Video game remakes and remasters have attracted impressive player numbers and generated substantial consumer spending, research shows, although full-on remakes may have a slight edge.
Research firm Ampere Analysis tracked data from January 2024 to September 2025, looking at 42 re-releases (specifically, 15 remakes and 27 remasters). These releases accumulated 72.4 million players across Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam, with consumers spending $1.4 billion from purchasing these games and related in-game monetisation.
Overall, the average remake produced 2.2 times the amount of consumer spending as remasters did during that time frame. For instance, while the Gears of War: Reloaded remaster had a similar peak monthly active user count as the Silent Hill 2 remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the latter two titles far surpassed Gears of War in consumer spending.
The one outlier is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which peaked at $180 million in consumer spending and pulled in 7 million monthly active users, far and above every other remaster and remake included in the study.
The data goes to show the power of a popular IP like The Elder Scrolls, even though overall, remakes resulted in higher consumer spending and player engagement. This research also highlights the differences between remasters and remakes, both of which are prevalent strategies employed by major game publishers.
While remakes might yield greater returns and player counts, they are more costly and take longer to develop, as they are built from the ground up. A benefit of remakes is that core gameplay can be completely refigured to be up-to-date with modern sensibilities. Remasters, on the other hand, are typically fresh coats of paint on existing assets and systems, requiring less time and fewer resources; however, outdated gameplay design may still be evident.
A separate report in September showed that the vast majority of people who play video games have engaged with remakes or remasters, with most of them not even playing the original version of the game.
It’s hard to throw a dart at a release schedule and not hit a re-release, with just this year’s schedule including remakes of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the first two Dragon Quest games, along with remasters of Donkey Kong Country Returns and several Tomb Raider games.
This study from Ampere Analytics has some interesting data to chew on–it’ll be interesting to see where the upcoming remakes of the Halo: Combat Evolved campaign and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time would fall on that graphic.
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