In recent years, PlayStation may have at some point entertained the idea of recreating some of its most beloved properties in new and modern iterations that would use current technology. This information comes through a former Sony employee who recently started talking a little about some of the secret work he did in his time at a PlayStation studio.
Talking to David Jaffe, the previous director of titles like God of War and Twisted metalMichael Mumbauer, former head of Sony San Diego Studio, talked a little about his role as a developer while he was there. Mumbauer’s main position at the beginning was to lead a visual arts group to support other Sony studios, but over time, that began to change.
Mumbauer explained that during Shawn Layden’s tenure as head of SIE Worldwide Studios, the sole boss was very interested in exploring remakes and remasters for current hardware. Mumbauer pointed specifically to Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy as an example of such a project that Layden seems to have helped the ball go. As this initiative gained more traction within Sony as a whole, Mumbauer explained that a new development team at Sony San Diego was then reunited to apparently continue this business.
“Remakes and remasters were the things I was looking for. That’s why the team of developers was built, “Mumbauer said in the conversation. “What I can tell you is that I was watching this because I thought it was useful to do something like a remake. God of War to today’s visual fidelity. Or, a remake of Uncharted 1 to today’s visual fidelity. “
It is worth noting that Mumbauer never said directly that his team at Sony San Diego Studio has started working correctly on a remake of any kind of PlayStation. Instead, he just noticed that it was something he was looking at a lot at one point. He’s also not sure if Mumbauer just used it God of War and Unexplored, undiscovered, unfamiliar as generalized examples of potential restorations or if they were properties he could have actively forgotten about recreation.
If this was once something that was sweating at Sony San Diego, it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Even though Mumbauer is no longer with the studio, this secret team of developers, which still exists and consists of about 200 people in total, is said to be working on a new unknown title. Some have theorized that this project could be Uncharted 5, but this has not yet been proven true.
All in all, it’s pretty fascinating to know that PlayStation could have seriously considered a few major remakes like this a few years ago. While such titles MediEvil, The shadow of the colossus, and Parappa Rapper have been remade or remastered, it would have been interesting to see the same treatment given to more prominent titles.
So what do you think? Would you like to see more remakes and remasters of some of the most popular PlayStation games of all time coming back to PS5? As usual, you can give me your thoughts either in the comments or on Twitter at @ MooreMan12.