Yesterday, we reported that EA were apparently looking at developing remaster for the Mass Effect trilogy, or that they were at least considering it- given how famously averse to developing remasters the company has been, this came as a bit of a surprise. So what changed?
The short answer- the market has spoken. Speaking in an interview with Game Informer, EA’s executive VP Patrick Soderlund said that the company is now actively exploring the possibility of making remasters going forward.
“What’s changed is that there is proof in the market that people want it, maybe more than there was when we spoke,” said Soderlund at Gamescom this week. “There were some that did it before, but I think there is even more clear evidence that this is something that people really want.”
That said, EA are still being very careful with how they approach remasters, instead of adapting the scattershot approach to releasing them that most other companies seem to have.
“We have to be careful in choosing the right brands for the right reasons at the right time,” he said. “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.”
All in all, I can’t say I blame EA’s take on how to approach remasters here, and I must laud them for not simply chasing easy money for once. That said- Mass Effect Trilogy remaster, EA. Please.