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EA focusing on new games, not remasters

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Femshep

If there’s one remaster not called Final Fantasy VII that gamers keep asking for, it’s Mass Effect. Bioware’s multi-game space opera has – for good reason! – become one of the most renowned and beloved franchises in gaming. In a sea of unwanted remakes and remasters, a Mass Effect one would actually be appreciated. Unfortunately, it looks like it may not happen.

In a chat with Gameinformer, EA’s Patrick Söderlund has said that EA is going to continue to focus on new games instead of remasters of old ones.

“I won’t lie and say we haven’t looked at it,” Söderlund told GI after they enquired about Mass Effect. “But for us, it’s about weighing where we spend our resources. Is it better for them to be working on a completely new IP, which you know BioWare is, or should they be remastering a Mass Effect?”

He said there’s certainly a time and place for remasters – but, and this I agree with, asserts that the memory of games in their cultural zeitgeist is an important part of the experience.
Söderlund says there are times when remasters are appropriate and there are certainly those he has personally enjoyed, citing Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Remastered. He also mentioned that sometimes the memory of those games in their time and place are an important part of the experience.

“I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I go back and play a game, you want the memory of what they were at that point in time when you played them,” Söderlund says. “If I go back and play the old games, I think, ‘Really?!’ Was this what it was? Because in my mind it was amazing.”

Though he didn’t flat out rule out a Mass Effect Remaster, it seems that it may not happen – so those of you waiting patiently may be waiting for ever. I’m Commander Shepard, and this would be my favourite remaster in the Citadel.

EA has, however, shown a glimpse of a new Mass Effect in Mass Effect Andromeda, which seems to be disconnected from Shepard’s story by both time and space. It was the shining star (along with Star Wars Battlefront) in an otherwise dull showcase for EA.

 

Last Updated: June 17, 2015

81 Comments

  1. Trevor Matrix

    June 17, 2015 at 08:14

    Good on you EA!

    Reply

  2. Steffmeister

    June 17, 2015 at 08:21

    I’m a bit disappointed, never played 1 & 2… not dusting of my xbox360 for it.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief's Adventure

      June 17, 2015 at 08:21

      Time to rectify that error

      Reply

      • Steffmeister

        June 17, 2015 at 10:29

        There are just too many games that I need to play. Wasn’t into gaming for a long time. Also need to play Fallout 3! And with the Witcher I just don’t see when I will ever get to all those ‘essential’ games. Missed a lot between 2001 and 2011

        Reply

    • Trevor Matrix

      June 17, 2015 at 08:28

      That disappointment must be in yourself. I take it your life is one of regret and shame for all the missed opportunities, right?

      Reply

      • Steffmeister

        June 17, 2015 at 10:25

        Nope, not at all. ;P … took a 10 year break from PC games … did some other stuff.

        Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      June 17, 2015 at 08:35

      I am currently busy with 2, but Witcher got in the way. Will have all 3 done by the time 4 gets here…. I hope!!

      Reply

      • Mossel

        June 17, 2015 at 08:54

        haha so am I! Started with ME2 and then Geralt entered the room.

        Reply

      • Steffmeister

        June 17, 2015 at 10:17

        Witcher is all I need for now

        Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      June 17, 2015 at 08:41

      Thankfully they announced backward compatibility on the xbone.

      Reply

      • Steffmeister

        June 17, 2015 at 10:16

        Lucky you! I switched to PS4 😛

        Reply

    • Mossel

      June 17, 2015 at 08:54

      Play it on your work laptop, it’s that old.

      Reply

      • Steffmeister

        June 17, 2015 at 10:15

        Have a PC too.. decent one, just have an insane hate for pc’s in general. Always some ‘error’ on mine….life’s too short for PC issues.

        Reply

        • Mossel

          June 17, 2015 at 10:18

          Fair enough. But you can buy both on Origin for less than R50 and it wont have issues. It’s all updated to the point where there shouldn’t be bugs. Also it can be played with a controller so you are sorted!

          Reply

          • Steffmeister

            June 17, 2015 at 10:23

            Actually my current issue is that I just cant get it to connect to the internet…. just don’t have the patience to figure out why. [sigh]

          • Mossel

            June 17, 2015 at 10:24

            Oh shit! Is it plugged in? xD Just joking hope you figure something out!

