For many, games like Road Rash, Dungeon Keeper, Desert Strike, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Populous were games that defined our childhoods. It needs to be said that Populous and Dungeon Keeper defied genre boundaries (at the time) and created experiences entirely new to gamers.
As owner of the aforementioned IPs, EA says that it hasn't turned its back on them, and that it's looking for opportunities to cast a spell of Resurrection on these titles and bring them back from the dead.
Speaking to CVG, EA Games' Frank Gibeau said that bringing back a classic franchise was always an option, but it was something the publisher had to handle carefully. A mismanaged franchise (like Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, for example) would undoubtedly raise the ire of old fans while distancing new ones from the game altogether.
Gibeau believes most gamers wouldn't be satisfied by a straight up remake of these games, some of which wouldn't live up to current generation. He cited GoldenEye 64 as an example of a classic game that showed its age. These games needed to be more than just rereleases and remakes. They had to be new and live up to expectations.
"Production values and game mechanics are very different than what you see on some of those IPs but trust me, it's a part of the asset of our company to have 25 years of IP and you'll see them come back in different ways at different times."
