EA may join the remastering trend, with Mass Effect series a possible candidate

By Jon Martindale Published August 17, 2016

ea remaster mass effect rumor masseffectremaster — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The popularity of the Mass Effect games might have peaked with the second iteration — the less we say about fan reaction to the third entry’s ending, the better — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looked back on fondly. So, it’s not surprising that EA is dropping a lot of hints that it may remaster the entire trilogy.

Remastering has actually become quite common in contemporary game making. Whether it’s adding a little HD twist to the pixels from the 16-bit era, or taking a game from just a generation ago and upping the texture resolution, it’s happening a lot. And now we might see it with one of EA’s most beloved series.

Although EA has previously stated that it wasn’t looking to remaster its back catalog and was considering new IPs instead, that might have changed. In a chat with GameInformer, EA’s executive VP for EA Studios, Patrick Soderlund, said that the marketplace had changed in the past year and that the viability of remasters had certainly been proven.

“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,” he said.

While he wouldn’t comment on which game or games EA is looking into remastering, the Mass Effect series is an obvious choice. Whatever EA chooses to do, Soderlund said that he wanted to make sure EA did it well, rather than just rushing a re-release to generate some quick funds.

With Mass Effect Andromeda in already in the EA pipeline, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see remastered Mass Effect titles as a pre-order bonus.

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