The Last of Us Part 1 Feels Like a Blatant Money Grab

It's hard not to feel like Sony's PlayStation 5 and PC remake of The Last of Us is anything more than a cash grab.

[lelo2play]

The Last of Us Part 1 doesn't feel like a blatant money grab.
The Last of Us Part 1 is a blatant money grab.

[SullysCigar]

The unimaginable outrage!!

Or just don't buy it. Same people here, flogging a dead horse.

[BlackTar187]

Would be nice if they instead of releasing it a third time they could i dunno give us factions 2 instead of making us wait 2 years just to say here is some concept art be back in another year. Also by the way we've been so busy that we've only found enough time to repackage tlou1 again.

[RedDevils]

Factions 2 is a whole game by it self is what Naughty said on the show.

[DankSinatra]

I like that you guys shot in Nintendo for this but the minute Sony does it “just don’t buy it!”

[lio_convoy]

Sounds interesting. Tell me more.

[CaptainHenry916]

Agreed

[refocusedman]

lol uhhhhh money grab??? mario kart 8 and zelda Botw want to say hello.

[Sitdown]

"You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means" Inigo Montoya

[brewin]

BotW was released at the same time on 2 consoles. MK 8 Deluxe is a rerelease with all the DLC added. Not nearly the same thing. Troll harder

[cliveo32]

ill wait for the ps6 version the super duper remaster of the remaster

[RaidenBlack]

Just curious. The Last of Us II was a PS4 game. All the footage that's available is from the base PS4 and the slightly higher res PS4 Pro variant. The PS5 version runs the PS4 version via back compat (patch 1.08).
The TLOU 1 Remake footage they've shown till now looks good but still not at the level of TLOU II.
Kinda like the TLOU Remake is running at 90% of the TLOU II graphics.
The graphics' not equal and definitely not better than Part II.
So how come this TLOU 1 Remake is only on PS5 and not on PS4?
The PS4 shoulde be able to run the Remake @ 30fps
Just because the Remastered version already exists on PS4? And its got the multiplayer? And the Remake doesn't?

[Obscure_Observer]

"Kinda like the TLOU Remake is running at 90% of the TLOU II graphics."

That´s because ND is using their old (slighty updated) PS3 engine.

[TripleAAARating]

@RaidenBlack
"Kinda like the TLOU Remake is running at 90% of the TLOU II graphics."

LOL Wtf?
What are you even talking about exactly? Have you played it yet?... Speculating off a 1:30 min trailer lol.....Druckman himself said there are aspects from Part 2 that are improved...It'll be running @ full 4K 60fps.

[brewin]

It's very weird that we're even having this debate. The remake is just something that shouldn't exist at all. Waste of resources.

[Demetrius]

Lmfao!! 😂

[CrimsonWing69]

*cough* Remake *cough*

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

I think it's a smart move for the franchise. While I thought part 2 was a very good game, there is no denying it was hated by a lot of people. So it's smart to capitalize off part 1 to the keep the franchise hot going into part 3. They obviously can't undo part 2 and bring Joel back but this is the next best thing.

[cliveo32]

I agree dude

[purple101]

Prehaps delete the spoiler

[BlackTar187]

Its been 2 years. Bruce willis was dead the whole time.

[The-Matrix-has-you]

If you haven’t played the game yet then that’s your fault. Most of us already got spoiled on that years ago.

[ABizzel1]

I doubt it has anything to do with that.

IMO this is more about having a consistent product on the market between Parts 1 and Parts 2 for when the HBO series releases next year in the hopes that more people will pick the game up who've never played it just like fans of the Witcher TV series did with The Witcher 3.

Part 2 was a native PS4 game and had huge improvements to gameplay and graphics, this is an attempt to remake the original game with the same improved graphics, "modernized gameplay", "improved controls", and having accessibility options like all their games have so more people can play it than before (people with disabilities).

$70 is a bit of a stretch IMO, but honestly just wait 2 month until Black Friday and the game will likely be $40 or less, and when the TV series comes out, viewers can buy both Part 1 and Part 2, and have consistent gameplay and graphics between both, instead of a higher resolution PS4 remaster of a PS3 game running on the PS5.

[brewin]

That's false narrative. They're marketing it to those who have already played it. Check the tagline:

Relive the beloved game that started it all, rebuilt for the PlayStation®5 console

It's like they're selling it to those who've already bought it 2x 🤦🤷

[ABizzel1]

Because you're taking that extremely literally. "Relive the beloved game that started it all, rebuilt for the PlayStation®5 console" is the tagline simply because it was a remake. Of course people are going to buy it a second time.

[refocusedman]

well said. I'm not sure why people think that they're supposed to limit the marketing campaign to just the people who haven't played the game.

