EA found the original master tapes, restored the cheesy 90s FMV, bundled the fan patches and put 25 classics on Steam for the first time. They’re half price until 19 November.
EA has released 25 classic PC games on Steam for the first time, plus GOG and the EA App, including Road Rash, six Wing Commanders, all nine Ultimas and Theme Hospital.
Seven are restored Anniversary Editions, rebuilt from master tapes EA found in a vault at its Redwood Shores offices in 2022.
The Wing Commander games include fan-made patches for 60fps, widescreen cockpits and higher-res FMV, with EA crediting the community.
Road Rash gets its relicensed Soundgarden and Monster Magnet soundtrack back, up to 60fps and controller support.
On Steam NZ, they’re NZ$8.47 and NZ$3.97 until 19 November. Existing Wing Commander owners on GOG and the EA App upgrade free.
EA has done something nice. No, really. It’s dug through an old media vault and put 25 classic PC games on Steam for the first time, including a restored Road Rash and six Wing Commander games with their cheesy, glorious full-motion video brought back from the original master tapes.
They landed on 5 November, US time, on Steam, GOG and the EA App, and they’re half price until 19 November.
There are two tiers. Seven are restored Anniversary Editions:
The other 18 are what EA calls faithful ports: Wing Commander: Privateer, Academy and Armada, Strike Commander, Theme Hospital, Crusader: No Remorse and No Regret, all nine mainline Ultima games from The First Age of Darkness to Ascension, and Ultima Underworld I and II.
According to EA’s announcement, it started in March 2022, when senior producer Jim Vessella stumbled on a physical media vault at EA’s Redwood Shores offices. Inside were nearly 20,000 archive items, including the master tapes for Wing Commander and Road Rash. The team digitised an estimated 2,500 hours of footage, and in 2024 the original cinematics director of Privateer 2 turned up the full set of that game’s tapes too.
The scenes were then re-edited frame by frame to match the originals. EA says that restored more than 1,000 FMV scenes across Wing Commander III and IV alone, over 150 in Prophecy, more than 100 in Privateer 2, and dozens in Road Rash. MetalJesusRocks puts the total at 1,500-plus.
This is the part that should make longtime fans happy. EA has bundled patches built by the Wing Commander fan community straight into the games, rather than pretending they don’t exist:
Vessella thanked the community modders directly, calling the restoration “a passion project for everyone involved”.
Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition is the 1996 PC version, and it’s the first time it has ever been sold digitally. The headline feature is the relicensed soundtrack: Soundgarden, Paw, Hammerbox, Monster Magnet, Swervedriver and Therapy? are all back, and EA says their songs now play during races as well as in the menus.
It also gets restored FMV from the master tapes (upscaling is optional), up to 60fps, native controller support, windowed mode and cloud saves.
On Steam NZ, each Anniversary Edition is normally NZ$16.95 and each of the other 18 is NZ$7.95. Until 19 November, everything is 50 per cent off. VGC reports the Ultima and Wing Commander games also come in bundles at 55 per cent off.
If you already own any of the Wing Commander games digitally on GOG or the EA App, EA says you’ll get the Anniversary Edition upgrade for free on the same platform. That doesn’t cover Road Rash, and Steam owners don’t get a free upgrade, since this is the first time these games have been on Steam.
Credit where it’s due: this is how you do a re-release. EA didn’t just dump some DOSBox wrappers on Steam and call it a day. It found the masters, paid to relicense a 90s grunge soundtrack, and bundled the fan patches people have been running for years, with credit, instead of sending lawyers after them. More publishers sitting on old catalogues should be taking notes.
It’s also a funny look for EA, which is used to copping it from fans, as VGC points out. Turns out the easiest way to win back goodwill is to give people the games they loved at a fair price, with the cheese intact. Mark Hamill in a flight suit for under NZ$9? Easy decision.
Which one are you grabbing first: Road Rash, Wing Commander or Theme Hospital? Tell us on the GetRekt Discord.
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