God of War Remastered PS4 PlayStation 4

God of War III Remastered was announced for the PlayStation 4 this week, and it represented one re-release too many for owners of Sony's next-gen system. We saw a small – but fair – backlash on this very website, but there was a more hostile response elsewhere, as the title's debut trailer got bombarded with down votes – and the PlayStation Blog flooded with frustrated comments.

Sony Santa Monica, to its credit, has said that it understands the complaints – but offered a measured response as to why remasters are important. "[This will] help us open the door to new players who perhaps did not play God of War III five years ago," said community manager Aaron Kaufmann. "People often forget, the more players we can bring into a franchise, the better for everyone."

It's a fair comment from where we're sitting: the platform holder's already said that a large proportion of PS4 owners never purchased a PlayStation 3, so games like this will be new to them. If this helps convert a few thousand new God of War fans, too, then sales for the native next-gen sequel will be better, which is obviously good news for the series as a whole.

Our stance is such: as long as the remasters aren't taking development talent away from new projects, then they're pretty easy to ignore if you don't want to buy them. Our only real issue with God of War III Remastered is that, even at a "budget" price point of $39.99, it still seems a little steep for what you're actually getting.

[source blog.us.playstation.com, via playstationlifestyle.net]