Electric Arts COO Peter Moore spoke with IGN about the possibility of doing remakes of older games, confirming that the company has no plans to do so. “It feels like pushing stuff out because you’ve run out of ideas,” said Moore. “Remakes, because of who we are, and this broad portfolio of intellectual property…you add all that together, I don’t know where we find the time to do remakes.
“We’re a company that just likes to push forward.”
Moore admitted that remakes are convenient for game companies, though. “For a lot of companies, remakes are a way to drive revenue. It’s sub-cost, it’s an IP that’s there, you can remaster, and that’s great. We don’t do that here. I don’t think that’s ever been in our culture.” With regards to backwards compatibility, Moore just about dismissed the idea outright: “In the old days, backward compatibility was to convince your mom to buy the new console — not that you were ever going to use it,” he said. “Once you got it? Those things went in the drawer, or on eBay.”
As someone who would hand over bucketfuls of cash for a Mass Effect trilogy remake for PS4 (and I’m not alone), I have to raise an eyebrow at Moore’s dismissal. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to focus on new games, and maybe EA has determined that the cost-benefits here aren’t worthwhile, which is fine–you do what you have to do–but that doesn’t mean the market isn’t there.
A lot of folks are just now getting consoles after playing on PC for years. Or, they’re only just now picking up gaming at all. Or if you’re me, your roommate moved to Korea and took her PlayStation 3 with her, and your laptop starts burning things if you try to boot up anything made after 2011. It’s frustrating to not have any access to all those wonderful old games, and I love when companies make the effort to bring those games to us in the present. Maybe it’s a cash grab, but I’m willing to pay.
Meanwhile, EA’s games will be accessible on Xbox One with backwards compatibility when that rolls out later this year.
