Last month, we reported that Electronic Arts was considering remastering the classic Command & Conquer series to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2020. Today, EA announced that they will indeed release the first installment in the franchise, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. But they’re not stopping there.
In addition to a 4K remaster of the original Command & Conquer, EA announced plans to remaster Red Alert and its expansion packs (Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath). The company will partner with Petroglyph Games to develop the remasters.
Petroglyph employs a few of the original developers that worked on the games at Westwood Studios. By working with Petroglyph, EA will be able to tap into the talent of Joe Bostic, Steve Tall, Mike Legg, and Frank Klepacki, all of whom had critical roles in the development of the first C&C and Red Alert.
There’s no word (or even speculation) on a release date for the remaster, and it sounds like the project is in its initial stages. That being said, since the original idea of a remaster revolved around the series’ 25th anniversary in 2020, it may be a few years until we see an official remaster. In the meantime, you can head over to CNCNet.org to download a “pseudo-remaster” of the original C&C, including code improvements and support for higher resolutions, for free. There’s also OpenRA, the open-source remake of the original C&C, Red Alert, and Dune 2000. OpenRA focuses more on multiplayer but includes some remade missions from the original games’ campaigns. Best of all, like C&CNet.org, OpenRA is free.