[GoodGuy09]

Yessir.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I don’t agree with the pricing of Last of Us Part 1. It’s a remaster of a remaster. I believe this re-release should be priced at $40 USD. Additionally, I encourage Sony to at least allow owners of the PS4 version of the Last of Us to pay an upgrade fee.

PC games and Xbox [via BC enhancements] have allowed players to get free visual and performance upgrades for their titles. The PS5 is very compatible with the PS4. Porting from PS4 to PS5 is easy, so Sony doesn’t need to price it remasters so high. Nor do they need to paywall performance enhancements.

As an aside: I think gamers should be calling out Nintendo for their high-priced Switch “remasters”.

[outsider1624]

40$ is actually a good price if im getting this day 1. But did you check...the collectors edition already sold out..man..

[brewin]

Bots. That's all. Check how many already listed on eBay with inflated prices.

[derek]

Brewin grow up. Did this remake personally assault you? Were you forced to buy it. You're up and down all these stories about the game whining about it when clearly you don't care for the franchise at all, or have any intention to buy it. Now you checking eBay? What a weird obsession you have about this game.

[Good-Smurf]

You can thank Nintendo for that, they got away with full priced barely remastered game like MK8 Deluxe.
They only enabling each other see if they can get away with their audience as well it won't be nearly as smooth for Sony that's for sure.

[brewin]

Let's be honest, that is a much different scenario. Wii U didn't still for crap. 95% of people who bought those ports for the Switch never bought the originals. That not the case with this. Still crappy there was no Path to upgrade for Wii U owners though. I just didn't buy the ports of games I already owned on Wii U.

[rocky047586]

It's not a remaster. It's a remake. Do you know the difference? Remasters are just upgraded visuals on the same game. This remake was made entirely from the ground up as if it were a brand new game. It uses the same mo-cap performances as the first, which is why it will be releasing after just 3 years in development.

[CrimsonWing69]

It kills me to this day that people still get Remakes and Remasters confused. The trailer can even say Remake and people still call it a Remaster.

[andy85]

They're calling it a remaster because that's what it looks like. Some of the screenshots actually look worse graphically than the old version. For a PS5 only remake you imagine a drastic improvement and itd look better than TLOU2 and it doesn't. Sure, the gameplay I imagine is going to be a lot different and that'll be where the remake comes into play.

[rocky047586]

@Andy85, wth are you talking about? There's nothing that looks worse in the remake than the first game or remaster from 2014. Let's not make things up here. Some people may not like the art direction, but there's nothing visually inferior to the original in this remake, objectively speaking.

[andy85]

There certainly is. https://youtu.be/6KPU_-3LkQ...

Look at the hair and clothes on Ellie. They are FAR more defined. People are just seeing an new face model and getting blindsided. Look at the detail. And Joel too..the clothes are just a smooth block but on the remastered version you actually see the stitching and design. Like I said it's gonna be a world of different actually playing it but a lot of the screenshots don't do it justice.

[andy85]

Look at the difference between Demons Souls PS3 to PS5 and this. That's a monumental difference and you believe the words "from the ground up". This isn't anywhere in that scale.

[VerminSC]

People love speaking out their ass on this site. It’s a remake.. completely different. No one bitched about demon souls remake price

[Doge]

To be fair, Demon's Souls was stuck on the PS3 with no other way to play it (and servers shutting down).

The Last of Us Remastered is already available for PS5 owners via the PS+ Collection.

[brewin]

Yes we did. It was lame then and it's lame now.

[RedDevils]

I bought for like $30 on Amazon awhile ago lol

[Bathory666]

Agree it should be 40 or upgrade offered. I’d happily pay a upgrade fee but not 70. That’s insane.

[RedDevils]

It could be on PS+ extra.

[Ryuk_2007]

When the last of us 2 looks better than the remake you're building specifically for the ps5... you know that's a cash grab.

[EvertonFC]

Do we need 20 articles on this ? We get it.
Buy it or move on, nobody is forcing you and this is a great opportunity with the release of TV series to bring some non gamers over too playstation and also a great opportunity for the various other scenarios like maybe they were not old enough or new to gaming.
You can tell who just thinks of themselves on here, selfish, one minded fannies.
It's all me, me, me on here. I bet going through most people trophies on here they don't even play half the games and if they do they don't complete them?

[SullysCigar]

You're right, dead horse topic. The irony of a website calling out a cash grab, while cashing in on the 'outrage'... I've noticed this kind of thing is left to fly at the weekends. How odd.

[CS7]

A company that does blatant cash grabs would do it again in a product that you care about.

Sony has been doing some really greedy stuff this gen then trying to reverse it quickly when there is outrage.

Keep condoning it and eventually Sony reaches the level of Activision and EA where money is the only concern.

