Fri, Aug 19, 2011 | 02:42 BST
EA teases “a couple” of classic property revivals
Newly incumbent EA Labels chief Frank Gibeau says the publisher has more than one classic revival in the works.
“We do have a couple of old franchises that we’re looking at right now… reimagining them and bringing them back,” the former EA Games boss told CVG.
“We’ve got 25 years of good IPs and I’ve worked on a few of them in my career like Road Rash and the Strike series. So I have a strong affinity for a lot of the things we’ve done in the past.”
But EA isn’t interested in strip mining old properties, going so far as to cancel an unannounced Road Rash remake which didn’t live up to expectations.
“We kind of have a rule which is you’ve got to have a really good reason to bring something back – what can you do to it that makes it fresh and brings something new to the equation of the franchise?” Gibeau explained, citing Medal of Honor’s update to current-era warfare as an example.
“When we look at Road Rash, the Strike series or some of these other franchises we really challenge ourselves. We can’t just put them on new tech with the same gameplay from ten years ago, we’ve got to have something new. That’s the typical challenge that we have.”
In early 2008, EA announced a partnership with Starbreeze Studios to resurrect an older property. Codenamed Project Redlime, the game has so far gone unrevealed, but is heavily rumoured to be a Syndicate reboot.
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Posted in: EA
Tags: frank gibeau
12 comments
#1
The_Red
19/08/11, 2:59 am
Strike!? Holy shit, PLEASE announce a full sequel to Urban Strike for PS3, PC and 360 right now. That and Jungle Strike are among my fave Genesis games.
#2
IL DUCE
19/08/11, 4:52 am
Yeah about that Syndicate reboot…it’s getting to be a bit like Big Foot or the Boogeyman…
It’s always rumored to be revealed and then we don’t hear about it at all., never shows up..getting kind of stupid now…makes me wonder if that’s really the game that OXM or X Box World is going to have the exclusive reveal/article in their Sept 30th issue or if it’s a completely different game…
#3
Ireland Michael
19/08/11, 5:16 am
Just get Criterion to remake Road Rash using the same engine as Hot Pursuit.
Problem solved.
#4
BULArmy
19/08/11, 7:52 am
Maybe is not good to say that, because of their recent C&C fiasco, but Alpha Centuri.
#5
GwynbleiddiuM
19/08/11, 9:04 am
Canceled Road rash?! WAAAAAAAAAT?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO… You bloodsucking money leeching BASTARDS.. If there was one racing game that I absolutely loved every second of it, it was the Road Rash, and Rock N Roll Racing. You Horrible, horrible, horrible evil corp.
#6
Brenna Hillier
19/08/11, 9:13 am
@5 it was a few years ago now. Super found this early mock up after it had been canned:
http://supererogatory.tumblr.com/post/207378024/previsualization-for-ea-warringtons-next-gen-road
#7
viralshag
19/08/11, 9:22 am
Well that video looks bad ass. They need to get working on Road Rash ASAP.
Same goes for the Strike series.
#8
Blerk
19/08/11, 9:44 am
Don’t care about Road Rash, but I’d like a new Strike game. As long as it’s not Miners Strike.
#9
majicship
19/08/11, 1:21 pm
Road Rash was great. I’d love to play an updated version of that.
#10
DSB
19/08/11, 1:38 pm
Road Rash would fully redeem EA. But then again it’s one of those titles that runs a major risk of being watered down, or made into a cartoon these days. It’s a lot easier for independent developers to do a game that answers to no one.
At least we have Carmageddon to look forward to.
#11
StolenGlory
19/08/11, 1:49 pm
“At least we have Carmageddon to look forward to.”
I hope you like zombies then
#12
DSB
19/08/11, 1:54 pm
@11 Is that confirmed? I thought they only did zombies in Germany or France or one of those places
Either way, as long as the game works I don’t mind. I don’t have an incessant need to run actual people down. Although it is a lot naughtier than running down zombies.