Molyneux: I’d revisit Populous or Syndicate if I could

Molyneux: I’d revisit Populous or Syndicate if I could
Wesley Yin-Poole Updated on by

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PC gaming legend Peter Molyneux would love to return to his illustrious back catalogue, but doubts it will ever happen due to license issues.

In an interview with VideoGamer.com, the third part of which is due to be published tomorrow, Molyneux singled out PC classic Syndicate and Populous as the two titles he would most like to revisit.

However, Molyneux said the rights to both titles are “completely with EA” and that it was unlikely that the mega-games company would ask the Lionhead boss to work on the games.

“I think it would probably be Syndicate or Populous again,” he said. When asked if he could ever return to the titles, Molyneux replied: “No. The rights are completely with EA. They’re hardly going to pick up the phone and say: ‘Hi Peter. Why not do these games?” They’d want to keep it for themselves I would suspect.”

Molyneux co-founded UK PC developer Bullfrog Productions in 1987. Populous, released in 1989, is considered to be the seminal god game. Syndicate was an isometric RTS, released in 1993, and was bloody brilliant, as well as deliciously violent. The success of Bullfrog’s late 80s and early 90s titles paved the way for the purchase of the developer by EA in 1995.

Despite his love for Bullfrog’s back catalogue, Molyneux, whose new game Fable II is due out exclusively on the Xbox 360 on October 24, wouldn’t begrudge EA releasing a downloadable remake of one of his classic games.

He said: “Oh I’d love it. It would be fantastic. I’ve got no qualms of somebody else doing it. I’d just love to see it updated, the concept kept alive. It would be second best but it would still be great.”

You can check out the first part of our interview with Peter Molyneux here, and the second part here. Stay tuned for the third part, where Peter answers questions from VideoGamer.com readers!