EA Brings Every Ultima and Wing Commander Game to Steam and GOG with Quality-of-Life Updates

Electronic Arts is bringing 25 classic games from its library to Steam today, including seven Anniversary Editions for six Wing Commander games as well as Road Rash. The rest of the re-releases include every Ultima RPG, both Crusader games, Strike Commander, and Theme Hospital. The 18 re-releases are $4.99 each, while the quality-of-life-updated Anniversary Editions cost $9.99 each.

Regarding those quality-of-life updates, EA says that means that these refreshed versions "support modern systems, controls, improve performance and make the titles more approachable without compromising their authenticity." Regarding Wing Commander specifically, which is perhaps best remembered for its many full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes starring Mark Hamill, the companys says, "For each restored Wing Commander title, these improvements were made possible by the dedicated community, who were open and eager to collaborate with the passionate team at EA to incorporate their mods into the official releases. This launch is a celebration of the community’s commitment to the franchise, which is why anyone who already owns a digital copy of the Wing Commander titles on GOG or the EA App will automatically receive the Anniversary Edition upgrade for free on their respective digital platform."

For each of the Anniversary Editions, including my personal favorite, Road Rash (check out the trailer above), EA says, "The Anniversary Editions have been a labor of love, inspired by the discovery of a physical media vault containing thousands of Betacam, VHS, and D1 tapes alongside other media assets. The digitization process recovered the supposedly lost Master FMV sequences for these seven legendary titles, which were meticulously re-edited to restore the over 1,500 cinematic scenes across these games."

The Ultima series, meanwhile, was the brainchild of legendary RPG designer Richard "Lord British" Garriott, who went on to build a castle for a house and later become one of the first private citizens to go into outer space. You can hear about those stories and more on my old IGN Unfiltered interview with him from 2017.

Here's the full list of classic games EA is re-releasing:

• Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition
• Wing Commander: 35th Anniversary Edition
• Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi: 35th Anniversary Edition
• Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger: 30th Anniversary Edition
• Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom: 30th Anniversary Edition
• Wing Commander Prophecy: 30th Anniversary Edition
• Privateer 2: The Darkening: 30th Anniversary Edition™
• Wing Commander: Privateer
• Wing Commander: Academy
• Wing Commander: Armada
• Strike Commander™
• Theme Hospital
• Crusader: No Remorse
• Crusader: No Regret
• Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness
• Ultima II : The Revenge of the Enchantress
• Ultima III: Exodus
• Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
• Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
• Ultima VI: The False Prophet
• Ultima VII: The Complete Edition
• Ultima VIII: Gold Edition
• Ultima IX: Ascension
• Ultima Underworld I
• Ultima Underworld II