As the Nightdive Studios admitted, Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition was delayed due to technical problems. The developers are currently facing problems with the game’s code.
In March of this year, the developers at Nightdive Studios, who specialize in remastered productions, announced the ongoing work on the Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition. Even if no specific release date has been given so far, the studio pointed out in a current statement that the new edition of the classic, originally published in 1997, will be delayed.
According to Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick, the delay is due to problems with the game’s code, as the search for the original source code and assets was inconclusive.
The original source code was lost after the Blade Runner makers of Westwood were taken over by Electronic Arts in 1998. Since the Westwood archive will probably not unearth any corresponding code either, the developers at Nightdive Studios have to reverse-engineer, according to Stephen Kick, which makes development even more complicated.
Kick said the following in an interview to Eurogamer: “We’ve had some discussions with EA about what else is in the vault they found regarding Blade Runner, and we haven’t been able to get a clear answer. And even if there was something, it’s very unlikely they would release it to us for legal reasons, mostly, which is a bit of a disappointment, because we were hoping to at least get the original audio recordings. So we’re basically working off what was in the original game at this point and not having access to any original stuff.”
Kick did not comment on a possible release period for the Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition.
