Syndicate Remake Is Still Possible, EA Says

Electronic Arts believes its Syndicate franchise, which is preparing to receive a full pledged reboot appear in early 2012, might still see a remake of the older strategy titles, if the new game manages to raise awareness for the series.

EA and Starbreeze Studios definitely made some waves earlier this year when they officially confirmed that they're rebooting the Syndicate franchise with a new title, scheduled to be released next year. This new game is going to be a first person shooter, which is a pretty far cry from the classic strategy titles made by Bullfrog that amazed many players back in the 1990s.

Fans of the series shouldn't give up hope, however, as EA Partners executive producer, Jeff Gamon, talked with Eurogamer about the Syndicate franchise and how a remake in the same strategy genre might still appear.

"The original was such a classic," Gamon said. "There is scope to remake it but I don't think it necessarily has to be exactly the same genre. If we did there are probably other platforms which are more suitable for it than the consoles we're making it for, if we wanted to go in that more strategic route, that perspective. I would love to see Syndicate as a true franchise again, bringing it back and expanding it out onto whatever platforms it's suitable for."

As you can imagine, some of these platforms might certainly include the PC, the preferred choice for lots of strategy fans, but also touch-based devices like mobile phones or tablets. Gamon, however, said that naming names would be "purely speculative at this point."

The EA executive also mentioned that the Syndicate shooter will serve to introduce the series and its mythos to a new generation of players, some that might also be interested in this possible strategy remake.

"We're always looking to build franchises rather than just one-off games," Gamon said. "Syndicate was a classic franchise and brand, but it's been a long time since it's been out there. A lot of today's gamers don't know it. So we need to go out there with a game, with a brand, and establish that brand and just take it from there."

Syndicate is out on February 21, 2012, in North America, and February 24, in Europe, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.