The masses have craved for a Mass Effect Trilogy remaster since the beginning of the current console era. This generation has been plagued by a plethora of remasters, both good and bad, and EA is one of the few holdouts that haven’t jumped on the remaster bandwagon. This may change though. In an interview with Patrick Soderlund at Gamescom, Game Informer learned that the company may have changed its tune.
Game Informer: One of the things I asked you last year when we sat down at E3 was about Mass Effect. At the time, there were two publishers that hadn’t really dipped into the remaster world: you and Activision. Activision has since released a number of remasters or ports, and now they are working on a full-on remaster for MW. Revisiting this as the last man standing on remasters, has anything changed? Like a Mass Effect trilogy remaster?
Soderlund: What’s changed is that there is proof in the market that people want it, maybe more than there was when we spoke. There were some that did it before, but I think there is even more clear evidence that this is something that people really want. 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.
There is definitely a demand for a Mass Effect Trilogy remaster, and it would make EA some serious cash. One thing to keep in mind though, which is respectable, is that EA wants to do it right. So many companies have put out crap remasters, other fantastic remasters, and to release a Mass Effect Trilogy remaster they would have to give the masterpiece justice.
“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.”
While Soderlund never specifically names Mass Effect, it is on the top of fan’s list and would make sense given the impending release of Mass Effect Andromeda. Remastering the sometimes clunky Mass Effect 1 would be a challenge, but it would be well worth it and EA would be sure to see the returns on their hard work and investment. If they were to release a remaster set on par with the Gears of War Ultimate Edition, the gaming community wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.