In the past few years, PlayStation may once have had the idea of recreating some of its best-loved properties in new, modern iterations that would use today’s technology. This information comes from a former Sony employee who recently started talking a bit about some of the secret work he did during his time at a PlayStation studio.
I spoke to David Jaffe, the previous director of titles such as God of war and Turned metalMichael Mumbauer, a former head of Sony San Diego Studio, spoke a little about his role with the developer while there. Initially, Mumbauer was leading a visual arts group that would provide support to other Sony studios, but over time this started to change.
Mumbauer explained that during Shawn Layden’s tenure as head of SIE Worldwide Studios, the one-time boss was very interested in exploring remakes and remasters for current hardware. Mumbauer specifically pointed out the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy as an example of one such project that apparently helped Layden get the ball rolling. As this initiative gained traction within Sony as a whole, Mumbauer explained that a new development team was subsequently assembled at Sony San Diego to seemingly continue this venture.
“Remakes and remasters were the things I was looking for. So that’s why the development team was built, ”Mumbauer said in the conversation. “What I can tell you is that I was hunting there because I believed it was valuable to have something like a remake of God of war in today’s visual fidelity. Or a remake of Uncharted 1 with today’s visual fidelity. “
It’s worth noting that Mumbauer never said outright that his team at Sony San Diego Studio actually started working on a PlayStation remake of any kind. Instead, he just notes that it was something he was really looking for at one point. It is also uncertain whether Mumbauer just used God of war and Not mapped as general examples of possible remakes or if they were traits he may have actively explored to recreate.
If at one point this was something set in Sony San Diego, it no longer seems to be the case. Although Mumbauer is no longer with the studio, this secret dev team, which is still around today and has around 200 people in total, is said to be working on an unknown new title. Some have theorized that this could be a project Uncharted 5, but this has yet to be proven.
All in all, it’s pretty fascinating to know that PlayStation took a serious look at some big remakes like this a few years ago. While titles such as MediEvil, Shadow of the Colossus, and Parappa the Rapper were remade or remastered, it would have been interesting to see this same treatment given to some more prominent titles.
So what do you think? Would you see more remakes and remasters of some of the most popular PlayStation games of yesteryear returning to PS5? As usual, you can give me your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter at @ Jeroen1988.