Through a series of mergers, sell-offs, partnerships and the killer that is time, Icewind Dale 2 is unlikely to see the same remaster treatment enjoyed by the original Icewind Dale.
Asked the question of whether Icewind Dale 2 would be reworked in light of the original receiving an updated version back in 2014, creators, Beamdog, said that it would be a "nightmare" to pull it off given how vast the changed were between the first game and its sequel.
But, likely up for the challenge, Beamdog looked into the possibility only to be held back by one very important roadblock - they can't find the source code. With many of the original dev team now working at Obsidian, they were even asked whether they happened to have a copy. They did not.
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Though the source code for the original Icewind Dale was easily obtainable from Bioware - who created the game's engine - the sequel ran off a customised version, meaning finding it wasn't going to be so easy. PCGamer understands that during the continuous movement of the Dungeons & Dragons license from Interplay to Atari (and back to Wizards of the Coast), the source code didn't make the trip.
Remastering would quickly become a complete remake if the team were to continue on without the source code. And that's "simply too expensive" say Beamdog. Instead, they've "moved on to other things.", but promise to change their stance should the situation improve.
