Roberts: EA doesn't "care" about Wing Commander

Wing Commander Chris Roberts has said he'd love to regain the rights to the Wing Commander series, because he feels a strong personal connection with the property.

PCGamesN asked Roberts if he'd like to buy the rights to Wing Commander should the opportunity ever arise, to which he answered in the affirmative.

"If I could get Wing Commander back, if it was mine to control and not EA saying 'Here you are, have it for a game,' then I’d definitely be interested," he said, in what I like to imagine were fervently wistful tones.

Roberts said it's "frustrating" to have created a world and "overseen" it, and then have to let it go.

"I had to sell it when Electronic Arts bought Origin [Systems, Wing Commander and Ultima developer], I can’t go back and visit that world without their say-so," he said.

"But they don’t care about that world, I care about that world."

It's one of the motivations for Star Citizen, which Roberts is financing through a record-breaking crowdfunding effort as well as private investment, retaining all rights to the IP and technology.

"To me, this is not just one game. This is a world I want to constantly update and add new cool stuff to and have a community," he said.

"I’d be happy if, ten years after it comes out, people are still into it, still playing it, and it’s moved on and evolved. I want to be able to be in a position to guide it because I feel like I’m best suited to know what’s best for the franchise.

"If I had the opportunity to get Wing Commander back in the same way, that’d be great, but EA has different priorities, so who knows if that can happen."

The last Wing Commander game was an XBLA action effort called Arena, and released in 2007, but the last of the traditional titles was 1998's Wing Commander: Secret Ops. Roberts' last involvement with the series was a 1999 movie.