    • Jac7

      June 17, 2015 at 09:03

      I’ve owned it three times over. First on 360. Sold the 360 and got a PS3. Bought the trilogy. Sold the PS3. Bought it on Steam. It is just one of those trilogies that you HAVE to play.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 17, 2015 at 09:05

        Just sucks that the newer ones aren’t going to be available on Steam anymore. Because EA are assholes.
        I am happy to report though that Origin’s refunds work very well.

        Reply

  3. Admiral Chief's Adventure

    June 17, 2015 at 08:21

    Yup, I’m hyped. Oorah

    Reply

  4. kuuu(UMAR)rrrr

    June 17, 2015 at 08:29

    Frikken Yarny

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      June 17, 2015 at 08:37

      The guy on the stage that introduced Yarny is such a likeable fellow. His hands were trembling, I wanted to go up there and just tell the guy to relax and that it will be ok. Just a few more seconds and you can go backstage again.

      Reply

  5. Trevor Matrix

    June 17, 2015 at 08:33

    Not since Han Solo mouthed “Chewie, we’re home!” have I creamed my pants the way I did so last night.

    Reply

    • Kromas,powered by windows 10.

      June 17, 2015 at 08:40

      Actually I had one fairly soon after that. When they Revealed Ahsoka in season 2 of Rebels trailer.

      Reply

      • BacchusZA

        June 17, 2015 at 10:41

        She makes a few appearances in the last few episodes of S1 btw, though only obviously as Ashoka in the very last one as I recall.

        Reply

    • Rikarudo

      June 17, 2015 at 13:19

      you have a thing about space i see…
      lets try it…
      how do you feel about dead space?
      do you ever space out?
      kevin spacey, yes or no?
      jk by the way, chewie we’re home was awesome

      Reply

  6. Valenlord

    June 17, 2015 at 08:37

    Now this is very good news after a long weekend!!

    Reply

  7. Kromas,powered by windows 10.

    June 17, 2015 at 08:38

    The effect this games reveal had on my Mass was astounding (aka I nearly crapped my pants from joy!)

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      June 17, 2015 at 09:57

      a friend linked me to the reveal video just after it happened, i got a woody just from reading the link.

      Reply

  8. Captain JJ Browmehn

    June 17, 2015 at 08:54

    It’s sad that this has become something you can say to impress people.

    Well done EA. You’re doing what you are supposed to do anyway.

    Reply

  9. Captain JJ Browmehn

    June 17, 2015 at 08:59

    *still playing Witcher 3 and looking forward to Fallout 4*

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 17, 2015 at 09:03

      Triss left 🙁

      Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 17, 2015 at 09:04

        Pffff
        There is only Yennefer.

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 17, 2015 at 09:06

          That’s not the point. 😛

          She’s been by my side since day one. We reconciled, had a cool time at the party. Them feels, man.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 09:08

            Hehe. I know.
            I personally didn’t spend much time with her though.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 17, 2015 at 09:13

            Shortly after she left I found a magic statue while doing a quest for Zoltan, he’s like you should ask Triss about it & then Geralt says she’s left. THANKS FOR REMINDING ME, GAME.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 09:14

            Haha. Ah man, that’s bad. I actually finished the Zoltan one first, so Geralt just said he should probably go see her. 🙂

        • Matthew Holliday

          June 17, 2015 at 09:54

          there needs to be more yeneffer, nearly done and what i have seen of her is cheesy as, like, skip level cheesy.

          and all this talk of geralt being a sex fiend from previous games, bs. excluding the brothel, which i tried out twice, just to see if there was any difference, i bonked keira once and yeneffer once.
          in 130 hours of game time, bonking twice is pretty tame for a sex fiend.

          witcher 2 portrayed geralt in a much more interesting way, i didnt get that far into it, but just the opening scene with geralt in the tent was already better than the heaps of cheese from the latest game.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 10:05

            Haha. I must say, you make a valid point there.
            I like the way Yen speaks to Geralt, but I can agree there are cheesy moments. It always feels like their feelings for each other are understated.

