Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 4K Remasters Announced

EA has announced remasters of the original Command & Conquer from 1995, and its 1996 follow-up Command & Conquer: Red Alert. The two real-time strategy (RTS) games will be updated to 4K resolution, EA creative director Jim Vessella said, and will also include all previously released expansions, Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath, without any microtransactions. All that will be available as one giant remastered collection at launch.

Development has yet to start on the C&C remaster project, Vessella noted, though they have picked two partners to work with. One of them is Petroglyph Games, which includes many of the original developers from Westwood Studios in co-creator and lead programmer Joe Bostic, music composer Frank Klepacki, lead programmer Steve Tall, original community manager Ted Morris, and audio guy Mike Legg. EA will also work with Lemon Sky Studios to bring both titles into the 4K era, terming Lemon Sky as having “a unique speciality in remastering classic RTS titles”.

Command & Conquer was originally envisioned to be set in a fantasy world, Bostic said in the announcement, with humans, wizards, magical beasts as three factions. But with the Gulf War in the news and believing fantasy to be too niche in the mid-90s, the developers decided to opt for modern military, which would become the bedrock going forward. He added that Red Alert began as an expansion, but it turned out to be “so massive” that they converted it into a standalone title.

Before the remasters of the original two, EA will release the free-to-play mobile title Command & Conquer: Rivals on December 4.

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