[Good-Smurf]

At least they listened while Nintendo got away with this selling everything overpriced all the time.

[derek]

These articles always pop up because xbox fans are the most miserable fans in gaming, and they're attracted to any negative thing Sony related. They have nothing happening on their system so they spend all their time whining about what playstation is doing. You got Brewin admitting that he's checking if the remake is being sold on ebay? Lol. Guy hates that this game exists yet take time to track where it's being sold.

[TiredGamer]

At the end of the day, it’s only a cash grab if people buy it. Agree or not, the movie industry re-releases movies on newer formats at full price (or more), and rarely do they include going back to the source material and remastering the assets and content. For an important franchise like TLOU, I can see the thought process to doing this…. Refreshing the content for newer audiences to stay relevant and coincide with the TV show and upcoming sequels/spin-offs.

If the price is too high but you’re still interested in it, just wait for a sale a few months down the line. If it doesn’t interest you at all, don’t buy it. In the end, Sony is offering this as an option that can benefit it (increased revenue) and that may have value for long time or new fans.

Be happy that you have a choice and the option of fresh content for a beloved franchise. The alternative isn’t better.

[EvertonFC]

Exactly

[GJC1]

Isn’t that the point of developing games, to make money. If you don’t want to play it again, then don’t buy it.

[Espangerish]

Studio produces game to make money is a bad thing now? Don’t want it don’t buy it. Simple.

[isarai]

While agree $70 is probably too high, it's made with entirely new assets and character models, updated AI, and entirely reworked gameplay/mechanics, plus "added story and exploration" whatever that means. Everyone is acting like this is a simple remaster, it's far from it.

[kayoss]

Many people on here dont understand the meaning of "optional". No one is making you buy this game. this game is targeted for people who never played this game before or for people who wants to replay with better graphics. ND nor Sony is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to buy this game.

[Bigman4k]

You Sony fans are just like Eminem's stans meaning both can do no wrong

[outsider1624]

Well he's right isn't he. Do you like the price point? You don't? Dont buy it. Those that do..well, it's their money and they can do whatever they want with it.
I find the price is just too high especially for a game I've played. Yep it's got a huge makeover. But I'll wait and eventually buy it.

Ever hear about Vote with your wallet? Apparently that doesn't work 90% of the time. CoD, Fifa, Gta etc. all keep topping the charts.

[Bigman4k]

@Outsider1624 As they would say on happy Days Sit On It

[roboteye]

Do they think video games are a charity?

[VerminSC]

Yet the the master chief collection, FFVII remake, resident evils, demon souls remake, shadow of a colossus, Spyro etc aren’t?! Nobody bitched when the uncharted collection was released as a remaster, yet people have issues with a remade game that is a decade old?

What is up with TLOU hate these days? If you don’t want a remake, don’t buy it! Personally I think it’s fine considering it’s 2 parts of 1 larger story and they want the graphics and gameplay to match for a more cohesive experience.

People comparing it to Skyrim and GTV are just ridiculous. Those games were remastered on every conceivable platform with a resolution bump… not remade from the ground up with improved gameplay.

[ChubbyBlade]

The games you mentioned aren’t being re released at full price every single generation like this is. Except Skyrim and GTAV. That’s why.

Master chief collection was a collection of titles that no longer had online functionality and only 1 title had a remaster 6 years before MCC released and the other getting one after a decade. These are not comparable.

If you think the remaster is “made from the ground up” you’ve bought fully into the false advertising. If that really was true, it would look better than TLOU2 and it looks like the first one with swapped models and resolution bump.

[Chocoburger]

I agree, ChubbyBlade, VerminSC is completely off the mark here. The generational jump between consoles has become smaller and smaller. The jump between PS1 / SAT / N64 and DC / PS2 / GCN / XBX was massive, and doing a remake from the one gen to the next, lead to visuals that were so far and beyond what was previously possible.

MGS PS1 to GCN.
RE PS1 to GCN.

The visual gulf between those games were absolutely huge and that alone could justify remaking them. In case of MGS, the gameplay and story felt worse on GCN, but in the case of RE, the gameplay and story felt much improved.

The thing is, Last of Us looked great on PS3 (for that era), and still looks very good to this day on PS4. So the visual gulf is so minuscule that without context you could almost trick people into believing that the PS4 remaster was the new game coming out as opposed to the upcoming PS5 'full remake', which should be $50 USD and not $70 USD (with additional cash-grab digital junk tossed in for the deluxe edition).

The new graphics simply do not justify a new game, however the game mechanics will be enhanced and improved, which is the only thing that could justify its existence. That's something we have yet to see, and I believe once we do see the new gameplay in action, some people will lean more positive towards it. This is something they should have shown immediately to help stem some of the backlash.

