Activision is releasing a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare remaster. Warner Bros. is gearing up for an Arkham Asylum remaster. This fall will see the Bioshock trilogy get cleaned up, and there’s plenty of other properties that have felt the benefit of a current-gen upgrade (ahem, GTA V). But through all of the visitations to gaming past, EA has kept quiet. They’ve revisited some of Battlefield‘s classic maps, but that’s the furthest they’ve dipped their toe into the whole remastering craze.
But now, at Gamescom, Game Informer has just sent palpitations through the hearts of Mass Effect fans everywhere — this could be happening. A Mass Effect trilogy remaster could actually make its way into our PS4s and Xbox Ones. Game Informer asked Patrick Soderlund, the executive vice president for EA Studios point blank if he was reconsidering EA’s strong stance against remastering games, and if Mass Effect could get a touch up ahead of 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda.
What’s changed is that there is proof in the market that people want it, maybe more than there was when we spoke. There were some that did it before, but I think there is even more clear evidence that this is something that people really want. The honest answer is that we are absolutely actively looking at it. I can’t announce anything today, but you can expect us most likely to follow our fellow partners in Activision and other companies that have done this successfully.
He went on to stress the timing and quality of the remaster:
“We have to be careful in choosing the right brands for the right reasons at the right time,” he explained. “A remaster is something that you can just do or do it really well. I want to make sure that if we were to do it, we would do it really well and that people feel that it’s the same game but it feels so much better in this new shape and form. There have been titles that have come out that have done it really well, and there have been others that maybe haven’t done it so well. We just want to make sure that we stay in the ‘done it really well’ camp.”
Considering the PC versions of the game, even without mods, look and play like butter, it seems like this would be the best thing for fans of the series. It’s a perfect jumping-in point for new fans, and it’s an olive branch to old fans who had to deal with changing discs, crappy framerates, stuttering and incessant texture load-in.
Do this, EA. A Mass Effect trilogy remaster is probably the most worthy remaster in your entire library. Commander Shephard would approve of this message.
(Via Game Informer)