Fear The Remake
"We are born of the [remake], made men by the [remake], undone by the [remake]. Our eyes are yet to open, fear the [remake]." - SIE since 2020, probably.
You knew this was coming. Don't look at me like that. This was always on the docket.
I don't even know where to begin with this one. Again, assuming you're here from my twitter you've already heard me prattle on hysterically about the nonexistent remake, remaster, or sequel for FromSoftware and Sony's cult classic: 2015's Bloodborne. We can skip the pleasantries and introduction, you know what the game is, you know the game is good, and you know why it's good, this isn't a glaze piece, this is a critical analysis of the situation regarding its remake, or lack there of. We'll go through a brief history pertaining to its release and the incessant number of leaks and rumors that have bounced around over the years regarding any form of a Bloodborne re-release.
- In 2015 Sony partnered with now world-famous game studio FromSoftware to publish PS4 exclusive Bloodborne. At the time, despite rave reviews, the title would see relatively light sales (2 million in 5 months, 7.5 million in 7 years) when compared to Sony's other tentpole first party franchises that generation (see: God of War 2018, Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn). This can largely be attributed to the notoriously punishing nature of the title that rendered FromSoft's games more niche until the release of their colossal Elden Ring in 2022.
- Roughly 5 years later, a rumor would go around that Bloodborne would be getting some form of PC release on account of a random French game retailer having a listing for a PS5 remaster. While normally unsubstantiated, it was "leaked" in the wake of games writer Imran Khan suggesting that fans of Bloodborne had something to look forward to earlier that year.
- In 2021, another leaker suggested that "Bloodborne: Hunter's Edition" would be the official PS5 remaster, with QoL upgrades, new weapons, expanded subregions, and an official port to PC.
- Later in 2021, Sony would announce the acquisition of Bluepoint Games, who had just recently released a Demon's Souls (Another Sony exclusive, FromSoft-made IP from the PS3 era) remake for PS5, leading fans to "reasonably" conclude that Bluepoint's next title must be a Bloodborne remake, logically.
- In 2022 "leaked screenshots" of a remaster build would make their rounds on the internet, these were fake.
- In 2024 a different alleged insider once again teased that a full blown remake was in the works for PS5/Pro and that a PC port would release alongside.
- Two instances of official references last year would spark even more hysteria within the community. In December of 2024 Playstation would publish a "30th Anniversary" sizzle reel that ended with a frame of Bloodborne promotional material captioned "it's about persistence". 2024's Astro Bot would contain a pre-order incentive in the form of a Bloodborne costume for the new Playstation mascot.
- Earlier this year Playstation would curiously send out Cease and Desists for a couple of fan projects (including a PS1 "demake" and modded 60fps patch). While this could (and should) just be read as a corporation protecting their IP, it was strange that these projects had been up for years before Sony sent out the C&Ds.
To put into perspective just how ridiculous this is, we're going to look at Playstation 4 titles and when they were given remasters or upgraded for PS5.
- The Last of Us: Released in 2013, remastered in 2014, remade in 2024.
- Spider-Man: Released in 2018, remastered in 2022.
- The Last of Us Part II: Released in 2019, remastered in 2024.
- Horizon: Zero Dawn: Released in 2017, remastered in 2024.
- Days Gone: Released in 2019, remastered in 2025.
- Uncharted 4: Released in 2016, remastered in 2022 under "Legacy of Thieves".
- Death Stranding: Released in 2019, remastered in 2021 under "Director's Cut".
- Ghost of Tsushima: Released in 2020, remastered in 2021 under "Director's Cut".
As it stands, almost every single major first party title from the PS4 era (aside from God of War and Gran Turismo Sport) have either been remastered or remade in some form or fashion; except for Bloodborne.
It's been 10 years since the release of what has now become the crown jewel of the 8th Generation of consoles, and for it's anniversary, Playstation said... nothing. Not a tweet, not a blogpost, not even a commemorative anything. I imagine they figured it would overshadow God of War's 20th anniversary, but still.
So what, exactly, is the problem?
Honestly? I'm not really sure.
Last year FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki alleged that he had no idea what was going on withe IP but that he'd be in trouble if he spoke about it. Earlier this year former President of SIE Shuhei Yoshida would inadvertently refute this argument by stating that Miyazaki was "too busy" in the wake of Elden Ring to focus on Bloodborne, and that FromSoftware's director cared too much about the IP to let anyone besides him touch it.
So FromSoftware blames Playstation, and Playstation blamed FromSoftware, and caught int he middle of this marital spat is everyone who bought a copy of Bloodborne 10 years ago and had watched the entire industry leave them behind.
So it makes it that much more fucking interesting, then, that Hidetaka Miyazaki is directing a multiplayer title exclusively for Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 that sees blood-thirsty vampires scavenging the gothic remains of Victorian London. Which, if you haven't played Bloodborne yet (go do it, tf?), it eerily similar to Bloodborne both narratively and visually. So not only was Miyazaki free enough in the wake of Elden Ring to direct a completely new title, Miyazaki also doesn't care quite enough about the sanctity of Bloodborne's identity to refrain from copying his own homework. So once again, we have no fucking idea what the problem is, and recent developments have made them that much more confusing. It's worth noting, Miyazaki's upcoming Nintendo Exclusive title "The Duskbloods", is absolutely not a spiritual successor to Bloodborne, it's a multiplayer title that is presumably in a reimagining of Victorian London and not the fictional Yarnham, where Sony's exclusive takes place. *Ahem*, it's a legally distinct multiplayer experience for a competing platform that is also going to be locked to exactly one platform for presumably, eternity.
