EA puts Petroglyph on C&C remaster project

Electronic Arts has revealed more regarding its project to remaster Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer real-time strategy (RTS) titles - and it comes with the welcome news that it's farming the job out to Petroglyph Games, staffed by a range of former Westwood members including series co-creator Joe Bostic.

Electronic Arts, which acquired series creator Westwood Studios in 1998, teased its plans of a Command & Conquer franchise remaster back in October, following a wave of ill-feeling when its last game in the family was a mobile-only title. 'The Command & Conquer community also wants to see the franchise return to PC,' said EA's Jim Vessella at the time. 'And as a fan of C&C for over 20 years, I couldn’t agree more. With that in mind we’ve been exploring some exciting ideas regarding remastering the classic PC games, and already have the ball rolling on our first effort to celebrate the upcoming 25th Year Anniversary.'

Now, Vessella is back with more details - including the involvement, in a move which will doubtless please fans still unconvinced that EA may have their best interests at heart, of some of the staff responsible for the original titles. 'I am humbled to announce that EA is going to partner with Petroglyph Games to develop the C&C remastered collection,' says Vessella in the announcement post on social networking site Reddit. 'Petroglyph Games includes many of the original developers from Westwood Studios, and some of the most influential members of the original Command & Conquer development team from 1995.

'Joe Bostic is known as the co-creator of C&C, having also served as the Lead Programmer on Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. Steve Tall joined Joe as a Lead Programmer on Red Alert, and Ted Morris was the original community manager on the C&C franchise. And Mike Legg contributed to all forms of audio systems at Westwood, having been an employee since 1986! All four members helped start Petroglyph Games in 2003 after the closure of Westwood and are joined by a veteran group of RTS developers from the past 15+ years.'

The game itself, Vessella continues, will have high-resolution '4K' artwork provided by Lemon Sky Studios, but those eager to get their hands on the games - confirmed as including the original Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, sequel Command & Conquer: Red Alert, and all three expansion packs, plus no microtransactions - may have a wait on their hands: 'The exciting part is that we haven’t started development yet' explains Vessella. 'The community is literally getting in on the ground floor of this project and have every opportunity to help influence how we build this remastered experience. Please continue to engage on Reddit and community channels and help us create the best possible remasters of C&C and Red Alert!'

Previously, Vessella had indicated that the remaster was part of EA's plans for the 25th anniversary of the franchise, which would suggest a September 2020 launch date.