          • Matthew Holliday

            June 17, 2015 at 10:29

            they are understated untill you do the lock in mission for their romance.
            at which point, prepare a bucket to throw up in.

            i liked the bickering the two have going on, turning that relationship into a romantic comedy, when i wanted dark and dangerous, is like being slapped in the face.

            i wanted them to argue, to fight and never get along, i didnt want them to “fix” that, i wanted them to keep doing it, with smiles on their faces, because geralt is an emotionless witcher who doesnt feel emotions and yeneffer is a self indulgent bitch, who is slightly less of a bitch when shes with geralt.

            this softcore shit makes me regret not going with triss.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 10:47

            Hahaha.
            Excellent.
            I take my Witcher 3 relationships way too seriously, clearly.

          • Steffmeister

            June 17, 2015 at 10:49

            I went with Triss…. its a bit better but still I felt that CDPR did not do a good job with any of the Romantic scenes. All are a bit cringeworthy.

          • Steffmeister

            June 17, 2015 at 10:44

            Agree, the bonking scenes are terrible…really really cringeworthy. On my second playthrough I am playing a ‘Geralt who avoids sex cause he is bad at it character’

        • Steffmeister

          June 17, 2015 at 10:12

          So you like your women to be controlling, bitchy and cold? Not once did I feel Gerald and Yennefer love each other.. and the most cringe worthy ‘love scene’ in video games ever.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 10:13

            Ah. To each their own.
            Just felt like Yen has a stronger personality. And she’s great in the books.

          • Steffmeister

            June 17, 2015 at 10:40

            Maybe I pissed her of too many times…. so much so that she teleported me into a lake and I had to swim a long way back 🙂

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 10:47

            Haha. No way. That’s actually quite funny.

        • Steffmeister

          June 17, 2015 at 10:58

          Pfft Yennefer and Triss… I had a crush on Cerys an Craite

          Reply

      • Mossel

        June 17, 2015 at 10:24

        Spoiler?!

        Reply

        • Steffmeister

          June 17, 2015 at 10:34

          Depends on what decisions you make… so not really a spoiler.

          Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 17, 2015 at 10:51

          She only leaves if Trevor plays it. He has that effect ;P
          I actually have no idea if this is a spoiler, tbh.

          Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 17, 2015 at 10:51

          I don’t know, maybe it can turn out differently if you make different decisions hehe.

          Reply

          • Steffmeister

            June 17, 2015 at 10:52

            It does.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 17, 2015 at 10:58

            GODDAMNIT! I fucked up again. Oh well, just following my in-game trend.

          • Steffmeister

            June 17, 2015 at 11:03

            On second play through and I am so amazed at how different things are with different dialog options… brilliant thing is that it is not always obvious at first.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 17, 2015 at 11:07

            This’ll be the first game since ME2 that I’ll replay. Normally I couldn’t be arsed to do that because the story is always the same, but not with this one.

          • Mossel

            June 17, 2015 at 10:54

            haha oh ok xD

    • Matthew Holliday

      June 17, 2015 at 09:48

      honestly, i cant wait for ME4.
      i want to play a character that doesnt make you feel guilty when you do the right thing.

      witcher 3 is good and all, but the decision making in the game is decidedly un-witcher like. making the right decisions is totally not the witcher way, and id feel totally guilty if i didnt make the right decision.
      having the option to give your reward to those in need, taking on jobs fo no reward, saving these people without being told you’re getting paid, getting involved in POLITICS? totally not the witcher way.
      heck, ive barely even touched the haggling system.

      and all these feels, so many attempts at feels… especially later in the game, ugh…
      geralt is a mutant, bred to feel no emotions, raised to not care about anything without being paid in advance.

      why are there no consequences for your generosity? everyone is so honest and pays when theyr supposed to, it would be much easier, playing a witcher, if everyone was a proper dick to you.

      Reply

  10. Rock789

    June 17, 2015 at 09:23

    Am I disappointed? Honestly speaking, I am a tad bit disappointed. But a whole ‘nother side of me says good for them – would rather have ME4 than an ME remaster.

