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Electronic Arts has revealed Petroglyph Games – a studio founded by members of the original Command and Conquer team – are leading its efforts to remaster Command & Conquer.
The team includes C&C co-creator Jo Bostic, lead programmer Steve Tall, audio engineer Mike Legg, and original community manager, Ted Morris. All four members "helped start Petroglyph Games in 2003" after the closure of Westwood and are joined by "a veteran group of RTS developers from the past 15+ years".
"Today, I’m thrilled to tell you we are going back to the beginning," wrote producer Jim Vessella in a post on the Command & Conquer subreddit (via Eurogamer). "We have decided to remaster Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. And while this is incredibly exciting on its own, we’re also aware of how passionate the community is about the Red Alert universe. So, we will also remaster the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert. But what about the classic expansion packs you may ask – Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath? Well, C&C and Red Alert wouldn’t be the same without them, so all three expansion packs will be bundled with the base games into one remastered collection – without microtransactions."
"Now, in addition to the excitement and support of this remaster initiative over the past month, there has also been a healthy skepticism that we can pull this off," he added. "How are we possibly going to remaster these titles while maintaining the authenticity of the original experiences? Bottom line, there is no better way to achieve this than to partner with some of the talented developers who brought these original games to life.
"So, after years of the fans asking for their involvement, I am humbled to announce that EA is going to partner with Petroglyph Games to develop the C&C remastered collection."
"The most common request is to bring C&C back to its roots like the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert," added Joe Bostic. "My answer was always the same: ‘Yes that would be great! Electronic Arts is the gatekeeper for C&C though. If they are on board, so am I!’"
"I’m looking forward to re-engaging with the fans of the series as we bring the Command & Conquer franchise back to its roots of “easy to play, difficult to master”. We’re eager to provide an experience that takes advantage of enhanced connectivity, graphics features, and other technology improvements that weren’t around back in 1995."
For the full post, head on over to the Command & Conquer subreddit.
After a backlash from the community following the announcement of Command & Conquer: Rivals, a free-to-play RTS mobile game, EA was quick to assure fans that C&C remasters were also on their way.
