Editing Greg Fulton/Fanstratics Newsletters/22 (section)

== HoMM3 Question ==
'''I was wondering what you think of Ubisoft's decision to make that "HD" edition of Heroes III. It's so weird because that HD mod which was available for free and made it possible to Play the original game in 4K (or any resolution) was around for years before then.  I just remember seeing that video from Ubisoft of an artist who painstakingly painted over every single sprite to make it "HD".  And I thought...yeah... were they trying to cash in on nostalgia or why did they decide to put it out there?  It's subpar to the original in every way from what I understand.'''

This is pure speculation on my part, but I suspect, behind the scenes, HoMM3 was continuing to sell well, as evidenced by its presence on GOG.  As I write this, it is #1 on their all-time bestsellers list, competing with Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3.

As with a lot of ‘remasters’, there is a new and pre-existing audience who continues to play the original, but doing so requires jumping through a number of technical hoops.  In most ‘remasters’, the goal is to overhaul the graphics, eliminate any technical hurdles, and target new platforms.

Emphasis on the third point... ‘target new platforms’.

In my personal opinion, while HoMM3 HD was positioned as a ‘remaster’, I suspect it was really an ‘enhanced’ port made for the Apple iPad.  This would go a long way to explaining Ubisoft’s approach; keep costs low, set a new price point ($15), don’t take any creative risks, and target the HoMM3 fans with Apple iPads.

Ultimately the PC HoMM3 community, for the most part, didn’t need the HD edition, but truthfully... I doubt they were the target audience.  They were merely ‘bonus sales’.