No matter what approach is taken, though, memorable multiplayer content deserves to be remastered.
Uncharted 4 is available now for PS4 with a PS5 version set for release on January 28, 2022.