Electronic Arts is releasing 25 older PC games on Steam, The Verge reports. They include Anniversary Editions of Road Rash and six Wing Commander titles, which keep the original design while adding support for modern systems and controls.
Key takeaways
- Electronic Arts is bringing 25 classic PC games to Steam, according to The Verge.
- The announced line-up includes Anniversary Editions of the motorcycle racer Road Rash and of six Wing Commander titles.
- EA describes its Anniversary Editions as faithful to the original games, with practical updates for modern systems, controls and performance.
- The summary of The Verge’s report used for this article does not name all 25 games, so the full list and the extent of the changes to each cannot be confirmed here.
EA’s 25-game classic PC catalogue on Steam
The Verge reports that Electronic Arts is launching 25 classic games on Steam, the widely used PC games storefront and launcher run by Valve. The size of the release sets it apart from a single remaster, because it treats a portion of the publisher’s history as a catalogue rather than as one standalone product.
Two kinds of release appear to be involved. Some of the games are labelled Anniversary Editions, while others in the set may be offered without that label. The summary available for this article names only Road Rash and the Wing Commander series, and it does not say how many of the remaining titles receive updates. It also does not give prices, a release schedule or the full list of games, so those details are not known here.
The practical issue behind a release like this is compatibility. PC games from earlier decades were written for operating systems, graphics hardware and input devices that have since changed or disappeared. An old game may fail to start on a current computer, may run at the wrong speed, may display at a low fixed resolution or may not recognise a modern controller. Owners of original copies can also run into physical limits, since many of these games were sold on disc or floppy, and many current computers no longer have a drive for either.
Steam addresses part of that problem by providing a central place to buy, download and update a game. It does not by itself make old software run well, which is why the technical work on each title matters. EA’s description of the Anniversary Editions points to that work, although the specifics for each game are not set out in the material reviewed for this article.
Wing Commander Anniversary Editions
Six Wing Commander titles are due to receive the Anniversary Edition treatment, The Verge reports, which makes the series the largest named group in the release. The summary does not list which six entries are included.
Wing Commander is a space combat series played largely from the cockpit of a starfighter. Players fly missions alongside computer-controlled wingmen, and the series became known for linking those missions to an ongoing story about an interstellar war. Later entries used live-action video scenes, which placed the series among the better-known examples of PC games that borrowed the language of film. The series was created by the studio Origin Systems, which later became part of Electronic Arts, and that is why the rights sit with EA today.
Flight and space combat games make a useful test of the Anniversary Edition idea. Their controls were often designed around joysticks and keyboards with many assigned functions, and a modern player may be using a gamepad or a different kind of stick. Input support is therefore a substantial issue for this series, not a minor convenience. Performance is relevant too, because older simulation games could be closely tied to the speed of the machines they were built for.
The video scenes raise a separate question of presentation. Footage from that period was produced at low resolution for the screens of its time, and it can look rough on a large modern display. The summary does not say whether any of this material has been altered, and EA’s stated aim of preserving the original look suggests that any changes may be limited. How that aim is applied to each of the six games is not known.
Road Rash Anniversary Edition
Road Rash is the other named Anniversary Edition in The Verge’s report. It is a motorcycle racing game whose central idea is physical combat during the race: riders can strike opponents alongside them while avoiding traffic and police. That mix of racing and fighting gave the series a distinct identity among driving games.
The series appeared on home consoles as well as on PC, and several versions exist. The summary does not state which version the Anniversary Edition is based on. That detail matters to people who know the game well, because different versions can vary in their visuals, music and handling.
Racing games are sensitive to the kinds of changes EA describes. Timing, frame rate and steering response all shape how a game of this type feels, so a performance update can alter the experience even when the artwork and the rules remain the same. Updated control support is similarly direct in its effect, since a game originally played on one type of pad or keyboard may now be played on something quite different. How closely the new version matches the handling of the original is something only players and reviewers will be able to assess once they have used it.
What the classics release tells us overall
Taken together, the release shows how a large publisher can treat old games as a catalogue that still has value. Ageing games continue to carry recognisable names, and a storefront listing gives them a route to players who could not otherwise run them easily, without the cost of building a new game from the ground up.
The Anniversary Edition label also shows a balance that runs through much game preservation. One side of it is fidelity: keeping the art, design and pacing that people remember. The other is access: making the game run on current machines with current controllers. EA’s description claims both, and the two can pull against each other, because changing how a game performs or responds can also change how it feels. Film and music reissues face similar arguments, but games add a further layer because the software has to keep working on hardware its makers never anticipated.
The choice of Steam matters as well. It places these games where many PC players already keep their libraries, which makes them easier to find than they would be on a specialist site or as physical copies on the second-hand market.
There are limits to what can be concluded at this stage. The available material does not establish how the remaining games were chosen, how many have been modified or how the changes will be received. It does establish that EA is presenting part of its PC history as something to be kept in sale and adapted to current systems.
Sources and further reading
- The Verge: report on EA’s release of 25 classic games on Steam, used through its published summary.
- Electronic Arts: the company’s description of the Anniversary Editions, as relayed by The Verge.
- Valve’s Steam storefront: the platform on which the games are being released and where individual listings would appear.
- General histories of PC gaming: background on the Road Rash and Wing Commander series and on Origin Systems.
Surfaced from the rss:verge signal “classic PC game re-releases”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