My theory? Risk.
I have to imagine that internally, Playstation has concerns over this particular rerelease. As a stalwart exclusive to the PS4 (and by virtue, the PS5), Bloodborne currently serves as the only real console-seller in Sony's arsenal. A dedicated PS5 release would almost certainly require at least a 60fps patch to differentiate it from it's PS4 version. However, frames are critical to the fundamental construction of Bloodborne, how it plays, and how it handles. It would be no simple task to simply unlock the frame rate if it wasn't already variable on release (which, in 2015, it would not have been). It would almost certainly require a much more expensive retooling of source code, which would then necessitate much more expensive QA testing. The other choice is to forego a PS5 upgrade and release the 30fps version of the game on PC as is. Which sounds exactly as bad as you think it does. Playstation loyalists would cry bloody murder, PC players would threaten to hang Playstation and FromSoftware from the rafters. While I don't appreciate witch-hunting developers, I can't say that in that hypothetical instance that their rage would be unfounded.
"But Geezaws, you said a rerelease would be a surefire commercial juggernaut so who cares if they have to spend money on retooling the source-code or whatever?"
I am not, a game developer. I do not know how laborious the work would be in practice. I am not a 50+ year old executive. I am not a professional risk analyst. I am not on Sony's board and thus am not Privy to the sales data of their other remasters and rereleases. Sony, as a company, must assess risk based on available information. Their available information pertaining to this situation is of two camps:
1) The overall performance of their remasters in dollar sales
2) The overall performance of their PC ports in dollar sales.
I do not know for sure what the first pool looks like when you subtract the production costs from the end-revenue, I don't know if the profit has been good enough to incentivize Sony. However, we do have to-the-day data for the second pool. While it's not awful, it may not be the surefire assurance that Sony stockholders need.
In this top 10, aside from the obvious outlier in Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 (the only live service here), the peak player counts of the other titles range from "actually quite good" in Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Zero Dawn to "actually quite concerning" in Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, and the now (also) decade old Helldivers 1, which actually released on PS4 and PC in the same year. Funnily enough, Bloodborne released 3 weeks after Helldivers 1.
You might think that not only does Bloodborne have the potential to out perform at least Ghost of Tsushima on PC, but maybe even Helldivers 2. My counterargument is that, as a multiplayer liver service, it is an outlier for which Sony cannot apply the same market conditions to. So at the very least it could (and probably would) out-perform Ghost of Tsushima, then. Sure, but when Bloodborne is locked to the PS5, it's actually the only reason some people own a Sony console at all. If you're in charge of revenue margins at SIE, would you play around with the exclusivity of a console mover (that generates anywhere from $170 (BB + PS4 combo) to $470 (BB + PS5 Combo) per unit) to test if it would maybe outperform what is a much more commercially viable title in Ghost of Tsushima? Let's not forget, no matter how big Bloodborne is, it's punishing nature still makes it less marketable than "open world feudal japan game".
Once that genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back in. If Bloodborne releases on PC, Sony will permanently relinquish control of the game, its source code, and effective ownership over its distribution. Let's be honest, if it does hit PC, Sony will probably require a PSN log in, which will only further incentivize PC players' penchant for piracy (Which like, go off. I don't care if you steal from a multi-billion dollar mega corporation, but Sony abso-fucking-lutely does).
So, finger pointing between Miyazaki-san and Yoshida-san aside, the crux of the issue lies in whether or not there is enough incentive for Sony to rerelease Bloodborne in any state. You and I might think it obvious, but I imagine Sony is not so sure they want to jeopardize $170 - $470 per unit for a $10 upgrade path on console, a $70 PC release, and hundreds of thousands of pirated copies.
In the last 10 years, Bloodborne has grown far more than it was probably ever supposed to, and the subsequent releases that established FromSoftware as an industry giant in Sekiro and Elden Ring (both of which are on PC) have only made the desire to see Bloodborne's accessibility expanded to a similar degree. Also, people love to join in conversations about games that they never played. You'll see 20M people sling shit at Sony for not remastering Bloodborne, but it's sold no more than 8 Million units total, curious. As Sony continues to remake, remaster, and rerelease other tentpole titles from the 8th generation, questions continue to rise as to where Sony's prodigal son fits into this PC-expansion-focused plan. The risk attached to losing pure exclusivity to Bloodborne has grown with each passing year. Miyazaki-san pivoting his focus to a legally distinct Bloodborne multiplayer title in Nintendo-exclusive The Duskbloods, might not only keep the director busy for the next few years, but in my opinion, might have inadvertently damaged the value of what a real, monumental return to Yarnham might have felt like.
I'm sorry, but I genuinely think that, save for a true miracle or a "break glass in case of emergency" situation at SIE (which seems unlikely based on their Y/Y fiscal reports), Bloodborne is dead, and it is not coming back. It is time to let go of Hunter's Dream and move on. As someone who was able to enjoy the title a decade ago and fall in love with it over the following 10 years; while I may never encounter the old blood again, I will certainly never forget it.
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