EA admits remastering Mass Effect would be a way to earn an 'easy buck,' but won't remaster them

Will they or won't they? EA executives are giving conflicting answers.

10

Electronic Arts chief competition officer Peter Moore told IGN just yesterday that EA isn't interested in remastering the Mass Effect trilogy. According to Moore, EA wants to move forward rather than keep one foot in the past.

"We're a company that is focused on delivering for the future," he said. "I was asked a question once [about remasters and I said] it's just not what we do. We've got incredibly talented dev studios around the world who are focused on delivering new IP, new experiences, [and] more and more live services."

Among those experiences is Mass Effect Andromeda, the next installment in the series. "Can we make an easy buck on remastering Mass Effect? Yes. Have a thousand people asked me that? Yes, they have," he added. "We just feel like we want to go forward. There's a little thing called Mass Effect: Andromeda that we're totally focused on at BioWare and it's gonna be magnificent."

Moore's answer conflicts with other executives. In an interview with Game Informer earlier this month, EA Studios' Patrick Soderlund did not go so far as to give a definitive answer to the oft-asked inquiry, but did indicate that the company was growing more receptive to the notion of remastering classic games—mostly because Activision, its chief competitor, had steadfastly refused to return wells only to change its stance later.

According to Soderlund, moving forward with remasters will boil down to thoughtful decision-making. "We have to be careful in choosing the right brands for the right reasons at the right time. 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.

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

From The Chatty
    • reply
      August 31, 2016 12:45 PM

      I'd still kill for a remaster of the first game.

      • reply
        August 31, 2016 12:49 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          August 31, 2016 12:58 PM

          That would be sweet too! It's not that the original game doesn't hold up, because it really really does. It would just be nice to see what they could do with top end PC hardware these days in terms of the original game. It has been almost 10 years after all!

          • reply
            August 31, 2016 1:00 PM

            They would need to make ME1 a real shooter, and ME2 and 3 real RPGs. I would buy them again for that alone.

            • reply
              August 31, 2016 1:06 PM

              I mean honestly a big potential reason for getting those games is if they packed in all the DLC. Those never go on sale and they're fucking important to the story/conclusion of that third game.

      • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
        reply
        August 31, 2016 10:15 PM

        The mega-texture mod for ME1 & 2 is better than any hypothetical remaster. Really, the quality of the faces and costumes is breath-takingly good

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 1:17 PM

      Yes they will.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 1:19 PM

      I would pay so much money to have the entire Shepard Trilogy remade in Frostbite :(

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 1:25 PM

      OH, they will. The bigger question is how much they'll do with DLC or add in IAP to go along with it.

      sry, i'm just getting bitter about that stuff invading so much of gaming these days.

      • reply
        August 31, 2016 1:32 PM

        Yeah, conflicting remarks from different EA execs lead me to believe it's a matter of when, not if. I'd be fine with remasters. The preservationist in me wants to see all games get passed down from generation to generation, especially iconic ones like ME.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 1:35 PM

      I don't have a problem with remasters, as long as they're thorough and well-done. An older game with updated graphics, textures, UI, etc., can be awesome. It's the "Whelp, we recompiled it for the PlayBox 17, time to ship it!" "remasters" that suck and should die.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 1:40 PM

      Personally, I'm tired of seeing remastered titles. They'd have to redo all three games to use the same combat and skill system and also replace the ending to ME3 for it to be worthy of a purchase by me.

      Right now, I just want them to release ME2 and ME3 as backward compatible titles for Xb1.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 2:50 PM

      The PC versions of those games still look real nice I'm just sayin

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 2:51 PM

      they can and will. /force choke

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 4:21 PM

      This is smart because it makes everyone hype themselves about it while they get to say they don't want to. And then when they do make it, no one will blame then for just trying to cash in.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 4:49 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 4:57 PM

      Don't remaster, just give me all the games and DLC in one nice package that I can wait to go on sale for $30 or so.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 5:02 PM

      i just want to play them on the ps4, 1080p/60. none of that psn streaming.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 5:15 PM

      I want them to be remastered such that the combat system from ME is replaced.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 6:18 PM

      Remaster KOTOR instead!

      • reply
        August 31, 2016 6:20 PM

        Can you imagine KOTOR and KOTOR 2 with modern graphics? Holy hell that would be amazing.

        • reply
          August 31, 2016 8:54 PM

          Someone is making a fan made remaster on UE.

          • reply
            August 31, 2016 9:24 PM

            that will get shut down because reasons. we need a REAL FUCKING remaster mother fucking meatbags

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 9:00 PM

      I bet the rights related to the first game is the issue.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 9:56 PM

      Lemme get that Mass Effect Remastered Trilogy on PC. Controller support, mod support, high res everything. And put it on Steam for god's sake. I'd buy the shit out of that.

    • reply
      August 31, 2016 10:14 PM

      They will remaster them, Halo style, if Andromeda sells less than expected.

Hello, Meet Lola