Playing It Again: How Nostalgia Shapes the Gaming Industry

Why are we playing the same games over and over again?

Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 and was a real special game for a whole generation of gamers. Fast forward to today and we’re still very much drawn to the same franchises, be they remakes, remasters or brand new sequels. The classic games are coming back with all the bells and whistles of modern day gaming in terms of graphics and gameplay, which is a nice way of taking you back to the good old days for the die hard fans and also a great way of introducing a new generation to the original game. For the developers it’s often a safer route to go back to a game that people already love rather than to take a risk on something completely new. The question is though, is the industry going a little too far down the nostalgia route? Some remakes do bring a title to life in a new way but others seem to be little more than a way of making money off of our memories. Nostalgia is obviously part of the game industry but just how much is it influencing it today? Is it helping to preserve the history of the industry or is it in fact stifling new ideas?

The emotional appeal of nostalgia

People buy remakes simply because the games are familiar. You might well have played Pokémon on a Game Boy as a kid, you might have got lost in Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda or you might have just played Mario with the family on the couch. When those games come back years later it’s the memories that they trigger that a completely new game can’t replicate. The developers know this and they use that nostalgia to pull the player in.

A Butcher and Toh (2025) study found that people are far more likely to buy a remake of a game they grew up with than a remake of a game they’ve never played. It’s logical really. It’s less of a risk to pick up a game you know and love. You know the characters, you know the story, you know how the game works. There’s also just a degree of curiosity about how the game you remember so well has changed (or not changed) over the years.

Nostalgia can also be a factor in the appeal of older games to younger audiences. A classic game can be brought up to date with improved graphics, controls and gameplay and still retain the essence of what made it so popular originally. Marketing can play a part in this by tapping into people’s memories and the emotions associated with them. Game companies are well aware of the power of that emotional connection and it’s that which gives them a real reason to charge for a franchise that you already care about. But, the fact that you remember a game doesn’t in any way guarantee that a remake will be a good one. Players still want something worth the money they’re paying, and they don’t want the same game with better graphics.

Nostalgia as a business strategy

For game developers, working with the big franchises is the safer option. The world, the characters and the way the game plays are all known to the player base. There’s an existing audience already waiting for the next release. That’s why going back to a franchise you know is generally seen as less of a risk than launching something new (and of course there are no guarantees whatsoever). A sequel, a remake or a re-release is a way of keeping a title alive and generating revenue from a game people already love.

Nintendo’s sales figures are a clear demonstration of the commercial power of this strategy. In the 2024-25 financial year Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake sold 2.1m units and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (the 2017 release) sold another 6.23m units (Nintendo 2025). That’s a very clear demonstration that there is still a market for older titles and established franchises years after their initial release. There’s a concern out there that game companies are being a bit too safe with their releases and aren’t taking enough creative risks. As one gaming commentator put it, companies tend to go for “easy money rather than making a fully original game from scratch”. The criticism intensifies when a re-release adds nothing at all to the original. Remasters can be a great way of introducing a classic to a new generation of players, but if you’re just relying on nostalgia and making no actual improvements then you’re going to get a lot of pushback from the fans.

Big franchises obviously make money. The problem is that success shouldn’t come at the expense of creativity and quality.

The cost of playing it safe

One of the major issues with nostalgia in gaming is that it can make the whole industry feel rather stale. There’s always a new remake, sequel or remaster on the horizon and while many people will enjoy those, it can sometimes feel as though the companies are just going back to the same old games. You’ve got established franchises with a fanbase so why not just go and sell another Mario, another Pokémon or another The Last of Us? It can seem like a much safer proposition than attempting to do something completely new.

This can make it harder for original games to cut through. The big franchises have the brand recognition, the marketing spend and the audience already in place. The smaller, indie developers have to work much harder to get their games noticed, even if they’re doing something different. In a market where there are so many games vying for attention, the player is more likely to go with the one they know than the one they’ve never heard of.

However sequels and remakes aren’t necessarily unoriginal. Tears of the Kingdom is a perfect example of that. It’s built on the world of Breath of the Wild but it brings in new abilities and new ways of interacting with that world. Proves you can go back to a concept and do something different rather than just do it again.

When nostalgia creates something new

One of the advantages of remakes is that they give older games a second life. As consoles age and become obsolete, it can be difficult to play some of the older games without the original hardware. Remakes and re-releases keep the games alive in some form and can also be a way of making them more accessible and enjoyable for a first time player.

There’s a difference between taking an old game and bringing it back and actually doing something new with it. Some remakes are very close to the original, others use the same characters and the same concepts to try and do something different. Neither of those is in any way a bad thing per se, but just making a game look better doesn’t necessarily give you a reason for a player to go out and buy it again.

The same is true of Super Mario Odyssey which retained the familiar Mario platforming but introduced Cappy (the player can take control of enemies and objects). Pokémon Legends: Arceus also took a different approach to the usual formula, allowing the player to explore and catch Pokémon in the environment.

These games prove that you don’t have to be either nostalgic or original. You can have both. You can have familiar characters and worlds and still come up with something new. Nostalgia becomes a liability when you think that just because something is familiar to people that it’s good enough. The best games use the familiarity to actually do something new rather than just relying on the past.

Nostalgia should be a starting point

Nostalgia has given the video game companies a way of getting back to the games that people already know and love. Remakes, sequels and re-releases can be a profitable proposition as there is an existing audience for them. The danger though is that if you keep going back to the same franchises then you’re not taking enough risks on new stuff.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with bringing an old game back, particularly if it’s a chance for people to experience it again or to get it into the hands of a new generation. The issue arises when nostalgia becomes the primary selling point and there’s essentially nothing else to recommend the release. People may well enjoy going back into a world they’ve already known, but that doesn’t mean they want to see that same thing being done over and over again.

Nostalgia will almost certainly continue to be a factor in the industry and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some of the most iconic franchises in gaming have endured simply because they offer the player something familiar, while at the same time evolving. Developers should be able to look back at what made those games great and not feel that they have to go back and re-invent it, as the games we’re nostalgic for today were once entirely new concepts.