EA Reviving Classic Bullfrog Games?

Signs are pointing toward a possible revival of the Bullfrog games – Populous, Theme Park – that made Fable creator Peter Molyneux famous.

Fable might have made Peter Molyneux well known among gamers of all breeds, but the man infamous for making the most outlandish promises in all of game development first made his name as a founder of Bullfrog Productons, where he pushed out titles like Populous, Theme Park and Dungeon Keeper before starting Lionhead.

Though Molyneux’s work at Lionhead has been met with increasing popularity and success, those old Bullfrog games haven’t seen much new in a good chunk of time. That might be changing, however, because it looks like Electronic Arts (which acquired Bullfrog years back) could be looking to revive some of these classic properties. The company recently filed trademark registrations for Populous and Theme Park, along with two other classic franchises, Wing Commander and Road Rash.

This comes along with some hint dropping from Harvey Elliot, the head of what used to be Bullfrog and is now EA Bright Light. “I’m going to look at [classic Bullfrog IPs] at some point, I think there’s an opportunity to bring those back in the future, but only if it’s right for the time and not just a ‘remake’ or something,” Elliott said. “We’d need to do it in a way that’s true to the original values, but would still make a great game today.”

Obviously Molyneux wouldn’t be involved, considering he’s too busy running Microsoft Europe’s games division and creating god knows what sort of weird stuff for the Natal. According to Elliott, however, it’s not like there wouldn’t be any old-timers to work on bringing back these classic IPs. “I mean I think we actually still have some of the original [Bullfrog] team, so there would still be the spirit of that if we ever did get to it,” he said.

Elliott doesn’t seem completely on board with the idea, but EA would seem to be, considering the trademark filings. Maybe we’ll see Populous brought back with a different studio? In the meantime, there’s always the Dungeon Keeper MMOG you can play…if you live in China, that is.

[Via Joystiq]