LOS ANGELES, CA (March 12, 2020) – Nightdive Studios has partnered with Alcon Entertainment on Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition, a modern restoration of the classic 1997 video game Blade Runner for Steam and the PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox consoles.
Originally released in 1997 by Westwood Studios, Blade Runner was one of the most innovative adventure games of its era. Long praised as a master-class in game design for its painstaking recreation of the sci-fi cinematic masterpiece, the game delivered an unforgettable gaming experience with groundbreaking graphics, an original musical score, and a canonical branching narrative seamlessly interwoven with the events of Ridley Scott’s 1982 feature film.
Once lost for years and only recently coming out of retirement, this seminal game will soon become widely available to a whole new generation of gamers around the world. Fans of the cult classic can expect a polished and premium restoration from Nightdive using their proprietary KEX game engine, which has been used to restore classic video games across all digital platforms including System Shock: Enhanced Edition, Turok, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Blood, and Forsaken Remastered. Nightdive has also sourced the original foreign-language translations, so fans can enjoy the game in German, French, Italian, and Chinese just as Westwood intended.
Blade Runner:Enhanced Edition will feature updated character models and animations, upscaled cutscenes using machine learning algorithms, widescreen resolution support, keyboard and controller customization, and much more. However, fans will be pleased to learn that the original look and feel of the game is being preserved.
“Blade Runner is still a jaw-dropping achievement on every level, so while we’re using KEX to upgrade the graphics and respectfully elevate the gaming experience in a way you’ve never seen before, we’re still preserving Westwood’s vision and gameplay in all its glory,” said Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick. “While you can enjoy the benefits of playing the game on modern hardware, the game should look and feel not as it was, but as glorious as you remember it being.”
The Alcon-Nightdive partnership was brokered by Joe LeFavi of Genuine Entertainment, who is co-producing the game alongside Nightdive and Alcon Interactive Group. No stranger to the franchise, LeFavi previously produced The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049, Alcon’s top-selling art book for their Academy Award-winning film sequel in 2017.
Releases across Steam, console, and other platforms are expected in 2020. Stay tuned for more details on the highly-anticipated Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition as development continues.
ABOUT NIGHTDIVE STUDIOS
Based in Vancouver, Washington, Nightdive Studios is a dedicated team of industry veterans committed to restoring the classic PC game titles of the past and making them accessible to a new generation of gamers. Hit titles from Nightdive Studios include System Shock 2, System Shock Enhanced Edition, Turok, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, and Forsaken Remastered. The team is currently working on the remaster of System Shock with an expected release date of 2020. More info can be found at the company’s website at www.nightdivestudios.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/NightDiveStudios, or via Twitter at @NightDiveStudio.
ABOUT ALCON ENTERTAINMENT
Co-founders and co-CEO’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded Alcon Entertainment in 1997 with partner Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx. Warner Bros. distributes Alcon’s motion pictures via the companies’ long-term output distribution agreement.
Alcon has financed and produced or co-financed and co-produced 34 films to date including the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Blind Side which earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar for Best Actress; the critically acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford which won 2 Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects and received an additional 3 nominations; The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank; The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; the critically acclaimed dramatic thriller Prisoners directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Viola Davis; P.S. I Love You starring Hilary Swank; and the family hit Dolphin Tale 2, a sequel to its original starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson. Alcon’s upcoming projects include an animated feature film adaptation of the beloved cartoon strip Garfield from director Mark Dindal (The Emperor’s New Groove).
In 2015 Alcon created the subdivision Alcon Television Group which has several on-air and upcoming projects including the fourth season of the hit sci-fi series The Expanse, a critically acclaimed space thriller which debuted on Amazon in December and boasts a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes; and the animated children’s series Pete the Cat, a co-production with Amazon Studios based on the best-selling children’s book series currently available on the streaming service.
Alcon Television Group’s past projects include the Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated HBO four-part documentary The Defiant Ones which chronicled the divergent roots and unlikely partnership of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine; Amazon’s animated holiday special Pete The Cat: A Groovy New Year starring Elvis Costello and Jacob Tremblay; and the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney which remains one of HBO’s most successful shows in the 50+ demographic.
ABOUT GENUINE ENTERTAINMENT
A licensing expert in genre entertainment, Genuine Entertainment is a leading producer and brand manager for top intellectual property and the innovators that bring out their best. We specialize in strategic licensing programs that grow beloved genre franchises in fandom-fueled markets and ancillary media, producing authentic licensed adaptations and premium consumer products alongside best-in-class partners. A versatile brand builder across all corners of pop culture, recent collaborations include a master tabletop gaming license for Dune, tabletop roleplaying games for Alien and Altered Carbon, an art book for Blade Runner 2049, marketing campaigns for Avengers: Infinity War and Game of Thrones, and multiple initiatives for Vampire: The Masquerade. Learn more at www.genuineent.com.