[outsider1624]

"If you think the remaster is “made from the ground up” you’ve bought fully into the false advertising. If that really was true, it would look better than TLOU2 and it looks like the first one with swapped models and resolution bump."

The first remaster IS just a resolution bump and fps bump. This remake isn't just that. It is very much on (well almost) par with tlou2 graphics. But not 70$ ofcourse. How you cannot see the difference though is beyond me.

[SlothLordPootus]

I'm assuming they were developing it for PC and decided they might as well release on ps5 as well. That way PC wouldn't have a newer version than the console would. Though I also heard it started during development of Last of Us Part 2.

I can certainly tell you though that I won't be buying it. I already bought it twice. Once on PS3, once as an upgrade on PS4.

[FlintGREY]

It is, but nobody is forced to buy it. The older version can also be played on PS5

[Silly gameAr]

Based on whatever it was I just saw, TLOU remake looks like it's going to be one of the best old games out this year.

[Germaximus]

cuz it is

[GamingSinceForever]

Damn I didn’t know that Sony would be automatically docking my bank account $70. Thanks for the heads up.

[gangsta_red]

It definitely is a rip off. I remember the jokes being made of Sony remastering a remaster for every new console and now here we are with sony actually doing just that.

[Inverno]

Of course it is, but then again so are all remasters and remakes it's the point. Personally if this is how remasters are going to be done from now on then I'm all for it. I just don't agree with the 70 dollar price tag. Would like to see Uncharted 1, 2 and 3 bumped up to UR graphics and lighting

[Bigman4k]

Yeah that would be dope to see Uncharted 1,2,3, collection being remade using the same graphics as uncharted 4 for PS5

[XxINFERNUSxX]

$70.00 on PC, no way. If it was about $39.99 then yes. If not it won't be a cash grab for me, I will grab it for free in a few weeks. I don't have to say where :)

[ChubbyBlade]

It’s funny how it’s only Skyrim that gets mocked for doing this

[chicken_in_the_corn]

That's because it is. It's capitalizing on the last decade of remake/remaster begging and opposition to new games.

[darkrider]

Dead horse subject

[pietro1212]

Duh

[Bathory666]

No upgrade path? I think it’s fair to prior owners of remastered to pay 10-20 for upgrade. Not offering even that really is a big F.U. To all the players.

[refocusedman]

why would they do an upgrade path when the game was included in the psplus collection. they might as well have charged 10 or 20 for the game itself if that were the case.

[CrimsonWing69]

Not really.

I love how people can’t get over the fact that many people haven’t played this game or are just getting to the point where they’ve discovered this. I never saw such bull sh*t articles and responses when Shadow of the Colossus had a 1:1 Remake.

Hey, here’s a concept that works; don’t buy it! It’s not for you and not every game made is for you.

Get over it.

[strifeblade]

Everyone played it especially on n4g. What a waste.

[CrimsonWing69]

LMFAO

[strifeblade]

I guess that was kinda funny😂
But seriously though everyone kinda did play it over the 2 iterations.

It sold almost 20 million copies for ps3 and ps4. Like come on man you played it. Don't lie. And that is just physical sales, imagine with digital😂. The remake sony wanted but no body needed😂

[GrimyShoot9r]

I haven't played it since the original release so I'm happy to buy it again

[lellkay]

Big disagree.

[philm87]

They weren't planning to do it, but didn't have anything else for one of their teams to do. It makes massive sense with the TV series coming out, also the fact they're bringing lots of their games to PC (which I think is amazing that more people get to experience these amazing stories and adventures), and the release of their online multiplayer is coming out somewhen in the near future.
If you don't want to buy it then don't, simple as that. I can't help feeling the people complaining about it are the ones who want it, but want it completely free.

[Kaozz1979]

All remake/remasters are a money grab.

[Taero]

It just feels like they're looking for free money, is there anything in it mechanically that couldn't have been done on the previous console? As good as dualsense is (and I do love it) I don't really see it as being the driver of a remake if that's all it is. It was a pretty game to begin with so I don't know if just making it prettier is going to cut it. I think that's why it feels cash grabby, just to look a bit better and be a bit smoother :/ Seems like years that could have been better spent on literally anything else.

[Flewid638]

I bought Shadow of the Colossus 3 times. Let people enjoy things.

[SoloGamer1]

GTA V anyone? how many variations has THAT game had?

[HansyJ]

Cause it is

[babadivad]

Because it is...

[mastershredder]

Straight up over the top money grab IS in fact a money grab.
A cool and Druckmannless ND would have announced this for 19 maybe 29.
No one asked for this port, this is all on their own. There is a level of pricing entitlement that is pretty disgusting this time around. Not very ND like.