One of the most unique things about the gaming industry is the persistence of re-releases of older games. With the way certain hardware becomes defunct over time, re-releases are one the only ways to ensure classic video games don't get stuck on defunct hardware, but that motivation has changed somewhat in recent years. Sometimes, a game gets so popular after its initial release that it immediately gets put on any subsequent hardware because fans are just that dedicated to it. There are a handful of games that have done this over the past fifteen years or so, but few have been re-released as much as The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Skyrim is one of the most influential games of all time, and many games are still trying to replicate its success. As a result, Bethesda has ensured that Skyrim is put on as many available platforms as possible since 2011. It's hard to think that any other game could surpass the amount of re-releases that Skyrim has had, but the industry has been hard at work with re-releases long before Skyrim took the world by storm. While Skyrim's re-releases are abundant, totaling over a half dozen unique versions, there are other games that have spent almost a lifetime getting re-released.
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The Final Fantasy series has built up a long list of iconic releases with their own unique styles and settings, but none of them would exist without the very first game. Final Fantasy revolutionized the RPG genre when it released in 1987 in Japan and 1990 in the U.S., and it's arguably responsible for the RPG genre as gamers know it today. As a result, Final Fantasy has been re-released a whopping twenty times across all kinds of platforms. Some of them have been more akin to ports, while others greatly enhance the core experience, and they've all kept the spirit of the original Final Fantasy alive to this day.
While Final Fantasy revolutionized the RPG genre in the early 90s, Sonic The Hedgehog did the same for platformers by introducing a whole new element of speed and style. Now the blue blur is one of the most recognizable mascots in all of gaming, and his very first venture has been re-released enough times to show it. Between all of the physical and digital re-releases of Sonic The Hedgehog over the years, the current number sits in the ballpark of fifteen to twenty re-releases, if one console's digital version is considered to be its own unique title.
There are few games as ubiquitous as Tetris. With its catchy music, distinct blocks, and easy to understand mechanics, it's no wonder that Tetris has been re-released so many times. It's always one of those games that's stuck around no matter the generation, and the fact that the game has been re-released on over sixty different platforms greatly contributes to that. Even with all of Skyrim's popularity, it's hard to think that it could ever catch up to the sheer amount of re-releases Tetris has under its belt.
There's no doubt that Skyrim is one of the most formative games of the past ten years, and its many re-releases are one of the plainest indications of that. The game has held up well since it came out basically two console generations ago, and it still manages to run smoothly on the next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X. While there are no official plans to bring yet another Skyrim re-release to these new consoles, it would really be no surprise if it happened eventually.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.