Entertainmentupdated 20m ago2 min read
EA Re-Releases 25 Classic PC Games on Steam, GOG, and EA App
6outlets comparedWhere the coverage agrees
2 Other2 Western Mainstream1 Western Alternative1 Western TabloidThis article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
EA released 25 classic PC games on Steam, GOG, and EA App with remasters Anniversary editions include Road Rash and six Wing Commander titles
Save coverage image
6 outlets in this story. Read their headlines below.
25 classics return
Electronic Arts announced the return of 25 classic PC games on Steam, GOG, and the EA App, with Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition and six Wing Commander anniversary editions among the restored releases. EA said the anniversary editions preserve the original visual look, gameplay experience, and creative intent while adding quality-of-life improvements to adapt the games to modern systems, optimized controls, improved performance, and increased accessibility.
EA’s restoration effort centered on a physical archive containing thousands of Betacam and VHS cassettes and D1 tapes, and EA said the digitization process recovered master video sequences for the seven titles. EA said the re-edited footage restored more than 1,500 cinematic scenes across these games, and EA positioned the work as a way to renew influential titles for longtime fans and new audiences discovering PC gaming history.
Anniversary editions and pricing
EA listed Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition alongside Wing Commander: 35th Anniversary Edition, Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi: 35th Anniversary Edition, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger: 30th Anniversary Edition, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom: 30th Anniversary Edition, Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition, and Privateer 2: The Darkening: 30th Anniversary Edition. EA said the Road Rash and Wing Commander anniversary editions are available at $9.99 SRP each, while the rest of the classic titles can be purchased for $4.99 SRP.
EA said the complete collection will be available on Steam, GOG, and the EA app, with special prices on Steam and GOG from November 5 to 19. EA said players who already own a digital copy of Wing Commander games on GOG or the EA app will receive the Anniversary Edition upgrade on the corresponding digital platform for free and automatically.
Community mods and rollout
EA said the Wing Commander anniversary editions incorporated improvements made possible thanks to a dedicated community that collaborated with EA to incorporate their mods into the versions. Jim Vessella, described as a senior producer at EA, said he learned about and visited a room at EA’s Redwood Shores campus containing a large archive of poorly labeled or sorted physical media from ages past.
Vessella said he began cataloging the archive and discovered that it contained virtually the entirety of the original masters of Wing Commander III and Wing Commander IV‘s full-motion-video cutscenes. Vessella’s account described building a small team of contractors and coordinating with community members, particularly Matt Wells, who has made community enhancement patches for some of the Wing Commander games, to put together remasters of those titles.