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Gearbox is teasing a Homeworld announcement at PAX West

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Maybe it's nothing—but maybe it's not.

The 20th anniversary of the great sci-fi RTS Homeworld is approaching, and Gearbox Software is hinting that something else is coming with it.

Gearbox acquired Homeworld in the great THQ bankruptcy fire sale of 2013, and has since released remastered versions of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 (which were excellent), and a 2016 prequel, the also-excellent Deserts of Kharak. But things have been relatively quiet on the Hiigaran front since then: The official Homeworld Twitter account has spent the last couple of years mainly posting fan art and sales notifications, and has been almost completely silent since late 2018, until yesterday.

The big news could be just about anything, from a Homeworld 3 announcement to a Nintendo Switch port (the remasters were only released for PC). One intriguing possibility is an update of Homeworld: Cataclysm, a standalone expansion released in 2000. It wasn't included with Gearbox's update, reportedly because the original Cataclysm source code was lost, but it's possible that copies may yet exist—or may not even be needed. Cataclysm was re-released on GOG a couple of years ago as Homeworld: Emergence, in order to preemptively avoid a trademark beef with Blizzard.

PAX West takes place in Seattle, WA, and runs from August 30 to September 2.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.