Several months ago, Microsoft announced eight original Xbox games would be included in its Xbox One backward compatibility list on April 17, 2018, with one of those titles being the 2005 action role-playing game from BioWare, Jade Empire. Now, it appears as if Electronic Arts (EA) could be looking to build on players' renewed interest in the title by reviving it in some way, shape, or form in the future, as the publisher recently filed a trademark for the rights to the property.

Other than the date on which it was filed–that is, January 22, 2019–not much can be gleaned from the trademark acquisition except the fact that EA intends to retain the rights to use the Jade Empire brand for "entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game". This could mean some kind of project is planned to be in the pipeline for the IP's future, but it's important to note that trademark filings don't necessarily result in actual products ever coming out, as it's often done so that a company can own and protect the rights to the property.

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That said, should EA ever decide to do something with the Jade Empire brand, the publisher could always follow the current trends of remasters and remakes by polishing the original game up as some kind of re-release for current generation hardware. Of course, there's always the chance that this could also result in the company gearing up for a direct sequel to the first game, as BioWare once said it had a followup in development at one point in time.

Taking everything here into consideration, those looking forward to getting their hands on a fresh project related to Jade Empire will simply have to wait and see if Electronic Arts has any concrete plans for the IP's future. After all, a trademark filing can mean many things, and there's only one surefire way to know how a company intends to use a given brand, and that's when it makes an official announcement to the public.

The original Jade Empire can be owned and played on the first Xbox, or through the Xbox One thanks to the system's backward compatibility program.

Source: JUSTIA Trademarks