    Besides, I still have my 360 for that classic ME experience! 🙂

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 17, 2015 at 09:26

      Boo for remasters!
      ;P

      Reply

      • Rock789

        June 17, 2015 at 09:33

        Agreed. Although I must say that I’m really loving GTAV again, but now on my PS4 (so, technically, a remaster)… Importing my Online character saved me a whole bunch of ‘grinding’, so now able to pick up where I left off. And the single player campaign is as fun and exciting as ever (now in first-person). It’s the game that seems to have broken the Witcher 3’s stranglehold on me…

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 17, 2015 at 09:35

          I’m still to play GTA V. Waiting for Rockstar to drop the price to a reasonable level for a game that old. Really looking forward to it none the less.
          But I don’t have anything that’s managed to drag me away from Witcher 3 yet. Spent some time on PayDay 2 yesterday….but then returned to Skellige shortly after 😀

          Reply

          • Rock789

            June 17, 2015 at 09:36

            When you do get hold of GTA V, you’re in for a treat. Honestly, it’s such a superb game… So thoroughly and well-put together. With SO much to do!! It will be like Witcher 3 – swallow copious amounts of your time and keep you coming back for more.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 09:37

            Hehe. Excellent.
            All my friends are also waiting for GTA to drop in price, so I won’t be alone either 😀 It will be chaotic!

          • Rock789

            June 17, 2015 at 09:37

            How is PayDay 2? Never played it – was told it’s awesome as co-op, terrible as SP. True?

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 09:40

            I love both the SP and the co-op. I honestly don’t know what people are on about saying that the SP is terrible. I’ve put 250 hours into it to so far and I’m not NEAR getting tired of it. The achievements and unlocks just keep you going forever.
            It’s definitely more fun to have a well-put-together team for a heist, but if you do decent planning it’s just as simple to play heists in SP (at least the stealth heists are).

          • Rock789

            June 17, 2015 at 09:43

            Shweet… Sounds really cool (and the premise looks awesome)… Was just hesitant on the whole SP side of things as that’s what I spend 90% of my time on in games.

            I see it was released recently on PS4… I will have to add it to my ‘get it when it’s cheaper’ list. 🙂

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 09:45

            Do that. I think it’s worth it. Went on sale on Steam yesterday for $5 with the DLCs costing around 70c each. So naturally I bought ALL the DLCs.
            You’ll see on easier difficulties the “heavy” (non stealth maps) are great fun. It’s just when you’re doing overkill or deathwish difficulty in them when things get a bit rough.

          • Rock789

            June 17, 2015 at 09:50

            I like it rough! o_O

          • Rock789

            June 17, 2015 at 09:50

            I mean… Who said that?! o_O

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 10:02

            I like it stealthy. They never see me coming!
            (that doesn’t sound any better)

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 17, 2015 at 10:02

            XD

  11. ReBoot

    June 17, 2015 at 09:33

    im having trouble reading lazygamer on my Note 3 (my favourite way of visiting the site when at home). Must be this new layout .. ?

    Reply

    • Splooshypooh

      June 17, 2015 at 09:38

      Same here…

      Reply

    • WitWolfy

      June 17, 2015 at 09:46

      Yea it sucks.. It’s as if this site isnt mobile friendly…

      Reply

  12. WitWolfy

    June 17, 2015 at 09:46

    Peter Moore claimed that the Mess Effect teaser is all in game.. What a bullshitter.

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      June 17, 2015 at 09:59

      ingame cinematic.
      he isnt lying, huehue.

      Reply

      • WitWolfy

        June 17, 2015 at 10:13

        HA! LOL

        Reply

    • Rikarudo

      June 17, 2015 at 13:16

      well he kind of has to say it right… thats the EA line…. Its all in the game! …

      Reply

  13. CypherGate

    June 17, 2015 at 11:23

    They do need to remaster The Mass Effect series for the new consoles. Most people would love to have it on there. Like me. I wouldnt want to jump back to my old console to play the game again. Mass Effect Andromeda!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  14. Ghost In The Rift

    June 17, 2015 at 12:52

    Why don’t they just release the code and modders will take care of the remaster lol

    Reply

  15. Knowles2

    June 17, 2015 at 15:36

    What happen to you EA you use to be such money grabbing bastards, now all the sudden you aren’t going to take this money grabbing opportunity.

    Just remember folks Square Einx claimed for years they would never make FF7 as it would be to expensive, well we are now getting a FF7. It would be much easier and cheaper to upgrade Mass Effect games.

    Unravel was an interesting game. The rest of EA games were just updates of existing games really.

    Reply

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