Research conducted by Ampere Analysis has revealed that consumers shell out twice as much on video game remakes than remastered titles over the past two years.
Remakes and remasters in the video games market throughout 2024 and 2025 brought in 72.4 million players across PC, PlayStation and Xbox formats, which resulted in $1.4 billion worth of spending on premium full titles and microtransactions. Furthermore, global spending on an average remake was more than twice that of the average remaster between January 2024 — September 2025, according to research conducted across 42 titles — 15 remakes and 27 remasters.
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Ampere observed that remakes require “substantially higher investment” while on the flip side remasters offer a faster turnaround and cost less. On the other hand, remakes are able to give classic IP a shot in the arm and attract new consumers, while remastered often “deliver less engagement.”
Ampere Analysis’ Senior Analyst, Katie Hold, commented:
As games and IP development costs escalate, publishers are increasingly raiding their back catalogues for cost-effective remakes and remasters. Publishers deciding between a full remake versus a remaster have to balance franchise planning, investment risk, age of content, platform support, and more when choosing which route to take.
This year alone has seen a number of remakes and remasters, including Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
[Source – Ampere Analysis via VGC]