Gearbox on Homeworld acquisition: “it needs a fresh coat of paint”

homeworld_gearbox_hd_release_laksnd

At PAX Australia Gearbox revealed their plans to release an HD version of the Homeworld games, as well as releasing the first two games in their current form through digital outlets. More than that, the studio’s president, Randy Pitchford, and chief creative officer, Brian Martel, talked about their reasons for the acquisition and Relic’s involvement with the new release.

“When THQ started to evaporate, Brian kept coming to my office everyday and saying, ‘Hey Randy, you got to get Homeworld,’” said Pitchford. “So we became part of that process bidding on the brand.”

Martel’s motivation was clear, “This is one of those games that for me sort of moved me as brand,” he said. “I was impressed with the story and it had some of the best spaceships that I have ever seen, outside of Star Wars. It was that part of it that meant something to me, so I really thought that we should get it out there for the rest of the world. And a lot of folks haven’t had a chance to play it, it has only been on DVD or CD, it has not ever been released digitally.”

After they were successful in acquiring the license to the series Gearbox were approached by Relic’s founder, Alex Garden. He was happy that a developer, rather than a publisher had won the bid. He also, and this is the really good bit, pledged to support all of the Gearbox’s Homeworld projects. Hopefully, this will mean there will be some dialogue between the two developers.

Following the auction Gearbox received a hard drive “filled with everything,” Martel said. “We started an investigation into how we were going to build the game. We are going to upgrade all the ships, make it look amazing for current-gen. At this point it needs a fresh coat of paint.”

Cheers, Polygon.