From an economic industry standpoint, I'd expect a remake would be less expensive than its original of course.  And I'm not surprised if it sold less than its original yet still viably profitale because of lower "remake" costs.  And yes, nostalgia would be a factor with some titles.  In worst case scenario, I see it as a cash grab but one that serves both developers and consumers in mind.  The nostalgia factor I think would apply to something more like the NES Classic, Parappa, and Crash.  But titles such as Gears, Skyrim, and Last  of Us less so.

This gen became a joke when Square announced a remaster of Tomb Raider 1 year after release on PS360. I knew then this will be funny how far less original games will be released and more AAA nonsense that already sold millions people would buy again rather than new IPs. rofl

Nostalgia is a money maker, it's a valid case to want to profit from. People don't just make remakes or remasters just for money or tech, it's nostalgia driven.

Skyrim remaster has done as well as it has because of nostalgia, because people yearned to play Skyrim again, but with slightly better visuals, the visuals come with the advancements, but the game itself is mostly bought for nastalgic reasons. We thrive on nostalgia as a species, practically we're the only species that goes so far for such a feeling.

There are even some people out there for example who love WWI and are getting nostlagia over the setting and guns used in BF1, the game itself is playing with nostalgia for past events that already happened. We've never really had a big AAA WWI shooter, but we all know what WWI was like and we'd naturally want to know how the war was fought and remember the past.

I'm not saying you're completely wrong, but that I astrongly feel that nostyalgia with remakes, remasters, plays a huge part in their entire reason for existing. The profit comes naturally, as does with most products and services in this world.

I like it. The game was good, and I want to play it again, even better if it looks prettier and still gives me that satisfaction of before

I love the improvements of most console exclusive remasters (the PS3 HD collections of PS2 games included)... and if you sell the old versions on time and wait for deals of the new versions, the upgrade costs are neglible.

Since I buy most multiplatform games for PC, most of these remasters weren't even necessary for me... a new graphic card in combination of the "old version" often has the same or even bigger improvements. But if these PC-remasters are free for buyers of the original I ain't complaining. ;)

And these multiplatform remasters are good options for console gamers who want an enhanced version of their favorite games or want to play them on their new console.