Last month, we brought you the news that the Command & Conquer series would be getting some remasters to celebrate its 25th birthday. Now, we can confirm that the games getting the revamp treatment will be Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn (also known simply as Command & Conquer), and Command & Conquer: Red Alert, as well as the classic expansion packs: Covert Ops, Counterstrike and Aftermath.
This news comes by the way of a lengthy Reddit post from EA Producer Jim Vessella, who confirmed that all of the games will be put together as one remastered collection. Vessella also acknowledged that the gaming community had been a bit unsure about how successful these remasters would be, saying “in addition to the excitement and support of this remaster initiative over the past month, there has also been a healthy scepticism that we can pull this off”, he continued “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.” Vessella went on to confirm that EA would be partnering with Petroglyph Games to develop these titles.
Petroglyph Games was founded in 2003 by a number of developers from Westwood Studios following the latter’s closure. These developers, namely Joe Bostic, Steve Tall, Ted Morris, and Mike Legg, were all massive parts of the original Command & Conquer development team from all the way back in 1995. Joe Bostic is known as the co-creator of the Command & Conquer franchise and also served as the Lead Programmer on both Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert, while Steve Tall was also a Lead Programmer on Red Alert. Ted Morris was the original community manager of the Command & Conquer franchise, while Mike Legg contributed to all forms of audio systems for the series. In short, in order to deliver the best, most authentic Command & Conquer experience, EA is getting the band back together. To end the post, there was also a little surprise included for fans, which you can find in the video below:
Following on from Vessella’s words was a message from Joe Bostic, who said that he is “excited to revisit the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert for our legacy fans, along with introducing the games to a new audience!”, before asking fans “If you could turn back the clock, what would you have wanted in the original C&C games? How true to a remaster should we adhere to? What modern improvements can be added without deviating from the core game? Balance changes? We will be starting development soon, so now is the time to let your voice be heard.”
As well as teaming up with Petroglyph Games, EA will also be enlisting the help of Lemon Sky Studios, who are “one of the premier art studios around the world, with a unique speciality in remastering classic RTS titles.” Lemon Sky Studios are being brought in to “help bring these original games to 4k glory.”
It’s great to see that EA has actually listened to fans for once, and this news gives us great hope that these remasters will live up to the series legacy. EA had to repair some damage following the disastrous announcement of the mobile game Command & Conquer: Rivals (currently at 3k Likes and 63k Likes on YouTube), and getting the original gang back together to remaster these PC classics may just be the perfect way to not only right some wrongs, but also to celebrate the series 25th birthday.
Oh, and by the way, EA also confirmed that there would be no microtransactions whatsoever. What the hell is going on?
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