NEW YORK, Nov 16 ― If the prospect of a mobile riff on iconic Command & Conquer strategy franchise was poorly received mid-year, Electronic Arts is going in the other direction with the promise of remasters for Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn (1995) and its successor Red Alert (1996).
Veteran developers from the influential real-time strategy series Command & Conquer will be working on remasters of the franchise’s first two games from their current studio home at Petroglyph.
There’s no timeline for this pair of newly announced projects; in comparison, mobile spin-off Command & Conquer: Rivals is currently in beta and due to launch on December 4.
Still, the move shows that EA understands what core fans of the franchise want, giving Rivals the chance of a more understanding reception, now that it’s housed within the context of overall franchise development.
“Petroglyph Games includes many of the original developers from Westwood Studios, and some of the most influential members of the original Command & Conquer development team from 1995,” EA’s producer Jim Vessella explained as part of a prepared statement.
“Joe Bostic is known as the co-creator of C&C, having also served as the Lead Programmer on Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. Steve Tall joined Joe as a Lead Programmer on Red Alert, and Mike Legg contributed to all forms of audio systems at Westwood, having been an employee since 1986,” he said of the Petroglyph co-founders.
Franchise veteran Frank Klepacki is also involved as Composer and Audio Director; there’s a separate studio to assist with the 4K graphics upgrade, Lemon Sky (StarCraft: Remastered, Dark Souls III, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Marvel’s Spider-Man).
The project is in its very early stages ― “we haven’t started development yet,” Vessella wrote, “the community is literally getting in on the ground floor” ― hence the lack of release date announcement. ― AFP-Relaxnews
