EA has made headlines in the past due to the company’s staunch refusal to do remasters. As remastered titles continue to release and perform well however, EA is reconsidering.
Speaking with Game Informer, Executive Vice President for EA Studios Patrick Soderlund responded to questions about whether or not anything had changed since those original anti-remaster remarks. “What’s changed is that there is proof in the market that people want it,” he says.
Referring to other publishers making remasters, he explains, “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.”
That said, he stressed it would have to be handled carefully. “We have to be careful in choosing the right brands for the right reasons at the right time,” Soderlund says. “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.”
With Mass Effect Andromeda releasing early next year, now seems like the a perfect ‘right time,’ but we will have to wait to hear more. Mass Effect Andromeda is currently slated to release in March of next year.